The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1892-06-23

| @ and damsels all over
this broad land, and
Mrs Hicks Brown was
an object of heartfelt commiseration on all
| sides.
l am inclined to think that il Mr. Hicks
| Brown had been more like the men who are
| held up as model husbands by the knowing
members of certain ladies' societies, he and
Mrs. Hicks -Brown-she whom only two short
years since he had promised to love and
cherish-would be living in peace and amity,
| to say nothing of conjug happiness even unto
this day: and if Mrs. Hicks Brown had been
anything but the only child of very rich and
| foolishly y-indulgent papa, things might have
| been different But Mr. Hicks Brown was
| just as much used to having his own way as
was his pretty spouse; and the natural result
was family rows moro or less insignificant in
character. At first Mr.. Hicks Brown was in
clined to give in, just rs all dutilul bubbles
are; but he saw the shoals of tronble on to
which this course causing him to drift, and
| concluded, after mature consideration, that it
| was his will that should dominate in the Hicks
Brown family, aud he fixed his plan of pro-
| cedure and governed his actions accordingly.
| Mrs. Hicks Brown, with feminine insight per-
ccived, at an early stage of the game, what her
| lords Intentions were; and, as she had always
been accustomed to haye her way, she decided
that it WAS too late to begin knocking
| under-and there you have what was presum-
ably the beginning of the end.
| 1t was dog-not only dog, but young
| lady dog-not only female canine, but what
| Mr.. Hicks Brown termed "measly, dodgasted
! pug that caused the climax. If there was
| any creature on earth that MIR. Hicks Brown
! loathed and despised, it was q pug, and
especially one of the gentler sex-and his
better hall, aware of this antipathy. had. with
characteristic feminine perversity, avsiled her
self of the first opportunity to POSSESS herself of
one of those interesting animals, which
| speedily won, 1t seemed. first place in her af
| fections, and made Mr.. Hicks Browns life mis-
| erable.
He stood 1t, however as long as he could,
but the end bad to come.
Mr. Hicks Brown was an architect and 1t
came to pass that lie had, on one OCCASION, been
invited to prepare the plans for public build.
ing The plans were drawn and accepted by
the committee which, however, returned them
to him for certain important alterations; and
they were laid on tho table in his den, to be
attended to when be returned homo in the late
afternoon of a certain day.
Now, it so happened that Vic, the pug afore.
mentioned. was of an inquiring turn of mind,
and she chose this very afternoon for an ex-
ploring tour in the upper part of the house.
When Mr.. Hicks Brown entered his den.
about 5 o'clock, he saw ut once that portions
of his plans were missing, and supposing that
his wife had taken them to show to some
visitor. he hurried downstairs.
Where are those plans?' he asked.
What plans. dear?" softly inquired Mrs.
Hicks Brown, sliding her caramel into one
check, and still keeping one eye on particularly
thrilling page of the yellow back novel in her
lap.
"What-what plans! Do you mean to say
you didn't take those Calumet Building plans
from my tablet" asked Mr.. Hicks Brown in
some agitation.
"Oh b - said his spouse, mildly surprised.
"Why, Is must have been those that Vic had.n
That-Vic-had! howled Mr.. Hicks.
Brown. "And, pray, where are they now?"
Don't get excited. dear Were they any.
thing particular? Vic had some old, soiled
pieces of cloth. playing with them awhile ago;
but supposed they were some you had thrown
into the waste basket, SO I burned-Henry
What are you going to do?"
But Henry did not answer. He strobe over
to the cushion whereon the offending Vic was
taking her afternoon siestd, gripped her firmly
by the nape of the neck. aud, despite his wife's
hysterical protests, opened the door and kicked
the bowling animal into the street; and, not
satisfied with this. when Mrs. Hicks Brown
would have rushed to rescue her pet he took
her by the shoulders and forced her into
chair, noting with grim satisfaction as he did
so that couple Of street-arabs were making off
with Vic.
That day Mrs. Hicks Brown went home to
her mother, and two weeks later she was a
member of a divorce colony in Western city,
seeking freedom from matrimonial bonds on
the ground of "cruel and inhuman treatment"
which she expected the court. when her case
was presented, to understand as having been
applied to her instead of to Vic.
In the State where Mrs. Hicks Brown sought
her divorce it takes only three months to estab-
lish residence, and the legal formalities con-
| sumo very little time; but, strange to say, Mrs.
Hicks Brown did not find it easy to pass the
time. The first three or four weeks, in her
furried state Of mind, she did not notice, but
after that time passed very slowly indeed.
Strange as 1t may seem, life apart from Mr..
Hicks Brown was very, very dull and lonely.
Yes, she had been hasty, too hasty; but there
| was no turning back now. She had burned her
bridges and, besides had ever Loyedale re-
| traced step once taken? No! And she held
her pretty nose little higher and tried to look
haughtiiy dom carish, all the time feeling very
miserable indeed.
Everybody seemed to conspre to add to her
load of sorrow. She was pointed out on the
| street as "coIonist"; men about the hotel
where she boarded tried to thrust their atten-
| tions upon her; and although she met, through
the pastor of the church she attended and at
the home of her attorney, many of the incest
| people IN the city, she was almost entirely ig-
nored In social way, and it CALLED her i'm.
measurably. She, aLovedale-yes, and Hicks.
| Brown, for even if the man who had bestowed
| the last name on her did work for living, it
was name to be proud OTTO be ostracized by
these insignificant country people, half the
men among whom attended balls in Prince AL
| bert or cut-away coats! The idea AS if she
cared! And yet she did care great deal
| And Mr.. Hicks. Brown? He was working
| away as though fighting time. He never gave
| himself a moment, II he could help it, for
thought. Not word had passed between him
and a member Of the Lovedale family since
! his wife had flung herself out of the house and
returned to her parents. He heard she had
| gone West for divorce, and it made him vince;
| but he shut his mouth more tightly and went
| at his work still harder. There were times
| when he had to think, and they were not
| pleasant times. There was one in particular
A few months before he had begun to build,
unknown to his wife. handsome new house
| in her favorite suburb-and the time came for
| him to occupy it, and she was not there to en-
| JOY it, His younger sister an orphan. who had
| just finished school AID had come to live with
him. was delighted with everything. She ran
| all over the house, fairly gushing with pleas
ure and did not know that her brother sitting