Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-03-06
THE ODD TRICK.

INA you, uedf! III SO sorry Z anu
Mrs. Corin extended slim white hand
for the coffee cup
"May | ask what SO engrossed your
thoughts?'' inquired her husband, lit
tie irritably.
Lucille smiled "Oh, you II only laugh
at me if | tell you. +"
''Never mind What was it?' reiter-
ated her husband, little Modified.
IL was thinking of some lovely
Turkish embroidery they showed lie at
Liberty's yesterday, and
my dear girl, what can you possibly
do with Turkish embroidery inter
rupted Mr.. Corin impatiently.
well, do you know that's what I've
been wondering ever since, and I've
just discovered"-
"But"--
YES" continued Lucille, regardless
of the impertinent monosyllable, 81
think it would look perfectly lovely to
trim tea gown It could outline @ sort
of crepe de chine, you know, and un-
derneath''-
''Tut, tutl 1 don't want you decked
out like a houri in harem. !"
"Gilbertp'
81 don't like all these new tangled
things women get up in to look like fig
ures ON a japanese FAM
"But, my dear husband, there's moth
ing Japanese about Turkish embroid-
ery'' exclaimed Lucille as she pushed
back her chair from the breakfast table.
Never mind; don't like it. Be-
sides you are really too extravagant,
Lucille. I cannot see the necessity for
all these wonderful toilets. %
My dear Gilbert, don't talk about
things you don't understand.
And, gathering up the small pile of
letters that were beside her plate, Mrs
Corin made her way to the door.
''Oh, by the way said her husband,
a little hesitatingIy, do you very much,
mind giving up the Claytons' ball to-
night?"
Giving up their BALL Why, in the
name of all that's reasonable, should l
do that?"
Because ask you. :"
Mrs. Corin shrugged her shoulders i'll
silence.
"You will write to excuse yourself?'
Certainly not. Why, I've got per-
feet dream of gown to wear, and l
mean to thoroughly enjoy myself. -
THAT is to say you intend to make
yourself conspicuous by your fiirtations,
as usual -
Lucille laughed.
81 will not allow it. You shall not
90 on in this ridiculous fashion ~
MY dear Gilbert, don't you think
that it is you who .Je ridiculous just
now? You silly fellow" she continued,
drawing near him, ''what does it matter
to you if half the men in the room are
in love with me when you know that
I'm not in love with them? There, don't
talk II 5nsense, and be off to your ride y
"Why don't you come, too?" asked
her husband, half Modified again.
"I-oh, no! Couldn't possibly spare
the time, dear. Helps Of things to do
and letters to write! Goodby for the
present. +"
And with laughing farewell she
tripped out of the ROOM
The smiles, however, vanished as she
sank into low chair in her boudoir
and picked one note out of the heap
that lay in her lap. Mrs. Corin's pretty
dimples disappeared and her brows con-
tracted into :. frown as she read
DEAR Mrs. CoRIN-You know of course, that
am engaged to Miss Kathleen Mayse Don't
W. think under the circumstances it would
be better for you to return me some very fool
ish effusions of mine which you still have? l
am sure you will see the advisability Of this
and Will be good enough to give the packet to
my friend Applegarth, who will call upon you
at II this morning Yours sincerely, WE.
81 shall do nothing Of the sort, ex-
claimed Lucille when she had reread
the letter for the third time Engaged
to Kathleen Mayse, indeedl Engaged to
her thousands, he ought to have said
horrid. plain. little, red haired thing
without an idea in her head. 1t is per-
fectly disgusting, the things men will
do for money, but did think Wilfrid
was different. | did believe in him at
least F" And she rose from her chair in
dignantly. ''Why, not year ago, he
was ready to blow his brains out because
would not marry him, and now
She finished her sentence with dra-
matte gesture worthy of Duse herself.
A dangerous little person she looked as
she paced up and down the pretty bou
doir. The fact was that Mrs Corin was
suffering acutely from the complaint
which III our nursery days we called
'dog in the mangerness.
Married before the close of her first
season to tnan whose hold on life and
fortune was more unstable than any
one had supposed, at 21 she was left
widow with an income which allowed
small margin for opera boxes or Pari-
sian toilets, both of which, with tout ce
que Sen suit, were exceedingly dear to
the little woman's heart Launched
among certain set, however, she was
swimming with the stream to no very
safe port when Gilbert Corin-an elder
ly banker-came, saw and was cen
quered.
Some one says somewhere that there
are no wedding bells which do not ring
the knell OF somebody's happiness, and
certainly on Lucile's second marriage
morning Wilfrid Endicott might well
have been dubbed the knight of the
Rueful Countenance. He and the pref
ty little widow had, for some time be-
fore Corin's appearance upon the scene,
been engaged i'll very serious Irritation
so serious indeed that when her elder
ly suitor declared himself, and Lucille
murmured the fateful Eyes, - she had
nearer approach to qualm of con-
science than she had ever experienced.
Without doubt had Wilfrid been suit.
ably endowed with this worlds goods
there would have been small chance for
Gilbert; but, as things were, marriage
was a luxury they could not afford, y as
Lucille told the angry young man when
he came to upbraid her for her faith
lessness The little woman was not with
out taste for dramatic situations, and
on the whole she rather enjoyed her
farewell interview with Wilfrid. She
wept little in becoming fashion and
gave utterance to q few sentiments OF
the ''Blauehe Amory" type and ended