Burleigh's good dinners is far
more to my taste than an ovation which I now decline with thanks."
Very pale and slight she certainly had become, but they saw her old
cheery, indomitable spirit once more looked out of her blue eyes
and vibrated in the tones of her voice. With the changes indicated,
she was the same bright little "enigma in brown" that had so
fascinated Van Berg the first day of her arrival, and led him to make
the half-jesting prediction to Stanton that had been so thoroughly
fulfilled. In spite of themselves her irresistible grace, wit,
and humor created continuous and irrepressible merriment at their
table, which Ida seconded with a tact and piquancy but little
inferior to that of Miss Burton herself. Straightforward and
rather slow-witted Stanton rubbed his eyes and vowed between the
first hearty laughs he had known for many a long day that he was
practised upon, and that he intended to have Miss Burton indicted
as a witch, and Ida as an accomplice.
But Jennie Burton could not escape the ovation, for she had won
a secure and large place in the esteem, and in many instances, in
the affections of her summer associates. After dinner, no matter
which way she turned, hands were extended and hearty words spoken,
and while at dinner even the colored waiters grinned approvingly
whenever she looked towards them.
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