St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-07-05
SEVEN MINUTES LATE.
Conjugal Tete-a-Tete Before Dinner
and the Scene It Caused.
a Husbands Excuse and How He
Learned TO be Patient.

ing room and takes his seat at the table. He
S seven minutes late.
Mime. DufiOSt without giving him time
TO make his eXcuse)-When you rang /
thought it was the doctor who had ar
rived.
NJ. DuflOst (anxiOusly) Did you expect
him? Are you i'll?
Nine. DIDO You think that constitu-
ton of iron can hold out against a stomach
| deprived of food at the regular hours? Do
! you imagine that il does not make me iii TO
be waiting for you and suffering agony lest
some one announce that an omnibus has
run over you and killed you? on. Duflost
who perceiveS that storm is approaching,
remains silent) VIII you not even deign
to answer the only question have put TO
you?
NJ. D.-Which question?
Nine. D.-Wili you be good enough to
tell me If it is your intention to return every
day at this hour?
NJ. ID. (graciously). You know, my dear,
that it has been some time since you have
had TO chide me for being late. / have
been detained by important business. a Sc
cret affair which required my careful at
| tention.
Nine. D.-You need not say that in the
future you are not going TO be week late.
1t begins with your being late seven min
utes, and will end with your being absent
for years.
NJ. D.-You have no reason to say that.
Nine. D.-How no reason? Did not you
! yourself tell me only last evening of that
sea captain, lie PerouSe, who left his home,
promising TO return soon, and has not been
seen there since?
NJ. D.-But that was eighty years ago.
Nine. D.-That does not lessen his fault
NJ. D.-And then, you know also told
you that he had undoubtedly persisted in a
| shipwreck.
Nine. DIT is easy to say he persisted
in a shipwreck when there is no one TO
| contradict the statement. All, You de-
ceive yourself strangely if you think that
when you choose TO return 10 your home
no more you can end the matter by having
the newspapers publish an item TO the eff
/ feet that You made an ascent in 4 balloon
which has not come down. 1 warn YOU
that no story like that will hOodwink me
no more than your story about your absence
! to-day.
NJ. D.-My story?
Mime. Dyes. You come home full Of
mystery, and when you deign to reply to
my questions you pinch your lips and say
the business which detained you is a secret.
Oh! am not curious to know it, your
great secret.
NJ. D.-YOu need not be uneasy, for
assure you was occupied with another's
affair.
Nine. Dyes; pretty affair which
husband cannot tell his wife. 1t is almost
impossible 10 get word out of you at
| home.
NJ. D.-But l repeat to you that the
matter is a secret which is not mine.
Mime. Dyes; that excuse is easily
made.
NJ. D; prOvOkeD-oh! you will drive
me mad.
Nine. D.-You have not heart enough
for that.
N. D.-Take care, or, to have peace, 1
may tell you all.
Nine. D.-That would be useless.
NJ. D.-You do not wish me to speak?
Nine. DIT would be no good. You
would invent some story, as you are ac-
customed to do.
NJ. D.-Now, yes or no-do you wish to
listen to me?
Nine. D.-of course you are free to tell
your story.
| NJ. d.
Nine. ID. (inteuupting him)-But let me
tell you beforehand that shall not believe
a word you say.
NJ. D.-Then there is no use for me to
! say anything.
Nine. Dyes; 1 knew that. finding
yourself nonplussed, you would have moth
ing to say. l know all your tricks.
NJ. D.-Ah. sacrebleu.
Nine. Dyes; you swear so as to gain
time to invent your story.
NJ. ID. (exaspeIated)-Are you going TO
let me speak?
Nine. Doh, COON, go on. Your hum
bic slave listens
NJ. D.-Very well. One OF my friends,
who is on the verge of bankruptcy, has
sought my aid and l have been running
about all day seeing his creditors and Of
fering TO guarantee,them against loss.
Nine. D.-And what then?
NJ. D.-That's all.
Nine. d. with sigh)-Oh, I did well
to pay the baker yesterday. We at least
have our bread assured for a month. From
this evening l shall accustOm our son to
sleep on straw, for such will be the fate of
the child whose father wastes his fortune
Oh the first rascal that comes along.
NJ. D.-A rascal, indeed, That is a
strong term to apply to a person
whose name even You do not know.
Nine. ID. Gina tone of surprise)-As if l
had not already OWNED that your friend is
/ eaAesN eeiAA ntal'ANA ANAANh- OhNDAA-
/ drayi
VI. D.-You are doubly in error. First
of all, he is not DucondTay, and besides
Ducondray is far from being stupid.
Mime. D.-And it is for this miserable
! Ducondray you would ruin your family.
| Oh. l was wrong not to trust 10 my pre-
| sentiments when for the first time he put
his big, dirty boots within our threshold. 1
remember that L said at once: lie has
| his feet in our salon now, and he will soon
have his hands in our pockets" And /
was right. At this moment our fate is in
the hands of this Ducondray, for whom
! you have become surety.
NJ. ID. (eXasperated) II tell you that il is
not Ducondray.
Nine. D.-Then il is some wretch of his
stamp, whose name You dare not mention
NJ. D.-DenOt speak i'll of him, for if
you knew his name you would be I'M
happy.
Mime. Dyes, he is some miserable
bully, swindler. blackleg a thief
NJ. ID. dosing his patience)-0h, well. if
you are determined to know all. let me tell
you that l have become surety for your
brother, who has been specializing impru-
IDENTIFY.
Nine. Doh! my dear husband, forgive
me. (They embTace.)
VI. Dwell, now that peace is restored,
shall we dine?
Nine. D.-NOt vet.
NJ. D.-Why not?
Nine. D.-Because 1 told the cook to-
day that instead of having dinner at 6
o'clock this evening we would dine at Z.
VI. DAT ~, Then why, in the
name of common sense, have you given
me such a scolding for being seven minutes
late?