The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1893-08-26


station, and the train gone like a fash
she realized for the first time that
she had task on her hands such as she
had not contemplated.
1t was all well enough to become
violently and righteously indignant at
Mr.. Pilsbury's outrageous desertion of
his wife and family, and to VOW VEN
geance upon the prepossessing servant
girl, who had disappeared as suddenly
and as mysteriously as he had-and at
the very same time, too. But that
neither brought the deceitful husband
within range of Mrs. Bob Pilsbury's
thoroughly prepared tongue, nor the
saucy and pretty face of the house
maid-though Mrs. Pilsbury strenu-
ously denied that such creature
could be pretty-within reach of the
lady's finger-nails--supposing, of course,
that the charming little mistress of Rose
cottage could SO far forget herself.
But there she was, was Mrs. Pilsbury,
and Portsmouth was not Ciderville.
Mrs Pilsbury was made painfully
aware of this latter fact in about three
minutes, when she perceived thai not
single man, woman or child in all the
crowd at the station seemed to pay the
slightest attention to her-something
that she could not remember ever to
have happened to her at home, 'in her
born days." as she afterward expressed
It. No, she was in real city now,
where every body did not know every
body else, and where nobody at all
knew her, or cared button for her or
the great wrong that, but day before,
had excited all Ciderville and the sur
rounding country.
But Mrs. Pilsbury was shortly moved
to action by the recalling of the taunt
of that hateful Mrs. January-that
"she would soon settle her husband, if
he had eloped with the servant-girl,
with something more effective than
tears!"
Mrs. Pilsbury waited a moment, till
the busy ticket agent seemed to have a
seconds rest from the inquisitions of
the ever-inquiring public, and then ap-
preached him timidly with the direct
question::
''Did you see tall, dark-loolsing gen.
tleman with side whiskers get off the
early morning train from Ciderville?"
Accompanied by rather pretty
looking young lady-tall and blonde,
and"
Mrs. Pilsbury had to catch her
breath.
"Yesr was all she could gasp, though
she wanted to deny the ''pretty-look-
And wearing light blue hat,
with large ostrich feather"
"Yes!" gasped the poor little woman
again, and this time harder.
And did she have very pleasant
smile?" asked the ticket agent, evident
ly interested.
This was too much.
"The hussey!" exclaimed the indig-
nant little Mrs. Bob Pilsbury. very
much to the establishment of the man
of the tickets.
Before he had an opportunity, how
ever, to elicit further information than
the mere fact that the tall blonde
young lady was, according to the
sweet-faced distressed little woman at
the window, "hussey," Mrs. Bob had
diappeared through the door.
A sudden rush of the throng, and
some screaming on the part of the fe-
male portion of 1t, had caused her to
run suddenly out into the street with
the rest to see what the excitement
was.
Flames were bursting out of the up-
per window of large chair-factory on |
the block below, and engines were
tearing down the street, followed by
the usual crowd. Soon the street was
black with heads.
One of those heads belonged to the |
husband of Mrs. Bob Pilsbury. Though |
only rear view was obtainable, the |
excited. euterprising little mistress ct ]