Stella Rosevelt — page 372: what you’re looking at

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

366 - A CRUSHING BLOW. ‘‘T am very glad if you enjoyed the ball,” her ladyship con- tinued, still gravely; ‘‘ but I regret that you should have pro- posed turning so serious a subject as marriage into mockery, and I am very sorry—yes, deeply displeased, that any one, in writing an account of our gathering here, should have given that farce such an appearance of reality, for it might make it very awkward, not only for my son, but also for some of our guests,’ she concluded, with glance at Josephine’s downcast face. 3 Little Miss Shelton was very uneasy during this reproof, but she rallied, and said, lightly: ‘‘But, dear Lady Sherbrooke, it was all done so nicely; and everything was so lovely that it almost seemed like a real wed- ding. I wish we coudd have a real wedding. Won’t somebody get married, please, and give me an invitation? I haven't been to one since I was a little girl in short clothes.” And the elf looked around her so roguishly, and with such an expression of mock distress on her pretty face, that the com- pany broke into an indulgent laugh, and then the subject was _ for the time dropped. But Josephine, watching her opportunity when some of the guests were leaving, and people generally were occupied saying farewell, sought and found that paper, and slipped it unob- served into her pocket. * x * x * x * In one of the rooms of a beautiful suite of apartments look- ing out upon St. James square, a young girl sat by a window, looking out upon the passers-by in the street below. She was tall, and slender, and graceful as a young elm, her small head crowned with masses of golden hair, her eyes— ‘“heaven’s own blue”—looking out from under a broad fore- head, which was partially concealed by the shining mist which lay lightly upon it, her red; lips parted with an expression of (E(0) Gomicbooks