Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-01-09
THANKS TO A BURGLAR.

exactly why Madge Palliser was so ire
sistible. Her eyes were small, her nose
was an undeniable pug, and the thick
masses of her curly hair were always tum-
bling down untidily beyond the power of
combs and hairpins to restrain. Even the
warm color that came and went In her
cheeks and the dimple In her chin were
hardly enough to redeem her from being
hopelessly plain; and yet every man who
approached her became her abject slave In
four and twenty hours, and IN twice that
time had offered her his heart and hand.
But then, he could not tell wherein her
fascination lay. He only knew that she
was, beyond all comparison, the most be-
witching, bewildering, lovable little lam
sci In the world.
Last spring, when she married Mr..
Thomas Fotterall, after a brief engage
ment, there was nine days wonder.
That gentleman, the mast desirable
cial position. and with a mine of
wealth in government bonds, had never
been observed to pay her the slightest
attention, how, when and where their
courtship was carried on was a problem
over which society puzzled its small brains
in vain, for no one could r~ecollect a single
occasion when Mr.. Fotteral could pos
sibly have had a chance to put the mo-
mentous question to his lovely bride. In
deed that lady herself, on being rallied at
the wedding breakfast, laughingly declared
that Tommy had never proposed to her at
all. a statement to which her lord and
master assented with a demure enjoyment
of everybody surprise at such a singular
revelation.
Only Sally Gorham knew the whole
mystery, ard she, strange to say, was
wise and discreet enough to hold her
tongue and laugh with the dramatis
personae at the general mystifcation of
the world. But now that Sally and |
have made it up, and decided to follow
the good example set US by Madge and
Tommy, there are no secrets between us.
While we were wandering along the
cliffs at Newport, week before last, she
told me the story, which proved so in
teresting that | am about to divulge it to
the public. provided the public will listen,
learn and forever after hold its peace.
It was at the end of April. The Cor
hams had gone out to their country seat
at Penn Rhyn much earlier in the season
than usual. and as it was intolerably dull,
with nothing in the world to do, they had
asked a dozen people out to spend a week
in all sorts of unconventional frollcs. Sally
had three or four charming buds for her
guests, among them Madge Palliser; her
brother Jack had brought several willing
victims from the club, and the old Van
Covers came to amuse papa and mama
Gorham and keep them out of mischief
with an innocent rubber of whist In the
cornor o'nights.
There were great goings on, as Uncle
Moses the gardener said, with a d1scour-
aged shake of his woolly head. Tennis
playing in the morning, riding parties
in the afternoon, and IN the evenings
Virginia reels and All the way to Boston,
IN the drawingssroom, with laughing, sing
ing and not a little flirting from dawn to
darkness.
Madge was the blithest of the blithe.
All men adored her openly, save and
except Thomas Fotterall, Esq, who never
worshipped publicly at her shrine, though
he often watched her furtively from affair
off with something more than ordinary
interest in his half-shut eyes. Her mer-
ry. arch, sweet-hearted ways made their
unfailing impression upon his suol, and 1T
was hardly to be imagined that Miss Pal
User was ignorant of the havoc her charms
were working in that manly breast. Out
wardly, however, there was not the
| slightest symptom of an affair. Madge
rode, danced and coquetted with every
cavalier but one, and that one devoted
himself with al. assumed interest to sharp
tongued Sally, who privately considered
him a greater bore than the Hoosac tun-
mel.
One night when the week of gayety at
Penn Rynn was nearly over, the whole
party was sitting about a great roaring
fire in the hall, for the spring evenings
were apt to be cool, testing and making
merry after their custom. Old Mr.. Van
Coover, who had been porting over that
mildly exciting journal, the Penn Rynn
Gazette, suddenly astonished the assem-
bly, by a. singular snort, which might have
expressed any motion from delight to hor-
ror, and casting away his newspaper, cried
in tones of dismay:
Burglars! there are burglars about the
village! They have already visited the
Standishes and the Corkendills, and got
away with a quantity of plumber, and it'll
be our turn next, Gorham, markm M words!
I saw. Mrs. Van Coover, you haven
brought the family emeralds along, have
you?
The amiable Mrs. Van Coover shivered
~perceptibIy. but soon recovered herself and
replied tartly:
flames. YOU re a fool don't you know
hat | loath and detest those emeralds, and
ever wear them except when you compel
me by brute force? Emeralds, indeed! |
wish That burglars would carry off the
hateful old things, and then perhaps you
would get me something | shouldn't be
ashamed to be seen in" This was sacri-
lege. Mr.. Van Coover Immediately forgot
the exciting subject of the robbery in re-
Elections upon his spouse's want of rever-
ence for the family emeralds, which had
! adorned the persons of every feminine Van
Coover since the year one. But the young
people were not so easily diverted and
their conversation turned upon burglars
and burglary until when the clock struck
eleven and bedtime approached, the girls
In particular were III anything but an
agreeable state of mind.
Mr.. Fotterall had been sitting beside
Madge in the group around the fire, but
only Sally's quick eye had detected the
glance that had not ~infrequently been ex-
changed. In the hustle attendant upon
separation for the night nobody noticed
how long the gallant Tommy was IN hand
ing his charming neighbor her bedroom
candlestick. nor how the rich crimson
flushed not only her cheek. but her throat
and brows. as her fingers lay not unwilling
ly in his strong grasp. Sally few into the
room they occupied together and was
already nestled among the pillows when
Madge sauntered slowly In, her eyes
dancing and a new expression on her face
that caused Sally to look again with sur
prise and wonder if she were really grow
El-- II