Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-07-09

fresh paint and dainty furniture, had
drifted into the current which, sooner or
later, must land it upon the rocks.
Godfrey, blinded by selfish vanity, be-
came bored with his wife's well-meant
but Intellectual efforts to please her
''much-changed lord" Her lavish af-
lection, varied only byill-concealcd and
sometimes fearful dependency, irritat-
ed him and made him more bearish than
ever. 1t was the old story. Things
went from bad to worse. At last the
first cruel rock doomed up in the distance
and shipwreck seemed imminent. Lady
Angelica Lansdell was, so she said, a
very old friend of Ge%offrey's. 81 knew
him when he was quite a boy-such a
nice boy" she told Florrie the afternoon
she paid her first call in Curzon street.
She was u wonderful parsonage of the
Cleopatra type of beauty, 1.-THE and SER
pentine, with a voice that could coo like
a dove or hiss like q serpent at will.
She used a peculiar kind Of scent. that
hung about the room long after she had
lett it. She vas m%ysteriously tascinat-
ing, and Florrie detosted her. This
was a great grievance of Geoffrcy's s.
who was blind to the pearl powder and
impervious to the scent. "Angeliea"
Che called her Angelica) "was a charm
ing woman-a most valuable friend"
Was it not common that Cabinet Min
listers met rs often in her rose-lit draw
ingg-room as at Downing street-that she
had a finger in every diplomatic pie
that her craftsmanship had brought
about a royal marriage and averted a
European,war?: Even Joey admitted that
she was an unavoidable necessity. Her
smile or frown could make or mar a
man. If the FitzJ ohnsons ever hoped
to be anything they must cultivate An
gelica. So Florrie had to submit, but
not even the husband she adored could
make her more than decently civil to
the e]nchantress with the cruel smile,
who called Godfrey "Geoff," and who
was always sending him mysterious lit
tie notes about goodness only knew
what, for Florrie was never told their
contents.
"The silly little fool is Jealous"
laughed her ladyship to herself as she
sat in Il corner, aloof from the A'mad-
ding crowd" Of q Foreign Office crush,
pretending to listen to Geoffrey's earnest
conversation and watching, with inter-
ested amusement, his wife trying to
keep an eye on her husband and, at the
same time, respond c%oherently to the
civilities of a voluble attache.
'.E'll teach her 4 lesson" muttered
the siren. with an angry glitter in her
dusky eyes, as, for the twelfth time, a
pale, distressed face, with appealing
eyes, was turned toward the oblivious
husband. Accordingly when, for the
thirteenth time, the melancholy opera
ton was repeated, the distress on the
pale face gave place to horror, and the
eyes were fixed and blank as they saw
Lady Angelica, with her most enhancing
smile. place her hand, for a moment,
caressingly on Geotfrey's arm; only for
a moment, because it was instantly
grasped by both Of his.
y ~ &
"My dear old girl! What is the mat
ter? Are you seedy?" exclaimed Joey,
as he plunged through the crowd to his
sisters side.
'Come tomorrow, as soon as Geof-
frey has gone. l want to talk to you,"
whispered Florrie, brokenly, as her
brother deposited her safely at her own
door.
Next morning brother and sister had
a long CONTEMPLATION, during which
joey tugged hard at his phantom mus
tache, and Florrie blew her nose very
often. The resuk seemed hardly salts
factory, for Joey departed, remarkng
that it was the every DEUCE" and
Florrie sat looking into the fire until it
went out in self-defense. However at
dinner that evening there was a marked
improvement in Mrs. FftzJohnsoa's
spirits; indeed, so hilarously cheerful
did she become Ivy dessert that Godfrey,
acclimatized to q dead level OF depres-
sion, felt inclined to resent the rise in
the domestic barometer. The rise was
a steady one. Next morning, when the
slave ought to have been in close at
tendance on her master, cutting the
end off his cigar, filling his match
box, and meekly receiving the orders
for the day, she was playing a polka on
the piano, and actually forgot to
wish the great man goodbye. On and
off during the day Godfrey found HIM
self bordering on the alteration in his
wife. Il was, of course, a bore to have
her following him about looking like a
whipped dog; but, after all, that was a
fault on the right side, and showed that
She appreciated her position as his wife.
It was a sign of proper, if excessive,
subsection; but to sit playing a polka
when the hat brush was mislala was an
~unheard-of depeliction of duty. Geof-
frey returned home exactly half an hour
ed lecture to the culprit, only, to lind
that she had gone to the Gaiety with
Joey. The solitary dinner with no one