Page:Lady Barbarity; a romance (IA ladybarbarityrom00snai).pdf/253

 amiable air that forthwith I suspected her of treachery. And, straight, a pang went through me, for I was almost sure that we had been lured into a trap from which it was now too late to escape. And even as this thought afflicted me, suspicion became dire fact. The door appeared to open and a commotion arose the other side of the screen. A sound of shuffling, accompanied by a painfully slow gait, published to me the worst ere even the ubiquitous Captain hove in view. He came to the table leaning on the shoulder of a servant, and was propped up also by a stick.

You can suppose that every detail of the Captain's mien and conduct is writ down in my mind. First he advanced in the most unincriminating manner, bowed profoundly over my aunt's extended hand, accepted the kind words and congratulations of my lord with an air of admirable courtesy and pleasure, put his palm across his heart and smiled, and bowed to me as gracefully and deeply as his predicament allowed, and generally held himself with a sweeping ease that was sublime. Nor was I much behind him there. I turned to the poor masquerader who was sustaining the ordeal nobly, and said in a full, clear tone:

"Prue, dear, permit me to present to you Captain Grantley, of the Thirty-third, one of my oldest and most cherished friends."

Bows were exchanged by both parties with a gravity that would have been enjoyable had one's fears been quieter. Without more ado we assumed