whole world, wears a set which, as usual, surpasses every other woman's. It is a most amazing and amusing social riddle. Even you, who [Pg 81]are evidently one of her admirers, must admit that." [Pg 81] "I can't really afford anything worth while this year," sighed the dolorous lady characterized as whine‑y Minnie, "but I must try and get an appointment with that fortune‑teller, even if it is hideously expensive. What did you say her name is, Kitty?" "An odd name," mimicked Hayden, catching his cousin's eye and unable to resist a school‑boy temptation to tease her. "An odd name." He reproduced Kitty's high lisping tones perfectly. "Bobby, if you mock me, I'll give you something that will make you laugh on the other side of your mouth," she said rapidly under her breath, and reverting to the phraseology of childhood. "Did you ask her name, Minnie? It is an odd name. Mademoiselle Mariposa. Sometimes called 'The Veiled Mariposa.'" Hayden's laughing face stiffened as if he had received a shock from an electric battery. Mariposa! Mariposa!—the butterfly. Horace Penfield's [Pg 82]words recurred to him; "I am willing to bet now that you will hear of The Veiled Mariposa in a very short time, and that, too, from a most unexpected source." [Pg 82] [Pg 83] [Pg 83] CHAPTER VI Hayden had elected to spend one evening at home, a most unusual decision for him, but one which the night fully justified, for a February gale was in full progress and was forcing every citizen whether comfortably housed or uncomfortably out in it, to stand at attention and listen to its shrieking iterations of "a mad night, my masters." But to be quite accurate, the state of the weather had nothing whatever to do with the state of Hayden's mind. Let it be said, by way of explanation, that since his return to New York, he had been going out so steadily, accepting so many
Prev.
Back
Top