The Silver Butterfly

wspapers, signing his full name and address. Two lagging days passed, and then, just as hope was beginning to fade, he

the owner of the ornament described in his advertisement, namely a silver butterfly, would be there din

sed a silver butterfly, but beyond this clue there was nothing to indicate the lady's identity; no name, no address. Again he read the bri

s. Why this mystery, anyway, he thought irritably; why this excess of mystery? And yet, after all, he was forced to confe

ail-like pace, and his impatience at this was tempered to a satirical amusement by the fact that the entire

ry to say that he was early at the Gildersleeve, and managed to secure a table which commanded a view of the entire room. He had an hour and a half before eight o'clock, and he put as much of it in as po

as charmingly subdued; a whiff of fragrance from the flowers on his table reached him. He liked the atmosphere of this hotel, quiet, restful, and handsome after a restrained and sober fashion; and then, all at once, th

hin the line of his vision. She wore black to-night, gauzy and diaphanous black. A small black toque with some upstanding silver trimming rested on her hair, and the silver butterfly on her breast seemed to flutter its delicate, shining wings; but depending from it almost to her waist and encircling her n

ther openly or furtively gazing at her. In this, he reflected, there was nothing very peculiar, as her beauty, which was sufficien

o to speak, Hayden was struck by the deference he displayed to the lady he accompanied, and the lack of ease in his manner. He was like a man who had been unwittingly drawn into a situation which rendered him extremel

ead, for the most part, she talked earnestly to the man opposite, who had evidently ordered his dinner of dishes ready to be served, and was hastily consuming them, while she had given more time to her order, an

he opera, she must have been conscious of the many admiring eyes cast in her direction, she gave no evidence of it, and he was almost equally piqued by the fac

rd her. As he reached her table and stood before her, she looked up with a charming smile, which yet held a touch of shyness, an embarrassment she struggled to conceal, and nodded towar

ase? You are very prompt.

responsibility of your ornament," he replied, taking from his pocket

o any engagement you may have had merely to return this to me with your own hands." But although her words sh

d value for one thing; but to be perfectly frank, let me confess that there was one overmastering reason, that my interest in this matter has been e

n, he fancied, a slight alarm. "What ca

like a mischievous, cheeky school-boy. Even the most prejudiced p

y," he

She was drawing designs on the tablecloth with her fork. She started slightly, but if she felt any perturbation of spirit, she gav

does look like that. I did not think of it in that

u apparently spells m

at she was really annoyed. "I can not help it if yo

ny one?" he

She appeare

"that you are rather mysterious yourself. Why, you appeared so

here," she interrupted him,

I had not found the buckle of your shoe, I should never afterward ha

ent in her eyes, and he experienced a quick se

nce you seem determined to have mystery. Can you not fancy a woman, young, eager, interested in all sorts of things, and shut off from them all, living somewhere in the depths of the woods and consumed with longing for the intense and changing life of the city, whose varied phases only seem the more viv

t that you are no more real than my fancy has once or twice suggested, it brings up a nice moral question. Am

uestion you will have to decide for yourself," she

tude. "I refuse any further responsibility

The carnation deepened slightly in

my life that I haven't been away from it." They bo

as if struck by a sudden inspiration, "yourself and myself. I will begin at the beginning

objected, and again the shyness crept into her voice. "You would occupy a thousand and one nigh

e the ball exactly on

you know what happens to the pumpkin coach and the coachm

e I? But that does not absolve you from the courtesy of offering one; now, it seems to me that it is not at all amiss, in fact it is quite fitting, that

ion I put myself in if I decl

o surprise your reticence, or even to discover your name. Truly, I haven't made the faintest effort to entrap you into any revelations, have I? Now, I am sure that we must know quantities of the same people, and all I ask is that you me

he followed him with unmistakable interest, and when he had fin

ce. No, I am something of a fatalist. I think I will let events take their course. If we are to meet again, why, we are. If not, why, all our poor efforts can not

t, "you can not leave me this way. The only way I can think of you is as 'The Lady with the Butterflies,'

I am sorry," demurely, black lashes again on cheeks of cream, no

y cousin, Kitty Hampton

she exclaimed, mov

refuse to let you go without b

id, as one driven to a corner. "Believe me when I tell you that when you wish to see m