The Irish standard., 1890-09-13

sister. @ .., ~ #S as s5s.
Finally there came another caller at
the Blank cottage She came up like
one bent on business that is distasteful
! but must be done. She was, by the way,
I the person to whom the letter had been
4 addressed.
ssMy DEAR" she said, without parley,
where is your husband?'
/ "Why. he has gone to Sing Sing re-
/ piled. the hostess, wondering at her call
ers m anner She was still more SUR
! prised at whatshe heard next.
ssWhen was girl we We're taught to
| be truthful above all things You are
/ younger than I, and perhaps times have
changed; but prefer that my daughter
should not ne et you after this"
| And then she swept away, full of dig
nifty, to lay before Bay Grove the prob
lem how any one man, no matter how
wicked he might be, could be in
Auburn, E1mira and Sing Sing within a
month. AS for Mrs. Blank, she was
very indignant, and then she wept and
then she was indignant again. Then
she wrote a letter.
! The letter brought an answer in the
shape Of young man in q SLOUGH hat,
! who came down by a late train and went
| directly to the Blank cottage. He sat
| with Mrs. Blank on the piazza, and
| they talked earnestly for long time.
1t was nearly midnight when the con-
ference ended Then the young man
started for the gate. Mrs. Blank fol-
lowed him, and they stood talking to-
| gether by the post for two or three
| minutes. 1T was beautiful, clear moon
| light night, and anybody in the neigh
! borhood could have seen the young man
| kiss Mrs. Blank when he went away.
He caught very late train for the city.
Now nobody in Bay Grove would will
ingly play the eavesdropper or tho spy.
That goes without saying. But, as q
! matter Of fact, several pairs of eyes saw
the parting in the moonlight, and as
many pairs of ears heard the man say:
SWELL, dear, I'll be down here in a
week, and then it won't matter what
tLese people say or do"
A pretty woman, with a husband in
three jails in month and a mysterious
! midnight visitor! Bay Grove was scan
dalized. There could be no doubt after
that that nobody in the village knee"
the offender She seemed to have
gained invisibility. Nobody saw her
when she went out; at least, nobody
give any sign of seeing her, Even the
scapegrace gave her up which meant a
great deal. for he believed that he had
only his wiclkedness to pride himself
upon.
Six days passed and q caller again
rang the door-bell at the cottage. He
noticed with a. shudder that the wire
seemed to be getting rusty for want Of
use. That touched him, for he was the
landlord and he hated to see the prop
erty depreciate. He had come to tell
his pretty tenant that she must seek
other quarters. She paid the rent regu-
larly, but pressure had been brought to
bear upon him--and his family had So
cial aspirations, and he couldn't afford
to disregard pressure.
He stanmered, but was firm. Mrs.
Blank was amazed, but loquacious. He
explained that the cottage must be
vacated at once. She declared that
such proceeding was uuheard of. She
tried to break down his resolution, but
failed. Then she showed signs of get
ting hysterical.
'*Oh, if my husband were only here!'
she walled.
Eyes, madam, if he were, but he
ain't' That was as near to sarcasm as
the landlord ever came. He was phi
lanthropist by nature and a preserver
of the village morality by necessity.
'sHullo, what's all this?" said some
body in the doorway. Landlord and
tenant turned like flash. Mrs. Blank
gave shrek of delight and threw her
self into the newcomers arms. The
landlord looked Disguised. He merely
saw young man in SLOUGH hat, no
doubt the midnight visitor.
81 think you had better go as soon as
you can, both Of you"
"Well, that's cool. I've paid the rent
Of this house and I mean to stay, es-
pecia1ly as it suits my wife, or did until
the neighbors went crazy" This was
from the young man.
The landlord looked dazed. ''Your
wifep' he said. ''Why, then, you're her
husband?'
Naturally said the young man,
dryly. ''Ana now," he added, whats
/ all this to-do about any way?"
He heard all about it in the next ten
minutes, although it was a sadly discon-
nected story. Still he got the gist Of it
pretty clearly. Then he addressed the
landlord:
''Look here; you don't deserve an ex-
PLANTATION, but I'll give you one. My
| business is to see things and to write
about them. ! have been employed BY
magazine to describe certain features
of prison life in New York. To see
them have had to study the prisons
carefully, and it has taken six weeks
Of hard work. In that time Eve had
just time enough to spend one evening
at home and then hurry back to work.
And now come down here for a rest
and find that you people have gone
mad and treated my wife disgracefull.y.
Somebody is going to smart for this. "
As matter of fact, a good many
persons did smart but only mentally,
and, therefore, they survived and were
anxious to make amends. The land
lord withdrew his demand, and agreed
to put in new well-curb. Those who
Z, I: L