A Final Triumph; or, A Lady Bachelor — page 9: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE SUGGESTION OF A CRIME. 4 was not alone in my opinion, as the other guests cast glances of admiration toward her. She appeared to be about three-and-twenty. I did not believe she was a day older. Her manner would have sug- gested an added year or two, but I attributed this to the experience I had credited her with, and which would ac- count for an air of self-reliance which might have been patent to me alone. I was in the parlor when she entered, and her easy grace and self-possessien was exquisite as she met the younger people who came forward to greet her when introduced by a lady who had sought her acquaintance for the pur- pose. Well, it was the old story, as far as the young peo: ple were concerned. I watched them as incidental actors in the social drama; I saw them exchange glances, and watched their greeting smiles, but read the inner lines, which ill concealed the lurking envy. ‘They were eager to make her acquaintance, and, later on, to court her; not that their seeming pleasure was real—no, no; to be.-politic in a summer hotel is to be socially successful. A mask covers real sentiment; it was fear that called forth these expressions of delight and compliment; yes, they feared the attracting power of her beauty, the attracting mag- netism of her smile. ‘They discounted the possibilities of the future—a possible social supremacy that would permit this charming new-comer to relegate them to the side seats when the events of the summer season were in progress. Young girls are cute in social maneuvering; they need no instructors; they are capable of laying out their course in the social sea with a skill and shrewdness which is mar- Gomichooks