Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-07-12
flourish of his pencil, said: Twenty dollars. .

flourish of his pencil, said: Twenty dollars n
 "How much for cutting outs'
 "Well, ,n said the tailor, '.hemi let mo see. You wouldn't want 1t made up here, you thinka We'll, coat, vest and--about SIS. 50 l"
 "I should like to get the cloth and the cut ting both for sS0, if you could" said Minnie, faintly. ! "Wel, !" answered the tailor, patronizingiy, ''that's 1t; we couldn't You can't get Eng fish goods, you know, at American prices We have cheaper goods, but
 II should want this, !" said Minnie.
 "Well, as the best figure on that I'll say sS3. We don't make anything on it, any way"
 Mrs. Blossom was not deceived, but she pretended to be, and with another exertion of courage asked for months credit. Then she directed the cutting to be done by Alex anderAs measure, already with the tailor, and the next day carried her bundle in triumph to her dressmaker. That was her idea Her dressmaker, of course, was one of that inf nite number of sewing women, found only by sheer good luck, who are called Jewels" by feminine gossips, and who charge two prices They are said to be ''reasonable'' as distinguished from the real modiste Ac- cording to immemorial usage among dress makers, this particular ''jewel" of Minnie's did not set @ price, but she said 1t was splendid plan" that she would try, and that she would make everything satisfactory" What can be more satisfactory than satisfac-, torya Minnie departed in great spirits
 Time rattled on and brought the night of the clubs first meeting.
 | The Blossoms acceptance had been duly sent, and Alexander had been complacently a shit ho doH He trusted to his wife implicitly, beieving,i not that in two months she would create a! wonderful novel, as ladies so easily do-in' other novels-but that she would pursue the more useful and perhaps more womanly plan of calling on her father. Men are so tardy sn conceding to their wives other than do- nestle virtues. But one man was about to have his masculine prejudices swept away. The important night having rolled into War rensburg, Minnie came dancing down stairs in something" the gifted dressmaker ''had patched up out of nothing," and consequent tially bade her dependent husband to 'come up and get ready" He went. The bundle ! was brought out for him to open. It was a regular tailor's box (such was Minnie's craft : iness) and loi on the collar of the coat was the glorifying name of a New York tailor. Minnie, of course, had obtained the name of
 
 hands
 !. Alec, with a full heart, donned the suit and stood before the mirror He cast two; careful, comprehensive glances at the trim reflection, clasped Minnie to the new coat and exclaimed in many raptures, ''You dar- lingl Its-it's the regular thingi" Are you satisfeda' asked the wife, wish ing him to commit himself beyond retrac- tion before she divulged the low origin of the suit
 "Of coursel" cried Alec warmly, wishing he were a woman, so that he could gush a little "Satisfeda Why, it's one of Acker- mans best-that's what it Is. See the way it fits. I could tell that was Alderman a mile off,"
 . When he had raved for ten minutes Minnie confessed the history of the suit. ''So you see after all" she said at last, i've women do know something."
 i MT. Blossom looked at the coat more crit ically, trying to detect blemish, but he couldn't
 | Are you still satisfedg' asked Minnie. He had to admit that he was.
 "Now, how much do you suppose it cost?"
 MT. Blossom couldn't tell "Now, a tail- or"-he began
 "Tailorl" cried Minnie. "You mean rob Der. counted on just $40, and out of that have this suit, which you say you like, and this dress of mine You would have paid $75 for the suit alone. Tomorrow I shall go and pay up, and warn you that every cent have left out of the $40 shall spend on candy, every single cent" For Minnie had the woman's love of extravaganza after all.
 So this was Mrs Blossoms triumph. Not I gentleman at the club was better dressed than her husband.
 h<>fh {, especially, when he had convinced himself that his salt did not proclaim to the world, the disgraceful truth that it had been con- structed by dressmaker.
 The next evening, when MT. Blossom came home and instituted the search for Minnie, she did not leap out at him from her old un- thought of hiding place She was in her room and crying.
 "What's the matterF' asked Alexander She did not reply at first, but still kept her head from him, but when she had been wrought up to the proper state of sympathy and alarm she cried little more bitterly than before, and quite unconsciously relaxed her grasp on piece of crumpled paper Al iexander divined that this dingy scrap was the source of the trouble, and picked it up It contained atrocious writing executed in red ink, and looked like the work of dyna- lTnlCer. but lC was not so Drler. It began :: I"Mrs. Blossom to Mrs. Darden, mans Dress Suite," and after eighteen or twenty lines of trimmings, Things, buttons, extra cloth, making, etc, eliminated in ''totle $39" Under this "totle" Minnie had written in trembling figures what she owed the tailor, $33, and then she had made ''totle" of her own. The dress suit had cost her sra. "You hate me-" she sobbed; you'll think you've married @ simpleton."
 Alexander was not distinguished for a keen insight into human nature, but with so beau tiful and appealing O creature as Minnie in tears who would not know the proper chorde
 ''Simpletonl" he cried: and distrusting the power of words alone he seized her by the waist, ''sae jimp," and gleefully whisked her about the room, ''so you want compliment on your financieringi You shall have it You have got thing worth s75 for S72; made 8 by simply turning over your some what dimpled hand. Simpleton, forsooth |; you arc @ money grubber Take ne to the theatre, capital! and will give the supper afterwards. Eh3 What do you think of thatf"
 Minnie, flying from tears to smiles, fool ieIlv thoroht Alexap2ar mora adora h1a thu VI