Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1894-01-27
A SERIOUS joke.

Aunie shook her head reprovingly,s
looked very serious and went ont
'Up to the time that we left the thea
Ger nothing had been heard of the lost ring
My purse was still missing. thought
that was carrying the joke little too far.
During the next day the thief was
caught. He was a party who had been
helping the property man for some time.
No one seemed To know who he was or
where he came from, but it afterward ap-
peared that he was no novice ia crime
My own loss was but a tri1e-a little car
change"
"Chicken feed" chirped Miss Mischief.
1.-The thief was tried and convicted for
the theft of the ring, and l can assure you
that l participated in no more practical
jokes"
"Not much" Clipped in the sou brette
And now," said auntie, "comes the
most serious part OF the joke. As Miss
Mason had recovered her ring never told
her that IL was actually stolen out of my
room instead of hers. l was rather
ashamed of my joke, which failed to be
funny, but it was gross, a dreadful error
OF judgment, as you will learn before /
have finished. oh, il had only told her
It would have saved me many year of
suspense and fear
"The theft OF ls ring ard my foolish
ness had passed ont of my mind, when
one day few years thereafter was ac-
costed in the street by villainous looking
fellow, who called me familiarly by name
and asked:
Say, man, where can see you about
a little private business''
"'Who are your asked. You are in
solentP
"'Oh, no ain't,' he leered. Don't be
uppish. I'm the fellow that's Just out of
quad for stealing the ring that you stolep
~ could have tainted, but managed to
gasp;
"'What do you wantp
Money said he. thrust my fingers
into my purse and gave him the greater
portion of what had. The convict grabbed
1t, and with that same dreadful leer
laughed:
al didn't peach, did II kept your
secret. There Is honor among thievesp
"I was speechless, dumfounded. Before
could recover my self possession he said.
just as he was going away:
Don't squander any money on your
self, for / shall see you often.'"
"Oh, the wretch" screamed Miss Mis-
chief. 81 would have torn his eyes outl'
He worked upon my fears. He kept me In
a regular terror. 1t Is part Of my hearts
history, but will tell 1t to you, my little
one. Twas engaged to be married to gen
tleman out OF the profession, but / was
forced to send him adrift. For fear of ex-
posure" The relator fairly broke down
here, but mastered herself and continued:
II was ambitious and had talent. /
made q great deal of money, but that
blackmailing wretch got the most Of It, It
was nothing but give, givei His demands
never ceased and increased with my pro-
fessional prosperity.
~ have told you Of my love. That
scoundrel learned of my approaching
marriage, forbade 1t and declared, Il want
you for myselfP"
"Horrors" groaned the sou brette.
81 had to give up my lover. broke his
heart-I know it. He died years and years
ago, when you were a child.
"Wherever went for years that villain
pursued me. No matter how great my
success, no matter what figure my salary
reached, the great bulk of 1t went the way
of thousands before 1t.
Zone day he came to the place where
was living and insisted on seeing me. The
convict brought with him diamond neck
lace Of great magnifcence and enormous
value.
See, he said, this is for wedding
present-for our wedding
81 threw them from me with indigna-
tion. He picked them up and fairly
screamed: Il stole them for you'll You know
how to appreciate anything that Is stolen
"Then, as he saw that / would not take
them, he leered, well, as you don't want
them, do thrust them into his pocket
and stalked out. That was the last time
that / ever saw him. That very night he
was engaged in a burglary, was detected
by the police and in attempting to escape
was shot and mortally wounded"
"Bullyp exclaimed Miss Mischief.
"That is all there Is to tell, child. You
are the only one who knows why am sin
gle today, why am playing old women
and never was a star, as deserved to be-"
Miss Mischief looked glum and said,
"Auntie, it was indeed A Serious joke"
Amusement Globe.