r own attitude toward her aunt. She would kiss her,
and wish her happiness, and give no sign that any thought of Colonel
French had ever entered her own mind. But this little drama,
rehearsed in the privacy of her own room, went unacted, since the
curtain did not rise upon the stage.

The colonel came and went as usual. Some dissimulation was required on
Graciella's part to preserve her usual light-hearted manner toward
him. She may have been to blame in taking the colonel's attentions as
intended for herself; she would not soon forgive his slighting
reference to her. In his eyes she had been only a child, who ought to
go to school. He had been good enough to say that she had the making
of a fine woman. Thanks! She had had a lover for at least two years,
and a proposal of marriage before Colonel French's shadow had fallen
athwart her life. She wished her Aunt Laura happiness; no one could
deserve it more, but was it possible to be happy with a man so lacking
in taste and judgment?

Her aunt's secret began to weigh upon her mind, and she effaced
herself as much as possible when the colonel came. Her grandmother had
begun to notice this and comment upon it, when the happening of a
certain social event created a diversion. This was the annual
entertainment known as the Assembly Ball. It was usually held later in
the year, but owing to the presence of several young lady visitors in
the town, it had been decided to give it early in the fall.

The affair was in the hands of a committee, by whom invitations were
sent to most people in the county who had any claims to gentility. The
gentlemen accepting were expected to subscribe to the funds for hall
rent, music and refreshments. These were always the best the town
afforded. The ball was held in the Opera House, a rather euphemistic
title for the large hall above Barstow's cotton warehouse, where
third-class theatrical companies played one-night stands several times
during the winter, and where an occasional lecturer or conjurer held
forth. An amateur performance of "Pinafore" had once been given there.
Henry W. Grady had lectured there upon White Supremacy; the Reverend
Sam Small had preached there on Hell. It was also distinguished as
having been refused, even at the request of the State Commissioner of
Education, as a place for Booker T. Washington to deliver an address,
which had been given at the town hall instead. The Assembly Balls had
always been held in the Opera Ho