Morning journal and courier., 1890-05-22
A Positive Woman.

hE5 IIlAOAO StOON HI AAoAg VI sh0 pAoA" glass trying on new bonnet. She was plump little woman, with @ fair, baby like face, and no one could blame her for gaxang at herself with some complacency, for the dainty bit of millinery perched over the curly brown bang was exceedingly becoming. "There'll be nothing like it in Hutchin- ville," she said to berself with thrill of pride, and her fingers meanwhile futtered like humming- birds among the trimmings, touching here flower and there loop. She was going to Hutchinville the next week, for the first time since marriage, to spend few days with her mother, and the | bonnet had been selected from Madame Le Grande's latest importstions with view to dazzling her rural friends. 1T only hope nothing will happen to it be- l fore get there," was her thought as she | turned at last from the mirror.
 She even denied herself the pleasure of wearing 1t to church the next day, fearing a | shower, for the skies were lowering. To l facs her city acquaintances for one more
 Sunday in the bonnet that she had already | worn whole season required far less l strength Of mind than to take her seat in l the little Hutchinville church conscious that | her bonnet, robbed of its pristine freshness,
 was being bounced upon by every eye in the congregation; but she could not resist putt
 ting it on to let Jack see how he liked it.
 ''It's pretty we'll up in the world," said
 Jack, viewing it critically, with his hands | behind him; "but that seems to ba the fash- ion in head gear nowadays. And really, on
 your head, my dear, 1t looks remarkably l well.''
 Mrs. Prindle preened for moment before the glass. She was almost tempted to wear it after all, but a warning plash on the win
 dow kept her from yielding.
 "I won't risk it," she said; and putting
 the bonnet back in it's nest, she stood on tip
 toe and pushed the bandbox in place on the | upper shelf of the wardrobe.
 l Hutchinville was nights journey by
 boat, and the next day proving stormy, Mrs. Pripdle, in terror of sea-sickness, decided to defer her trip; but with the waning of the
 afternoon the wind suddenly shifted, the
 clouds parted and the sun burst forth like a
 monarch newly crowned. If it was going to
 be fair night it would be too bad to disap- point her mother, who she knew would be looking for her the next morning, and or-
 dering a carriage at the last moment, she
 hastily gathered up her baggage and depart
 ed.
 | She was a methodical little woman, and
 even for the short time that she was to oc.
 cupy her state-room she wanted "a place fol
 every thing and everything in it's place." but
 on boarding the boat she met an invalid l friend who detained her for half an hour ol l more In the ladies' cabin, and before shs ! could arrange her belongings in her state l room the caprlclOUS HluQ naQ VeereQ 6S2ln She stood for moment at the window try f ing to persuade herself that there was nt cause for uneasiness, but the rain was already , driving against the deck, and the increas ing roughness soon compelled her to take re 3 fuge in her berth.
 ) To all those on board who were predis 7 posed to sea sickness it was night of woe l and when, the next morning, Mrs. Psiadle
 took ths stage for Hutchinville, the little village being about three miles inland, she was tco exhausted to give thought to hel 5 baggage; even the precious bonnet had fol the moment drifted out Of her mind, and il t was not until she aiighted at her mothers door that the discovery WAS made that the bandbox WAS missing.
 ! With nasty greetings and equally hasty di ractions as to where to find the box, he1
 brother Tom was dispatched on horseback to 5 l the boat, and in disturbed state of temper and nerves Mrs. Prindle seated herself at the breakfast table.
 1T wouldn't worry about it, Phebs," said [ her mother; ''itll be all right if you left il in your state-room."
 But Tom shortly came gallop1ng back with the information that the state room had been searched in vain; not box of any kind 2 was to be found.
 , "Then that maid must have taken 1t, , Mrs. Prindle declared. "She had to go rum. t maging among my things last night for my
  l took her eye."
 ssMore likely it slipped overheard wher they were bringing your traps ashore," re- 5 marked Tom, with boys repngnance to 8 having people suspected. !, But Mrs. Prindle convinced that the hand 8 box was in the waiting-maid's possession, in t sisted on going herself to see the captain. l The captain. who had just risen from @ breakfast when the carryall stopped at the
 gate, listened to Mrs. Prindle's story witt 2 courteous patience. Mrs. Bates had been or r the boat for thirteen years, he said, and h' t had never had cause to suspect her honesty Q but he was more than willing to investigat, h the matter. It was possible that Mrs. Bate :. had taken the box to her own room simpl. s for safe keeping, he suggested. r. But Mrs. Bates, who had just finished put 1t ting in order the state-room Mrs. Prindl !, had occupied, denied all knowledge of tn r bandbox, and was 50 indignant over Mrs