The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1875-04-01

"And I have felt so sure l could
never like any one again." thought
Hetty Armstrong. "There is fate in
it."
But she danced ard sung and talked
as usual, and no one guessed that
was what she WIS dreaming not
even Mr.. ROkewOod, who, with a
chosen friend, had slipped away from
the parl0rs, and was smoking aud
talking in the dressing-roOn. He
was q little out of sorts. .Hetty, con-
seiOus of her duties as hostess insist
ed on being public property, and could
not be iured into a tete-a-tete, and the
women who were to be talked to he
did not care about. Engaged men are
generally known by their bOoTish
conduct to ladies generally. RDke-
wood although not engaged, believed
hinself far enoaeh upon the road to
LGgan and his m massulins friends
VTIenevet bis Iady-loye could not be
Whispered to or gaZed AZ.
Consequently Uamseis who thought
RokewoOd charming were wOnderin g
what had become of him, when Bid
dy, the waitress, mysteriOusly beck
oned her mistress into the hall, and in
an awful whisper, said ""more spoons
were needed for the crane"
"Of course there must be-" said
Mrs. Armstrong. "Where was my
poor head to so forget it ? I got poor
Aunt Matilda's set from my upstairs
china closet. Please wait or the
stairs until come to you" I
And away ran Mrs. Armstrong to
the second floor, where she plunged
into adoag, old2assioned 'elOset, and
brought forthae fgaey of silverware
left her by q maiden aunt. Counting
the spoons over, q murmer of voices
from the next room fell upon herIear.
At the same time she caught the per-
fume of a cigar. She knew that
Charles ROkewOOd had the richest
voice and smoked the best cigars of
any man in the set
lyon dear old fellow" she whisper
ed to herself. "I have been SO cross
to you tonight that some day FIJI be
as kind to you as / can TO make up
for it."
Then with loving wOman's wish
to see the face that is 50 dear 70. her,
she stepped forHard and peeped
through aefack.S On the dOof OF the
ehina closet epening into the lit
tie sewing fConl devotsd for. this
evening to the gentlemeT's toilet.
Every word was plainly audible when
her pretty ear approached so closely,
to the crevice, and the first word
rivited her attention. The men were
talking of matrimony.
"Its deuced bore" said his frieRdl
"You are tied to wOmsn's apfoa
strings for life. You can't say your
soul is your own. Take my advice
and keep out of it. altOgetheE Char
8eEf5ok bM9d1 1lloJ,9 J9dtdQ 9sdatdQ QB4r-
tspsl iso. tsf ttas sort of x ting is all a
s %;9s sl!s tfs1s s9s Nj rHSIseSFno Prove %gssIi %sssy
master, As,yeu Pgin, SO you go on
aIld, before the Honeymoon is over,
the Yoman who takes my name shall
KNOW that my word is law, and that
hers must yield to it."
. The spoon in Mrs. Armstrong;
hand tinkied together just then, but
no one heard them. Charles went
on =
"My wife, If have one, shall have
no chances to show her temper. Ii
she does not like my orders she must
obey without liking. I'll break her
in lust as II weuld a, horse-bring her
down at once to the frame of mind 1
mean to keep her in; purposely
thVart her for d while5 o0ntfadict
her, object to her style of dress make
her alter her way of doing up her hair
refuse to dance attendance at church;
make her send regrets to party in
vitations when she wants TO accept
them show her at once what she
may expect. After while l might
yield little more /; but because, you
uRderstand-notto please herU1
krY-e-e-s," said the, friend doribtful-
dy; F'hut you zcsh't thiak how Aherd
you'd hnd it and if you stay out late
they make such a row-sit up for you
in a night-csp, and cry when you
come in"
'tpd manage that" said RokewoOd,
"hy staying out every night until
daylight. The one rule should put
in practice would be---aeyer let wo-
man have her own aKayO u
The spoons tinkled little more,
aud Mrsl Afmsttoag's ace was terri-
bly, flushed, but she listened still.
st0f course you yield a great deal to
the woman iyou are in love With, 4"
said Mr.. Rokewood, evidently BRUSH
ing tne ashes from . his cigar bnt
that's because of the romance and all
that sort of nonsense, which dies out
with the honeymoon, You eanyfind
women enough to write poetry to,
and talk sentiment with, married or
single.s AS, for Your, ywifei she's the
woniah that Keeps house for You, and
the sooner .yOg make her aware of the
fact tke better. When | marry, JoIless
my dear fellow, it will be with no idi-
otic idea of perpetual courtship IN my
mind. I'll begin as / intend to go Oh,
and be master, depend upon it."
"But not my MASTER" whispered
pretty Mrs. Armstrong, mot mine. F"
mistress Armstrong, them spoons"
whispered Biddy at the stairs, just
then.
Hetty Armstrong gathered up the
spoons which had slipped down into
her lap. They Yefe Sold, and ele-
CANT, as was all her Silver Her eyes
LglaRoed about the room, which
weai tlf and taste had made the per-
fectlon of elegance and comfort. Her
room! She heard down stairs tue
merry chat of her guests, the sound oi
music and dancing. She remember
ed that in the kitchen her servants
were making ready supper fit for a
King. She turned to the mirror. a
handsome woman. Still young and
elegantly dressed, looked back,y An
hour before, all this, tthe woman in-
cluded,r she would have given %
tChafIes RokewOod had he been beg
gar. Just a twinge of pain went
through her heart. One tear stole
down her glowing cheek. Then she
gave a little bitter laugh.
"I alone am queen Of mel" she
misquoted, and ran out to give tile
spoons to Biddy.
lit was hard to find them," she said
"bUt here they are at iast.p U
csAnd she larg he'd little io1dsr than
usual, and not quite naturally.
! gItwas the merriest Christmas party
of them all. said every one of hel
guests and Retty Armstrong seemed
the merriest there, but no one saw
her when the door was closed behind
them, and she was alone in her cham
Der. No matter how brief love
dream has been, the awakening j:
hard, especially if it is sudden.
h HettyF Armstrong refused gSnsrles
! iRokeWoed The next day. sandtks peO
pie who guessed it blamed her bitter
ly. AS for Charles himself he wa:
amazed, ard injured, deeply grieved
for he never guessed that his lecture
on married life had second auditor
nor that Hetty would have said YES
instead Of ''No,T but for the crack il
I the door of the china closet.
.bI9O ---++---.-s--S---
hs1ryIyzl Of the Etttest Among Birds
/ In his new and admirable 'Cata