The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1896-03-19
WOMAN |NCONSIANT.

Half a dozen men, some decanters,
ice, Apollonaris and soda waters a gem
eral atmosphere of tobacco and good
fellowship, and you have the Single
Man Club. Not an ordinary club by
any means, the members cannot be
counted in thousands. hundreds or even
tens, for there are only six. No lordly
arble-fronted premises raises it's
proud front in Piccadilly or Pail Mall,
but the Single Men have six distinct
meeting places in London alone-the
residences of the six members; and lux
urious as these are there is nothing
more lordly about them than befits the
chambers of a private gentleman. A
deer for EST in Scotland, salmon fishing
in Norway and the sister isle are ad-
juncts Of the club. a steam yacht at
Cowes and a racing cutter are also d S.
tinguishing features, as is the coach
that Dicky Redgate tools down Park
lane and out into the country whenever
race meetings are held in the vicinity
of town. Their house-boat at Henley
and their tent at Canterbury are not
placarded, like those of other clubs,
with their name. The faces Of the six
best known men about town are Ike
her than all the notices in the world
to attract the attention of their crowds
Of friends at the aquatic and cricket
festivals
The meeting on the night In question
was at Charles Quendles rooms. and
the club had been arranging the house
parties for the autumn shoot at Drie-
Quaritch Castle.
What blessed thing it is that Cne
is a bachelor" said some one.
Some one else laughed and replied:
IT bet there was a time when you
thought otherwise"
To which the other man retorted
1.-The wise of to-day are the fools Of
yesterday"
No one had the energy to ask him to
explain himself, so he gave the cxpla-
nation without being asked, in the
shape of a story.
1t was, of course, tale of an mex
perienced boy who happened to fall in
love with an experienced girl. Gerald
Larondie was the boy and Belle Prin-
temps the girl; they were about 10 be
married. and the day before the we'd
ding the boy gave the girl a handsome
set of diamonds costing about e15,000.
oh! the Joy of that girl. OH those full
And what did the girl give the boy q?
A priceless gift-his freedom. Yes, on
the eve of the wedding she ran off with
the boys valet and actually married
him. For little time the boy was
desolate, and then he realized her gen.
erosity and to-day he repays her kind
ness by never calling her Mrs. Lesurge
wnen she is Nine. Duplice or Nine.
horde when she is the Baroness Tre-
camps.
"The wise of to-day are the fools Of
yesterday"
What a piece of luck!" said a dark
man and the others puffed silently with
the puff of attention.
'When three healthy men were be-
tween me and my title fell in love"
said he. "She was girl in a thousand;
young. beautiful, an American travel
ing in England
''And therefore wealthy" added a
fair man.
"The spoiled child of fortune" ac-
quiesced the dark man. I'VE met by
chance at q ball held in oxford during
the Summer festivities, discovered that
dancing together was the perfection Of
motion and sat out as many dances as
we dared l told her that / adored her,
she lied to me so delightfully."- that I
was in the seventh heaven of delight.
We met clandestinely, and while |
poured my love she kissed me with
those lying but beautiful lips. All!
well, a remorseless chaperone took her
up to town, and as i was the Cnly
bowler in the University eleven that
year-a wretched year for oxford crick-
et-I was perforce obliged to stay up
until the Varsity match early in July
brought me to Lords. We had sworn
to be true-the old-old swear-and of
course / expected warm welcome-I
got it, The meeting was at my--at a
near relatives house, My father pres
ented me to my stepmother-to the wo-
man who had given me her promise ia
be my wife.
land this is your son, dear Sir
George? / allow most folk would take
him for your brother she said. And
then she added as she calmly kissed
me on the cheek 1T will make then
hum when / send his photograph away
home-do tell me, Sir George, do lool
about forty miner"
The dark man helped himself from
cuts glass decanter, and the five others
wondering how to break the silence
thought that they now knew why ther,
was such a GOODNESS between the darl
man and his Countess stepmother
An awkward pause then followed
and to make matters worse two mel
simultaneously asked what time II was
Dreadful. Fortunately a small fat ma
came to their relief. The fat man look
ed flabby and good for nothing; indee,
one would imagine from his appearance