The record-union., 1896-10-21
BRIGANDS OF SOCIETY.
They Are Not Arrayed in Tyr0lese
Hats or Armed.

0As400ASO0 OG RVOAA4
They Are Not Arrayed in Tyrolese
Hats or Armed.
Society is full OF complaints at the
present moment with regard to losses
Of an unpleasing character. There is
certain kind Of lady whom we all know
who appears to be unable to thorough
ly enjoy herself without leaving little
mementoes Of her presence in the varl-
Gus houses to which she goes. She Will
drop valuable diamonds in or about the
palace in honor of State balls and
drawing rooms which she has attended.
Stars, brooches and other ornaments,
valuable old lace and costly fans, Gig
arctic cases and match boxes Of pre-
cious metals and stones. or perhaps
merely her card case, her list OF en-
gagements, handkerchiefs, gloves or
fan-an serve in turn to form a trail by
which she turns the ordinary fiat pro-
cession through society in to kind of
paper chase. This sort Of thing is COM
mon. We are all used to it-used to the
worry and heat of looking for the lost
article in vague places which the owner
will sometimes locate as somewhere
between Hurlingham and the Opera
house, with dress at Fire Escape Man
sions and dinner at he Hotel Trans
cendental," used to the advertising, the
interviews at Scotland Yard and the
loud lamentations of the bereaved.
The specially disagreeable side, how
ever, Of these adventures, which seems
to become more prominent year by year,
is the increasing certainty that when
jewels or valuables are lost 'in soci-
/ i.a-x xx-,lI Il af
eternal character that has enshrouded
Hans Breitmann's "barty." The ire
sistible conclusion seems to be that
there are a largs number Of well-dressed
people to whom the distinction between
maum and tuum is represented only by
the opportunity for Conveying" the
latter successfully, while in the matter
Of stray and valuable jewelry some
ladies have no more conscience than
is enough to induce them to restore the
pilfered property when threatened with
unl1ind proceedings before magis-
trate. "Kleptomania" is the usual cry
for the defense, but the disease which
causes lady to pick up diamond or
| nament of a costly nature which she
discovers lying on the floor at a friend $
house, to conceal it about her, to deny
that she has done SO, and eventually
to surrender ii when she is informed
| that she was seen to do 1t and that
| proceedings will be taken If she does
not, bears very strong resemblance to
| crime. Or, again, when it is conclusive
| ly proved that lady has been in the
habit of going about from house to
house without always waiting for the
tedious formality of an invitation, but
Invariably signifying her thorough ap-
proval of some piece of property belong
| ing to her involuntary hosts by quietly
annexing it, the plea Of 'kleptomania"
! is altogether too slim to hide the strik-
| ing similarity of her line Of conduct
| to that of professional shoplifter or
| "sneak-thief."
| The brigands Of society do not array
themselves in Tyrolese hats and band
ages with a trimming Of pistols and
| daggers. Neither do they stop elderly
! ladies (aS yeti on the way to the opera
and demand their diamonds or their
| destruction. Nor are they hunted with
| guns and dogs across black Hamp-
stead's swarthy moor" or over Barnes
| Common. On the contrary, their ia
vorite wear is silk and velvet and lace.
4 Diamonds often glisten on the front of
| their dress, and the front OF their hair
is, as a rule as false as are the smiles
| and kisses which they will lavish on
their unconscious victims. They are to
be found mingling on the most intimate
terms in what is known as the best
society. When any article of value is
| missed, suspicion passes over them
lightly until the fatal moment arrives
when luck or opportunity fails to serve
them to the full, and they are seen ir
The GOODNESS with which this is occa-
sionally done may be judged from the
fact that on one occasion a lady calm
ily exchanged fans as they were lying or
the cloak-room table, leaving a com
mon paper arrangement and taking
away a very handsome and costly fab
ric of feathers and tortoise-shell before
the very eyes Of the owner. The latter
had the disagreeable task of pursuing
the aggressor up to the drawing grooms
ard taxing her openly with having car
ried off the booty, which the other
with much reluctance and without tht
slightest attempt at excuse or apology
agine that a less determined psrsonag'
than the heroine Of this story Nigh
have lacked the courage requisite fol
such a pursuit and conformation, anC
might have resigned herself to the los
Of her property rather than face sucl
& scene. No doubt this was precisel,
what Madame la Brigande had reliet
| To,