The Portland daily press., 1895-09-21

i1er He remem bered the affair OF the day
before and wished that he had told Edith
and compromised with himself by decid-
inc TO tell ker when he reached home. The
monotonous rattle Of clicking cars Jared
unon him, and he could not read. When
the train stopped at West Alton, his tenn
per had not improved materially, and
when he ran into fat man with two grips
he did not even beg the fat mans pardon,
although he knew that it was his own
fault, but muttered savagely something
about people not looking where they were
going.
Edith did not meet him at the gate as
usual and that irritated him more AS
he neared the little porch he heard the
sound of animated voices. One was Edith's
The other sounded strangely familiar
Where had be heard it before? He racked
his brain, but could not determine AS
he opened the door to the cool, darkened
sitting room Edith met him.
ssMaude has come, Jack, she said and
dragged him into the room where, seated
on the diyan with the big cushions, was a
white form which his eyes, unaccustomed
to the dimness of the room, could not make
out
''Maude, this is my husband, Jack, :"
said Edith .'You remember Jacks"
II believe that we have had the pleasure
of meeting more recently, MI. Strong, J"
said Maude, with roguish smile.
.sEr-ah, yes, yes, Of course" he man
aged to gasp. "Delig hted''- And he sank
down upon the nearest chair with the per-
spiration standing out upon his forehead.
His wife stood like statue of ice and
rlx.
self possessed to Jack, who looked like a
melting nolasses candy image.
IT do not quite understand, " she began
Maude said nothing, but kept her calm,
roguish smile. Edith turned to Jack and
almost caught him in the act Of making a
wild appealing gesture toward Maude
He wiited further.
John, ~ said Edith-and when she said
"John' she meant what she said, and
Jack knew -"John, what does this
meanp"
''Er--my dear-it means 1.-THE fact is
oh, dash It'll saw her yesterday In
the car That is what it means. - And
Jack blurted it cut in voice which was a
combination Of a groan and shout.
''Met her in tho car? Well, see no
reason why you should be SO confused
about it, Edith had become very naughty.
Jack said nothing. He was swearing
he was swearing to himself. Maude saw
that it had gone far enough, and that it
was time for her to speak.
"Come, Edith,'' she said, "I'll confess
When / entered the car yesterday after
noon, recognized your husband at once
and was going to speak to him, but saw
that he did not recognize me- I-well, /
do not know why did it, but you know
my fault is liking fun and practical jokes
and all that, and just thought that it
would be fun to play trick on him and
/ firt with him and then tell you all about
it. He kindly helped me'---here she smiled
at Jack, who. cursed mentally-5-s'to raise
the window, aud then he talked very nice
! " to me. And nearly died with laugh
Ing and having to keep it to myself. When
I left the train at Alton, intended to tell
him all about 1t, but the thought of see
ing tho expression on his face when he met
me today kept me from it. That's all.
Edith. 1t was just one Of my awful prac
tioal jokes. Forgive me, dear, but really
could not help 1t. ("
Jack had Strengthened up when she be-
gan hor t;.'a. aEl when she had finished
af7drf'. 't-F9- by Geo-rs