Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1895-05-05
THE MYSTERY OF A CIGAR.
For Time It Threatened woeful Doc
 mestic Tragedy.

For Time It Threatened a Woeful Do-
 mestic Tragedy.
 II smell fresh cigar said Mr. Ed monds, as he opened the door of his home at noon, "Narcissus, who has been smoking here?" Nobody said his happy little wife, dancing out to meet him and standing on the lower stair to reach for the kiss that was always awaiting her.
 Queer, /" remarked her husband, ig- noring the kiss for the first time; Fit must be the one I smoked last evening its the same brand. Hullo! l left six here last night, and haven't smoked one since. Has the furnace man been here to-day?"
 ssYes, dear" said his wife, faintly.
 'sThen he has hooked one of my cig- ars, and smoked it under your very nose. Look out for the rascal, Narcis- sus. I can't furnish him with 25-cent cigars
 That ended the discussion for that time. Mir. Edmonds did not observe his wife's preoccupation, and she for gave him for his forgetfulness in the matter of the kiss. It was weeks be- fore another cigar episode occurred, and this time the furnace man was not in it-he had resigned for the season.
 Somebody smoking" said Mr. Ed monds to himself, as he entered his home by latch key, two hours earlier than usual, by way of giving his wife a surprise. The surprise seemed to be on the other foot.
 Ar, x,f 4aI 4a1, rose like incense to greet him. His wife was upstairs but on her desk in the front room lay half-smoked cigar. It was in his own amber mouth piece, and Mir. Edmonds gave a loud whistle.
 "So Narcissus smokes. My wife smokes. That is a-a-a-vice, never should have laid to her. She has kept it from me very carefully. Smoking and deceit Nice accomplishments
 By this time his wife was down stairs, but his foreboding face kept her at distance.
 What is it. Oscar, she asked timidly.
 II have just discovered who smokes my cigars.
 "ohl You don't think that I do, surely?s
 You deny it?n
 Certainly do."
 ''Then who in thunder does smoke them?'
 He had never spoken to her in such tone before. She was small and weak -only loving woman-but she had a spi-it and now asserted it.
 sfT dao1ina fo ancxva,- opx- pnac4io1 asked me in that way" and disap. peared upstairs.
 Mir. Edmonds slapped his hat on his head and went out, shutting the door with a slam that jared the neighbor- hood. In ordinary cases one would an ticipate tragedy after such a scene, but the quarrels of young married people are effervescent. Mir. Edmonds returned as calm as a summer evening, and by tacit agreement no allusion was made to cigars.
 Weeks passed away, and spring was in full bloom. Mr. Edmonds smoked pipe now, and as no odor of cigar ever greeted him, he concluded that his wife had quit smoking, But hur- rying home one day at an unusual hour he entered the house to find the air odoriferous with a brand of cigars that sell at dollar hundred.
 "Heavens!' he shrieked, as he flung himself into the presence of his wife. .'If you will smoke, misguided woman, for goodness sake let me buy you your cigars. Narcissus, it is bad enough to have the wife of my bosom smoke-''
 But don't smoke, if you are allud- ing to me, Oscar. l never tried to smoke cigar in my life"
 Hal I seel Oh, fool that I have been. Where is he? Where is the destroyer of my happiness9 Bring him face to face with his miserable victim, perfidious womanw
 Mrs. Edmonds was going from one paroxysm of laughter into another, as her husband raved drama tically and strode about the room.
 ''Oh, you silly fellow" she said, when she could get her breath, you have turned the air green. If you hadn't been so cross and unreasonable I'd have told you in the first place I've burned cigar now and then, to keep the months out of the carpets and the furniture, but thought it was extrav- agant, and didn't want you to know. You jealous boy, to jump at such silly conclusions'
 But the relief that showed in Mir. Edmonds' face, and the readiness with which he took his wife into favor again, showed that he had been on the very brink of a domestic tragedy-all of his own imagining.
 Oft-Repeated Query.
 What do you think of the woman