Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-06-03

| "Itts sort of bach Number"
cleaning. he sighed deeply as he threw
it over the back Of q chair.
''It Is sort of back number" COM
mented Lottie sympathetically, but with
cruel franmess'
eyes" he assented in doleful tone,
"but it is the best I can do now"
1"Mdst wear elawhammer?"
His affirmative ''YesS,' was almost sui
len. ~~
She seemed to reflect seriously few
moments and then broke out cheerfully:
"Say, there's place down on the
Bowery where you can hire dress coat
or whole suit, real bang up things,
that have been made for swells and fixed
up 30 you wouldn't know but what they
are new And you can get them that
will fit you like the paper on the wall
if you take a little trouble. Real cheap
too. Why don't you go there?'
II never heard Of such thing"
"Ah, you haven't had to hustle much
in New York yet, that is evident t."
"How do you come to know anything
about hiring dress suits?"
"Why, do you think I'm 80 holnely l
can't have feller? Or maybe I've got a
lady friend who has"
He took the address Of the place she
had suggested and went away, while she
resumed her work, singing like bird
But song was far from his sad heart
Never had his pride received such a
blow. Compelled to hire dress coat! 1t
seemed to him as if the humiliation Of
the shameful deed he contemplated must
be apparent on him
That evening he escorted Ima Will
marth to the opera, wearing the hired
dress coat. Hardly had they settled COM
fortably in their seats when she began
shifting and looking suspiciously at the
upholstering and tapestry Of the box.
Now that his attention was drawn to it
he fancied that he could himself detect
an unfamiliar and unpleasant chemical
odor in the air. rma raised her glasses
to look over the house, but almost i'm
mediately lowered them again and said
positively:
I'm sure Of it They've been clean
ing the plush III this box with some
nasty chemicals, and the smell is over
powering. l declare it is shameful that,
when such things are necessary, they
are not done long enough before the
public are admitted for the odors to be
dissipated. This box smells of that stuff
they put in lamps"
II noticed it when we came in," as
sented Chester, looking about him in
quiringly and shifting, 'but it seems to
be going off. There isn't much Of it
now."
He spoke with an easy, nonchalant
air, but knew that it was his dress coat
and not the plush which had given Of
Tense to her sensitive olfactories, and it
made his very marrow cold to think Of
her discovering the truth What would
she say if she learned that the man she
was engaged to marry had to wear a
hired coat?
Luckily the appearance Of some rival
beauty claimed her attention. Then the
curtain went up, and by the time the
first act was over she thought Of the
odor no more.
With the exception Of that one un-
pleasant incident the evening was 30
thoroughly enjoyable that Chester for
the time being forgot his troubles and
was happy in the delusive paradise Of
hope. The music was magnificent, but
he did not pay much attention to it,
further than to vaguely feel its harmony
with his inmost state Of being, which,
thanks to Irma's tenderness, was one OF
exultant Joy. From behind her fan she
shot looks Of love at him in response to
the passionate whispers he uttered dur
ing the orchestra's most violent endeav-
ors One of her hands, beneath the
friendly concealment Of wrap, from
time to time returned the ardent pres
sure he bestowed upon it. In short, she
was as loving as she was beautiful
When they were riding homeward,
she reminded him Of her birthday party,
to be given week later, and bade him
be sure to come. 1t would be, she said,
little moro than an informal family
gathering, but could not be complete to
her without him. From that invitation
his hope drew q most favorable augury,
though the idea upon which twas based
was little warranted Why, he said to
himself, should she have mentioned it as
more "a family gathering" than any
thing else had she not intended to deli
lcately convey an intimation that her