The Early Bird: A Business Man's Love StoryChester, George Randolph
General
The Early Bird: A Business Man's Love Story
Chester, George Randolph
Businessmen -- Fiction; Love stories
He saw on the card two dances with Miss Stevens, one each with Miss
Westlake and Miss Hastings, and one each with a number of other young
ladies whom he had met but vaguely, and one each with some whom he had
not met at all. He dutifully went through the first dance with a young
lady of excellent connections who would make a prime companion for any
advancing young man with social aspirations; he went dutifully through
the next dance with a young lady who was keen on intellectual pursuits,
and who would make an excellent helpmate for any young man who wished
to advance in culture as he progressed in business, and danced the next
one with a young lady who believed that home-making should be the
highest aim of womankind; and then came his first dance with Miss
Stevens! They did not talk very much, but it was very, very comforting
to be with her, just to know that she was there, and to know that
somehow she understood. He was sorry, though, that he stepped upon her
gown.
The promenade, which had seemed quite long enough with the other young
ladies, seemed all too short for Sam up to the point when Billy
Westlake came to take Miss Josephine away. He was feeling rather
lonely when Tilloughby came up to him, with a charming young lady who
was in quite a flutter. It seemed that there had been a dreadful
mistake in the making out of the dance cards, which the young ladies of
Hollis Creek had endeavored to do with strict equity, though hastily,
and all was now inextricable confusion. The charming young lady was on
the cards for this dance with both Mr. Tilloughby and Mr. Turner, and
Mr. Tilloughby had claimed her first. Would Mr. Turner kindly excuse
her? Just behind her came another young lady whom Mr. Tilloughby
introduced. This young lady was on Sam's card for the next dance
following this one, but it should be for the eighth dance, and would
Mr. Turner please change his card accordingly, which Mr. Turner
obligingly did, wondering what he should do when it came to the eighth
dance and he should find himself obligated to two young ladies. Oh,
well, he reflected, no doubt the other young lady was down for the
eighth dance with some one else, if they had things so mixed. Of one
thing he was sure. He had that tenth dance with Miss Stevens. He had
inspected both cards to make certain of that, and had seen with
carefully concealed joy that she had compared them as minutely as he
had. He saw confusion going on all about him, laughing young people
attempting to straighten out the tangle, and the dance was slow in
starting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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