The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1890-06-08

generally vain, pleased by Mrs. Smiths bland
shments. She introduces the two at a recep-
ton, play, dinner They talk; Smithy over
sees and steers the conversation. Afterward
she meets them at different places and tells
each what a desperate impression they have
made on the other They are both ilattered.
The girl was very pretty and bright, and has
really fallen desperate victim-that'e what
the man thinks The girl thinks that here is
an opening Tor some fun-he is awfuly nice
and has lots of money and is dying to see more
of her Dear Mrs. Smith SO dear Mrs Smith
arranges a little dinner at Del's, which, of
course, she must chaperone. The couple are at
their best, feeling that at each moment the
ris.d-riS is falling deeper in love. After the
dinner Mrs. Smith makes more little conf
dences My dear, he is perfectly crazy about
you,' and Mr. Jones, beg of you not to trine
with that dear child's happiness by making her
fall so frantically in love with you.' And then,
as each of the lovers feels that, out of human
kindness, they ought to be kind to the victim,
there is party to the matinee, and Mrs. Smith
enjoys the play and large corsage bouquet"
"And this is how she has her good time ?'
Precisely. She's much cleverer than you'd
suppose. Why, there is not single play that
woman doesn't see, and the dinners she has
eaten at Dels would go back from here to the
Crusades She has the best possible kind
of n time-a perfectly safe time, and has never
been gossiped about in the least. She has got
this Beatrice and Benedict business down to
such fine point now that she has no rival
there must be chaperone, you know, and Mrs.
Smith is the best chaperone in New York"
"You know all about her ?"
Certainly. | was in the tolls myself for
season. Miss Somebody or other, delightful
girl, was said to be bighting her young life
with love for me. She believed that | was
blighting mine. We have both now recovered
from the blght-though mine was to the tune
of n dozen dinners and theatre parties, and
bouquets and candies by the car load. My fir
tation was one of Mrs. Smiths most successful
H.
that winter, and see she still has hopes of me
as good material for another. She just intro
duced me to that girl now-Miss Thingumbob,
! from some place in the suburbs--very pretty,
bright as new cent thinks that old bald-head
| is dead in love with her. Should the old bald
head not come up to time-and he looks
| as If he might be rather unmanageable
Mrs. Smith will tell that dear girl that Mr.. b..
you remember we met him at Del's that day
| is dying to meet you again. Such nice fellow,
and not bit fond of girlsl' Oh. know her
"a singed cat breads the fire. l think of my
! twelve dinner and my sixteen theatre parties,
| and my mastodon bill at Klunder's, and my en-
thusiasm for Mrs Smiths chaperonage grows
| cold"
"But don't the Beatrice and Benedict get on to
| the way Mrs. Smith is using them as means to
attain her good time? ~
"Sometimes toward the end Of the season it
| generally strikes them with dull, sickenipg
thud. But then, you see, Mrs. Smiths flattery
| is of particularly insidious kind-the kind
you want to believe. 1t is only human when
you hear delightful girl is pining for love OF
you to believe that it is true, and to sacrifice
yourself for the sweet creature by giving her q
large amount of her society. And after the
season is over and his lovely admirer has gone
to the seaside or the mountains even then it is
next to impossible for the male victim to con
fess to himself that he has been made a fool Of
He still clings to the original theory that she
adored him. He wants to believe it, and ht
generally does. Oh, Mrs. Smith is a wonder
fully clever woman, one of the cleverest il
town.