Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1892-03-05
CHAPTER v.


Notwithstanding Mr.. Louis Archibault
had brought with him his rod, line, and
gun, meditating a few days sojourn at
La Mer, that gentleman discreetly decid-
cd, the morning after his arrival, that,
under the existing circumstances, il
would be most ~valorous for him to make
hurried adieux. In consequence of that
wise conclusion, therefore, after a some
what confused attempt at an apology to
DIR. hurry, for the previous evenings
occurrence, early risers at La Mer might
have seen Mr.. Archibault take French
leave" and the first stage for the station.
Mrs. Burton kept her room all day;
and from certain sounds heard therein,
together with hurried fittings back and
forth to the laundry by her French maid,
it was surmised that she was packing,
preparatory to an as abrupt departure.
Most Of the ladies who lad been among
Mrs. Murry's guests the night before
were i~ndisposed and remained u stairs,
or sat in little close groups in tn rock
ers. out on the piazza, talking yer the
affair of the evening in low, mysterious
tones.
The usual conversation of these ladies,
Phebe had discovered, was mostly per-
| sonal; either of their dressmakers' bills.
their elegant furniture OF cuisine at
home, their ''help," or, oftener still, scan.
dial. IF you want to roughly estimate
| any ones mental caliber," says Herbert
| Spencer. ''you cannot do it better than
by observing the ratio Of generalities to
principalities;" and the everyday talk
Of this clique was principally of self, OF
'neighbor over the way not of human
| nature in general, or things at large in
the literary or artistic world, but all mar
rowed down to a petty world Of self, and
| narrower views of other folks.
This comprised n set Of the summer
feminine community at La Mer; but
| there was still another, and perhaps even
more severe circle of critics; an outside
| set of whom Mrs. hurry and her friends
, scarcely knew the names, but had mere.
~ a '.good-day' acquaintance when they
met in the halls or ON the piazza. These
| people held q caucus as well, the dag fol
lowing the party, and although their
knowledge of the events was gathered
chiefly from the gay uproar heard issuing
| through the half-closed doors of the priv
| ate parlor until the "wee sma' hours
together with surreptitious sights caught
of the empty bottles carried down stairs
by the walters, their comments were
none the less voluminous or satirical.
..They say Doctor hurry photographed
at once for her husband tocome and taks
her home," whispered one.
..And the dude left in the early stage
this morning; he wasn't sober yet" said
another.
Zone OF the walters told our chamber
maid that lie overheard that pretty Quak-
err girl, Miss Flower, give them all tenn
perance lecture, hot and heavy, and they
all Just skulked off to their rooms,
ashamed Of their conduct. She was the
only lady who didn't drink-she and old
Mrs. Morris. You know Mrs. Morris
buried an only son. a drunkard, and new
or tastes liquor"
"A pretty lot Of ladies, | must say. I'd
be ashamed to have q daughter or Q sor
Of mine associate with them, for all they
hold their heads SO high" Thus sans
the chorus.
Anew, however, among her cousins
CAV friends, Phebe had found both de
iightful and congenial q companions
These were the Travelled few, who talke<