The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1891-03-05
THE TERT1IJM QUID.

All three were unwise, but the Wife
was the unwisest. Tho Man should
have looked after his Wife, who should
have avoided the Tertihln Quid, who
again should have married wife OF
his own, after clean andt open firta-
tipns, to which nobody can possibly
object round Jaklso Or Observatory
hill. When you see young man with
his pony in white lather and his hat
on the back of his head, flying down
hill at fifteen miles an hour to meet a
girl who will be properly surprised to
meet him, you naturally approve of
that young man, and wish him staff
appointments and take an interest in
his welfare, and as the proper time
time comes give them sugar tongs or
side-saddles, according to your means
and generosity. .
The Tertium Quid flew down-hill on
horseback, but it was to meet the mans
wife; and when he flew uphill it was
Tor the same end. The man was in
The plains earning money for his wife
to spend on dresses and 4O0-rupee
bracelets and sinexpensive luxuries
OF that kind. He worked very hard
and sent her letter or postcard dali
~. She also wrote to him daily
and said that she was longing for him
to come up to Simla. The Tertium
Quid used to lean over her shoulders
and laugh as she wrote the notes.
Then the two would ride to- the post
office together.
Now, Simla is a strange. place: and
Its customs are peculiar; nor is any
man who has not spent at least ten
seasons there qualified to pass, judy
ment on circumstantial evidence,
which is the most untrustworthy in
the courts. For these reasons, and
for others which need not appear, I
decline to state positively whether
there was anything irretrievabiy
wrong in the relations between the
Mans Wife and the Tertium Quid. If
there was, and hereon you must form
your own opinion, it was the Mans
Wites fault. She was kittenish. in.
her manners, wearing generally an air
81 soft and fluffy innocence. But she
was deadlily learned and evil
Instructed, and, now and again, when
the mask dropped. men saw this,
shuddered and almost drew back.
Men are occasionally particular, and
the least particular men are always
the most exacting.
Simla is eccentric in it's fashion OF
treating friendships. Certain attach
ments which have set and cry stalled
through half dozen seasons ACQUIRE
almost sanctity of the marriage
bond, are revered as such. Again,
certain attachments equally old, and,
to all appearances, equally venerable,
never seem to win any recognized
official status, while chance-sprung
acquaintance: not two months old,
steps into the place which by right
belongs to the senior. There is no
law reducible to print which regulates
these affairs.
Some people have gift which Sc
cures them infinite federation and
others have not. The Mans Wife had
not. If she looked over the garden
wall, for instance, women taxed her
with stealing their husbands. She
complained pathetically that she was
not allowed to choose her own friends.
When she put up her big white muff
to her lips and gazed over it and under
her eyebrows at you as she said this
thing, you felt that she had been in
famously mis- judged, and that all the
other women's instincts we're all
wrong, which was absurd. She was
not allowed to own the Tertium Quid
IN peace, and was SO strangely con-
structcd that she would not have en-
joyed peace had she been so permit
ted. She preferred some semblance
OF intrigue to cloak even her most
commonplace actions.
After two months of riding, first
round Jakko, then Elysium, then
Sumner hill, then Observatory hill,
then under Jutogh, and lastly up, and
down the cart road as far as the Tara
Deva gap in the dusk, she said to the
Tertium Quid: Frank, people say
we are too much together, and people
are so horrid.''
The Tertium Quid pulled his mus
tache and replied that horrid people
were unworthy the consideration Of
nice people.
':But they have done more than talk
they have written-written to- my
hubby-rm sure of it," said the Mans
Wife, and she pulled letter from her
husband out OF her saddle-pocket and
gave it to the Tertium Quid.
Fl, 1t was an honest letter, written by
an honest man, then stewing in the
plains on 200 rupees a month (for he
allowed his wife $500, and in silk
tanian and cotton trousers. 1t is said
that perhaps she had not thought of
the unwlsdom of allowing her name