Weekly Trinity journal., 1876-12-23
THE WRONG CUSTOMER.

the money before the war, when things
were much cheaper than they are now
He waited for three and half minutes,
till she had coaxed a refractory hair to
lie straight, and then came sailing to-
wards him with the grace of whole
flock Of swans, then, respectfully clean
ing her nails, waited to hear what he had
to say.
Have you any ribbon, miss ?" said
the old man, timidly.
The young lady followed with her eyes
a lady who happened to be passing the
window, made Il mental appraisement of
the lady's costume. and a rough estimate
of the number of yards of stuff it took to
make her dress, resolved inwarGly to
have hers cut straighter down the sides
and fuller in front, and then graciously
answered :
"Sir ?"
The old man was somewhat discour-
aged, but did not show it, and humbly
repeated his question.
" Yes, of course" replied the lady, ad-
ding, kindly, " this isn't butchers shop
or tinsmth's, and when people want
ribbons they usually go to dry goods
store. THAT is" she added, pleasant
ly, "unless they are idiots"
Thank you, miss" responded the GUS
toner, abjectly; Twill you please show
me some %
The young lady heard him but she
needed not. Her eyes were with her mind,
and that was far away. She was slowly
passing in review the leading incidents
and most thrilling scenes of the story
" Irene's Vengeance. or The Discarded
Daughter-in- Law" which will be con-
cluded in the next number of the Weekly
.StuShbucket, and wondered whether Irene
would take poison, or marry the Count,
or kill the Count, and retire to Il nunnery.
Returning to mundane things, she said,
with feeble show of interest:
"What sort ? About how wide What
for A bout what price ?''
Then size went off into another trance,
considering what theater she would go
to if her fellow asked her; and what she
would take for supper if he invited her
after the performance and whether the
fried oysters would make her bilious
next day. Finally she gave some signs
Of returning animation, and listened af-
fably as the old man said : Just show
me few, and I'll pick out whatll sort
er suit the old woman"
The young lady, with freezing con-
tempt, replied, mimicking the old mans
accent to perfection " Hadn't you bet
ter git hum and send the old woman or
some one that kinder sorter knows what
she wants, eh ?"
" Sartin, sartin, Miss" meellly replied
the old man. "Mornin, miss sorry to
have put ye to SO much trouble" and he
turned away.
At that moment the door opened and
the stern manager entered the store. lie
did not seem to recognize any one, and
was haughtily advancing up the aisle be-
tween the shawl and rug and under
clothing departments when he caught
sight of the old man. In an instant his
defneanor was changed, and, bowing OBJ
sequiously to the venerable stranger, he
said
Good morning, sir. / trust this in
formal inspection of your business has
shows that we, your employees, are active
in your service and faithful to the trust
you repose in US. This way, honored sir
Mr.. Hopper, carry chair to my Office -
and Adonis Hopper, Esq., lntermtted
winhing at the young lady, bounded over
the counter and trotted away nimbly on
his menial errand. When he returned he
said to the young lady, in reply to her
question, "Who is the old man ?" "Oh,
that's the new Tycoon. Hes bought out
the whole establishment. They say he's
worth S7000,0CO. Widower. His first
wife was Il clerk in store that treated
him civily for himself alone, and he
married her and gave her $l7,0 900 set of
diamonds, and as for dresses-Lord her
bill must have been thousand month.
They say she was the very image of you.
Guess you've made All impression on him.
BE sure you invite us all to the wedding"
A cold shudder ran down that young
woman's spine, and she turned deadly
pale in the substrata of her face. But
she was a woman, and soon recovered
her self-possession, and when the obse-
quious manager ushered the new pro-
prietor round and introduced him to the
clerks she had rallied sufficiently tc say ::
81 trust you will excuse me, sir, for
my innocent deception of this morning.
The fact Is, | had recognized you and
put on toward you a demeanor wholly
n: variance with my usual conduct. |
feared that il | were as courteous to you
rs l always am TO customers you might
think | was actuated by interest and
unworthy motives" Then dropping
her voice she added Had | known of
your irreparable loss ! fear that my sym
pathy with you in your deep aflliction
would have prevented me from carrying
out my little comedy - Chicago m
bulle.