Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1883-07-05
CAUGHT AT LAST.

Mrs. Mattleway was not a very
pretty woman, but she did not need
beauty to make her attractive to gen.
tlemen. As she was widow instead
of maid, she could look her
admirers full in the face without blush
ing; she could parry an impudent
speech instead of being disconnected
by it; she had been woman long
enough to know how to talk well on
many subjects, and she had learned the
mysteries of dress sufficiently not to be
absent-minded through misgivings as
to her personal appearance. AS for
her figure, that spoke for itself so well
that many maidens coveted it, as Mrs.
Mattleway well knew.
Her greatest attraction, however,
according to many gentlemen who
admired her, was the house she lived
in, for it belonged to her, it was in a
very good street, it was tastefully
furnished, and there was no mortgage
on it. Insensate indeed must be the
man, whether young or old, bachelor or
widower, aesthetic or man of the world,
spiritual or fleshy-minded, who cannot
fall in love with forty-thousand-dollar
house, among the other contents of
which is an agreeable widow not past
the years of lady of marriageable
age.
So Mrs. Mattleway was the recipient
of innumerable attentions, most of
which she enjoyed. As she loved
flowers, it was far pleasanter to receive
them from gentlemen than to order
them-and pay for them-at the for
lists. Candy, although minor consid-
Grafton, was I'll the sweeter when it
came without being sought, and it was
more pleasant to examine the music
of the day in her own pretty parlor
than at the dealers counter. She never
had to wonder whether and when she
would obtain sufficient refreshments at
a party; on the contrary, she good
naturedly gathered young girls plain,
of course-about her on such occasions
to share the results of her admirers
devotion.
# only when men proposed that
Mrs. Mattleway did not enjoy their
society. She had been married once,
and so dreadful was her mistake on
that occasion that she did not intend
to repeat it. Mr.. Mattleway, while
paying his ad, resses to her, was a
thorouG'g gentleman, according to her
aequaintances and her parents-eyen
according to the lady herself, for was
he not always faultlessly dressed, def
erential in manner, and full of compli-
ments? Did he not like the same
flowers she did, and learn to re- eat,
verbatim, all the lines of her favorite
poet? But his manners disappeared
soon after the marriage, and had not
his life followed them, Mrs. Mattleby
did not know to V hat her disappoint-
ment might have led her. He
left her all he owned, so she could not
do less than give him a complimentary
tombstone, but in her heart she called
him brute, and suspected all other
well-dressed, affable, courteous men of
being just like him.
She refused offer after offer, and as
none cf her victims died Of grief, or
even retired from society to mourn, her
only regret was that she did not make
tham suffer more than they did. What
might have happened had proposals
come from some of the younger and
more modest men who sometimes
looked wistfully at her, she would not
tell to any but herself. But they never
Nroposed; they never could find her
alone long enough.
A spirited woman who Is nearly
thirty must interest herself in some
thing if she hasn't husband, so Mrs.
Mattleway made attempts at business.
She built tenement house or two out
of her savings; but they brought her
into trouble with tenants, and brought
new suitors also. Then she invested a
little money in manufacturing enter
prise that was controlled by her family,
and she took such solid comfort from
examinations Of balance sheets and
weekly statements that she was sure
she had head for business; she there
fore began to make ventures in the
stock market
The ineTit Able results followed, and
the first of then was that Mrs. Mattle-
way became an enthusiastic gambler.
Two or three times she succeeded for
her broker, Platt Winston, was very
shrewd fellow, as even his enemies ad-
mitted beside, he had hopes of per-
suading Mrs. Mattleway to reverse the
decided No" she had spoken to him
On another subject year or two b.