Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1888-03-07
A HORSE THIEF
BY LUCILLE Lowell.

"You know I'm always doing queer
things, '..sa1d Kate ''but last winter
fairly ou'did myself"
''What did you do ?" This in
chorus from the group seated arouno
the blazing wood fire.
Il stole horse" she replied with
perfect gravity.
"Stole horse - echoed the chorus
t'tell us about it, Kate
every WE'LL" she said. "Bring me
my knitting, Jack, will you, please /
hate to have my tongue my only busy
member Can't find it ? Well, never
mind, come sit down, and I'll find il
myself"
While Kate is searching for her knit
ting Will you not allow the chorus to be
presented to you? We the chorus are
Kate guests at her charming old home
stead in Sussex. We are not all So
pranos and altos by any means; there
are unequal number ofextremely agree
able tenors and baritones For Katy,
the doer of ''queer things" never dem
~onstrated her queernesS by inviting a
lot OF women to spend October with her
IN a country house only to leave them
to anguish before each others ewes.
Nor did she trust to such men as the
town might offer; she imported her
specimens, and whatsoever received
an invitation to Morning could
rely upon the ehoiceness of the speci-
mems. This had been SO in the DAYS
when Kate was entirely Clancy free"
and lived at "Morningside" with a
chaperone as charming as she was useless
and now that the grand old place had a
master as we'll as a mistress, the same
rule of agreeable pairing-off was still adj
hered to. Which proves, does it not,
that Kate was glorious exception to
the rule OF average young married wo-
men, who, being quite content with
their own life-cavalier, dream not that
other maldens may sigh for other COM
partnership than his ?
This was our first October at Morning
side since Rates marriage, and on the
particular evening whereof [ write we
were seated in semi-circle around the
blazing logs, Kate in the middle, and
Jack her husband, very near her
When she announced her last es-
capade a smile might have been seen
lowering about his lips, amused at first
then melting gradually into one of ex-
IRENE tenderness :, which said quite as
plainly as words that Kate's story was
one Oflnterest to him.
~ YOU UeIIGFo III Tue u6prdVlIy OF
nanimate objects ?'' Kate INQUIRED
when she joined us again.
Il do. am willing to swear that I
lett this knitting on yonder table. [
found 1t IN the library under a chair,
where 1t had deliberately hidden itself
away from me.
1t must be feminine" said Berry,
casting reproachiul glance at Laura,
'and therefore bound to be as aggrava.
ing as possible"
ut knew very we'll you would chase
1T, Kate" said Laura calmly.
Imagine its disappointment if YOU
hadn't, Kate" said Jack smiling
saucily at Laura.
"My DEAR" said Kate, 'don't you
know they never run away except they
are morally certain of being chased ?'
Is knitting They ?" asked Jack grave
t'No, but women are. You know
what / mean"
But the story" said Laura, who did
not fancy the turn the conversation had
taken.
''Of course, the story I'VE exclaimed
together.
''Wen," said Kate, settling herself
comfortably in her chair, .sYou know
j spent winter before last in Boston,
and being thoroughly tired OF hotel life,
and not caring to take a house Of my
own. / went to large clearinghouse.
j need not describe 1t; you know that
by some mysterious ruling of the unseen
fates boarding house is nothing more
nor less than rallyins ground for wild
-ows, and mine was no exception to this
rule. There were widows in every
stage of bereavement, and every stage
of mourning; from the indisputable hue
70 ho Io1; 10 ~ a.
tiOnable sorrow. Some were natural
widows who had really lost real husbands
Others of that variety called grass
because they spring up everywhere,
just as grass does | suppose. But all
called themselves widows. OF one only
shall | speak, Mrs. Otis. From my ar
rival to my departure Mrs. Otis was
constantly on the watch for me to do
queer things. And [ did my best to
crafty her desire; | never disappointed
her if [ could help it When [ failed
to furnish her with a weekly morsel to
roll under her tongue she was positively
offended, and looked upon it as per-
sonal afront. Yet in spite of my genu-
inc efforts to be useful to her as a
moral wherewith to adorn her many
tales of feminine idiosyncrasies, she
never appeared specially grateful to me.
In fact we were SO mutually antagonis-
tic that, although no open warfare exist
ed between us, it was evident enough
that we were not friends One of the
bright young girls in the house spoke of
Mrs. Otis always as my practical
enemy. But enough of that. She has
since married, and had I longed for re-
venge | couldn't haye had sweeter,"
and Kate laughed musically.
''Why @' we clamored.
"Because she married the man she
didn't want. But no more Of her now.
You know that no one can live in Bos-