The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-05-08

Miss Rosie Wray was the prettiest actress
engaged at the Royal Shakespeare Theater.
and Punch, her ~black-and-tan terrier pup
py, was the prettiest doggie at the Shak-
speare. or any other thester, OF anywhere
IN the WIDE. wide world. Rosie would have
asserted. affirmed. and, if need have been.
sworn to the truth, the unexaggerated
truth. of the last statement. with her soft.
tiny white hand on the Bible. against all
omers. Such a gOlden-curled. laughing
eyed. cherry-lipped creature-ROsie-wIth
o face all dimpled smiles and saucy charm,
with q figure that made all the other girls
turn green with envy-so Rosie firmly
belieyed-and she knew how TO set
1t of and show it. the cunning little
mink. on the stage or Oft the stage. In cos
tune OF in everyday dress. Rosie knew
that she was lovely ana sweet. and an
angel, and a fairy, and heaven knows
what, but 1t was something amazingly
nice. Lots of fellows had told her that.
but she believed it most willingly when the
hOneyed compliment came from the lips of
Harry Trench, the handsome ieune premier
of the Shakespeare. the altogether incest
man in the profession. so again Rosie would
have sworn. Rosie was great at superla-
tives. but she was an altogether exception
al little woman. In her loves, as in her
pretty little hates-and she could hate,
pretty Rosie could-when she once started
she travelled the whole distance. as our
American friends would say.
Punch was q present from Harry. and.
therefore, doubly sweet. and q love and a
wondor. He had been originally Harry's
dog, and Harry had brought him to re-
hearsal. and the doggie ran about the place
and played with every body and every
thing, and Rosie fell in love with Punch
first of all. and with his master directly
afterward. Then Punch's master made up
The family party by tumbling head over
ears into the sweet passion over Rosie's
cleaning eyes. And they loved one an
other. all the three did-ROsie. and Harry,
n P~unch-and each one would have de-
Tended the other-Punch not being by any
means the least pugnaclous of the trio
and it goes without saying hat they were
never really happy except when they were
ell three together.
Now / will let the reader into q secret.
IL was q secret, q real secret, and it was
pot to be divulged to q living soul, but l
~ RC8 ~ ~ NaesN
would be q shame; therefore. / Will whisper
IL ever so softly.
Harry and Rosie were engaged. Nobody
knew IL. not even Jane, Rosie's maid, and
what she did not know about ROsie's at
fairs was seldom worth knowing. l have
IN idea that Punch knew it. / would not at
random swear to my statement, but if
the doggie did not know il be
must have been q very naive, silly little
doggIe indeed. For of all the kisses that
exploded over his head. and the checks
shat famed, and the glittering eyes that
danced over him whilst he lay on ROsIe's
lap, with his muZZle on his little brown,
black peneiled paws, making believe that
he was asleep-surely he must have known
that Rosie would not have permitted Harry
20 SIT by her side with his arm around her
waist II they had not been engaged.
Aud yet Punch was q wretch. Rose
stated that fact times after times, and
kissed him as she stated 1t. Nothing was
safe from him. unless it was hung or
slowed away out of bis reach, or too heavy
Tor him To move. Rosie would a off q
pair of silken stockings before going to bed
at night. and find only one In the morning.
The other would be discovered, half an
hour afterwards. behind the big Japanese
fan that closed In the d~rawing-room
slippers, O pink satin pair and O pale blue
pair with gold beads. When Rosie came
home from the theater at night she would
IND one pink slipper underneath the bed
and the other among the jugs of the toilet
table; n blue one would be lying on the
STAIRS and its companion would have TO be
hunted for among the geraniums, and cal
ceolaries. and fuchsias at the open dining
room
But then-so Rosie affirmed with q face
rs serious as q j~udges-Punch never ate or
destroyed anything. Now and then his
sharp little teeth would mark things, and
rather spoil their appearance. but surely
&c was not Punch's fault that his little
RaQNh UaEa an 49, I~Ae@
certain that he did not mean to spoil
things. lie played with them, that was
al. He tossed them about and jumped on
them. and smacked them with his little
paws. and raced around the garden with
them In his mouth. and now and then
shook them as he would have shaken q rat.
but he never meant to harm them. We
all want our little amusement, SO why
shouldn't Punch have hist This with q de-
liant toss of tho sunshiny curls. Who was
there likely To be bold enough. or marble
hearted enough to contradict SO fair q
challenger
Rosie lived in a pretty bijou cottage that
stood IN the center of n leafy garden In st.
johns Wood. lt was as trim. as neat, and
as coy a little home as even a young lady
with RosIe's tastes for the artistic and the
beautiful could wish for. A hoary brick
wall. grown a deep greyish-brown with
age, and smothered on the garden side with
clematis and travellers Joy. surrounded il
on all sides; two great pear trees and nigh
on n dozen lilacs and laburnums tempered
the monday heat with their uLnbrage.
Rosie herself had s~uperintended and
helped In the construction of q rockery,
vnere royal fern. harris tongue and Brit.
fsh maiden-hair sprang in graceful green
cry among a multitude of stonecrop, and
primrose, and violet plants-a wonderful
climbing gloire de Dion rose covered the
porch aud the lower part of the cottage,
whilst q little lawn. kept as green and as
smooth as q billiard table, was ready for
croquet. The interior of the little cottage
was = perfect wonder of feminine taste
IN decoration, and fitting and furn-
ishlng. Rosie's mother dead and
gone these two years, poor lady
had collected all the hundred little
knick-knacks and souvenirs. pictures, stat
uettes. screens. and odds and ends that go
30 lar To make q home look hOme-like and
inhabited Rosie was pretty well OF. Her
salary OF six pounds q week was more than
she spent. and had a little income besides.
oequeathed to her by her mother. The lit
Tie cottage was held on lease at O very tri-
Ming rent indeed. and. as Rosie had every
Ilgnt TO nope that her salary would in
crease and keep increasing with her grow
ing reputation. care and it's attendant
enngs were unknown at as the
little nook was called.
Thus IL may be readily imagined tba,
with her cottage. and her garden, and her
marry, ana her Puneh. Rosie was as happy
a the DAY was long. Her parts were heI
only little worry. for she was not a ouick
study. and she was always nervous. and
never could act Of rehearsal, and thereby
got herself involved inmany a little souab.
Die with her manager and the stage man.
ager until they came to understand Rosie
humorous peculIaTlty. and overlooked liz
ehe could always be relied upon to make q
-