The morning times., 1895-10-27

4 lost her pocketboOk. She mad iald II on
| a stand in the hall while she adjusted her
hat, which had become disarranged in the
| crush. When She turned TO pick up the
pocketbook it was gone No one had been
| near her except her society friends, She
! quietly went TO the hostess and told her
what had happened. and also said she la
mented the loss of the book as she had
/ four 500 notes in IL, and had intended
doing some shopping that afternoon at a
Jewelry store. The pocketbook also CON
tained a very valuable diamond ring that
she desired to have fixed, as the setting
| was loose. The hostess was nearly III
| at the occurrence. She begged that moth
ing be said OF the affair, and Promised that
| detectives should be hired tu ferret out
the culprit. Then other ladies began to
MISS bracelets. pendants, hair ornaments
and even fans and expensive hanckerchiefs.
There wasa great tdealofexcitemeni over The
theft. and everyone was frightened for fear
the newspapers would hear uf 1t. Detec-
t1ves were hired. but to No avail. Regi-
maid was terribly shocked, ana said he
was surprised that anything or that scri
should occur Al a tea about a week ago
Reginald seemed i'll at ease, and complained
OF not feeling well. There was a STR. ger
present who mixed with the guests. nnd
still 10 one seemed to know him. The
hostess told me he was a noted detective.
whom she had hired Ia protect her guests
from the thefts that had occurred So eften.
Several ladies had whispered 10 nle that
they had lost n card and pocketbok case, a
diamond pendant, handkerchief and a tor
toise shell c,nlb set with an emerald OF
great value.
That comb had been the envy of many
ladies, and the owner naturally felt
grieved at losing it. AS usual when the
thefts occurred there was an under ripple
OF excitement. / noticed the detective
very closely watching Reginald, who was
conyersing with some ladies. Reginald
soon came TO my side ard said: Really Mrs.
Mower, am f,arfully ill, ard If you have
no objection we will go.' looked at him
and saw that he was very pale. As We
were leaving the room noticed him stagger,
and before / could cry for help he had
fallen TO the floor Several ran to his as
sistance. One gentleman removed Regi-
maids tie and another unfastened his vest
LAS the vest fell back several ladies
screamed, and no wonder In the lining
of his vest could be seen the edges OF two
bandkerchefs that had been stolen that
afternoon. The gentleman who had opened
his vest / had lot Eoticed in the excite
ment, but saw he was the detective. He
put his hand i'll the lining of the vest-the
lining had been fixed like large pocket,
and from its depths procured all TIE stolen
articles of the afternoon. Merciful God.
/ shall never forget the agony of that day.
However, no ole wanted him arrested on
account of the soardal ii would cause.
There was nothing left for me to do but to
have him carried TO my carriage He was
unconscious when we arrived here and my
coachman and hired man carried him 10
the house and to his room. After restora-
tives had been applied he regained con-
sciousness. He came Ia this room shortly
after, and as he locked at NE he said: i
know it's all up Are they goiI e TO arrest
me- l answered no, but he must leave
Immediately, before my husband arrived,
orI would not answer for the consequences
In a couple of hours he returned from his
packing, and, standing by the door, said:
Goodbye, Mrs. Mower, I am q wretch |
but could not go without saying farewell.
/ have told you the truth about my parent !
age, so that will never cause you grief. l
did u OF say goodbye, and with one long look !
he turned and few moments later haerd !
the front door close, and knew that Regi- |
I'D Thorne and would probably neversee !
each other again. Ny jewel box stood open |
and hastened osee If my jewels were still |
safe. / carried some of them to the light |
and saw that the stones had all been SUB |
stituted for Others that were not worth |
their weight In brass. He must have taken |
them one at time and had the stones re- |
moved and others put in their places, know
ing well that / would never miss them. In |
his room a telegram was found dated New |
York, saying: Have sold everything that |
you sent for q good price. Have kept half |
the proceeds and send you checks for bal |
aDce.' Then / understood what were in the !
packages he frequently sent to friend in |
New York. But the most horrible part of |
it all is that society blames me. What shall |
do to regain my old position?"
What do yos think of that boys: And do |
you know what we did? When peopl. send |
regrets they simply inclose their card in an |
envelope. We took all those cards from the |
envelopes and carried them to the card tray |
down stairs weheard a carriage and then !
another. Some guests were arriving. She |
sent for her friends, and although the guests |
acted coldiy you would never think that |
g.
wrong atall Theladies who were assisting |
her in receiving were leaders OF society in
other cities, and they cbatted and lausheS
gayly with the guests. More guests arrived,
until probably fifty We're in the rooms. One
way procured the names OF the gucs tspres-
INT is to copy the names on the cards.
pick up the tray that was full of cards
and walked toward the reception room. as if
Afrrx li1Sif
to use the cards. When was quite near
her 1 dropped the tray, as though by acci
dent AS the hundreds of cards fell TO the
floor the amazement expressed on the faces
of the guests was laughable 1 knew they I
were astonished at the many cards and
could not account for them. begged Mrs.
Mowers pardon, and gathering them all up
put them back in the hail. Mrs. Mower ap-
peared indignant, and refused TO allow me
to copy them at all.
1t was then about O'Clock aud the |
guests were preparing to depart, and eTery |
one OF them would stop moment at the
card tray and look at some OF tue names on
the cards, thinking OF course, thatthe per
on left the card personally hurried to
the office. determined to keep the story to
myself, and help Mrs: Mower further.
The city editor asked how the reception
had been. ! answered, "Out of sight"
l wrote one of the most elaborate descrip
lions of a reception I had ever written.
/ described the beautiful floral decorations.
the gowns of the ladies who received, and
closed by saying that there We're fully 300
cards left during the afternoon It's |
always the way with society, boys-it |
only needs leader and all the rest Will |
follow. Realizing this, 1 knew that