Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-06-20

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"But II Bob had any other kind OF n
se~cret-not a business secret" Julia be-
gan. and then stephen caught her mean
Ing and finished the sentence for her.
why, Mamie would let him hear Of IL
uncommonly soon," he said. with a laugh
and she would be quite right. too.
Ana hope, my darling, IL ever you think
that am keeping a real secret from you
mot a business secret, | mean-that you
will let me hear ahont It, too"
Yes" said Julia, and rested her head
aRaiGst him with II contented little sigh,
"Yes, ] will let you know"
CHAPTER XX.-A BUNDLE or NERVES.
Just about this time another great rob.
berry took place, and a really awful affair
II was. For Little Street Hall, the abode
Of the two Misses Stanton was broken
into and rified Of almost every movable
valuable that IL contained.
The facts were these, After the brilliant
house party Of which Mrs. Trafford had
formed one, n year previous to the time Of
which ! am speaking, the old ladies had
not been mt Little Street Hall for any
length Of time. For Miss Lavinia, feeling
herself 10 be n very ~personable middle.
aged lady still, took It into her head that
she must have a season in town.
in vain did Miss Theodosia try to get
out OF it. Miss Lavinia had made up her
mind to 90, and when Miss Lavinia was
pleased to make up her mind to wander
thither did Miss T~heodosia, moved by the
habit Of sixty years OF giving 10 to her
beauty sister, invariably follow. As I said
the older lady tried her best to get out of
II, urging that at seventy and odd years
It 10 desirable TO lead a qniet life and that
tho rAckettings and junkettings or a Lon
don season were about calculated TO make
her shuttle of this mortal coil altogether.
But IL was oil in vain: Miss Lavinia had
made up her mind, therefore Miss Theo-
dosia had little or no choice other than 10
gracefully resign herself TO the Inevitable,
only bargaining for u house in Queens
Gate or failing that in the Exhibition Road
or Immediately out Of it,.
MY dear Lavinia, I would rather be
there than anywhere-I can breathe there
i canno breathe in MAYFAIR, so | must
beg that You will be kind enough TO do as
| wish. ] prefer Queens Gate or some.
where very near to it where | can have q
decent sized bedroom and a fairly good
staircase. Aud | wish the horses TO have
good new w~ell-yentilated stables so that
they will not feel much difference from
their own"
Therefore, the beginning OF April saw
the two old ladies safely settled in a hand
somely furnished house in Queens Gate
at the end nearest the park; and from that
time until the middle of July they wen
In for a life OF dissipation such as was
really dreadful to think OF. They were
rich and well-born and always beautifully
dressed, and Miss Theodosia displayed
"the finest rubies In Europe" at so man,
dinner-parties hat her digestion was quit
ruined. Oh! pardon me, gentle reader
what do you please TO say? That a littl,
while back l described Miss Theodosia'
rubies as the finest in England. Scarcely
but Mrs. Trafford did so-and that was il
Blankhampton. At all times we mus
make allowances for Metropolitan hyper
bole. II Is always 50! In London TX
woman is fat, she as a matter OF cours
is always called Handsomely she Is Ia
and slender, she is called pretty-if sh
Is tall and finely made they say she look
beautiful. IL she is a somebody, and !
really too hideous for words, the parae
raphists make a point either OF sayin
that she is very chic or else that her hn
face was we'll set of by such aud such
bonnet.
As an instance, there is n lady in Lor
don now who burst upon the world in tn
character of very rich woman and tw
seasons ago she was called Madam
GrnsSp, By half the society papers /
~ past season she received breve
! ! H. J ,5 zen $ !: y Hsrs Ss:E ! i, \
e which, US 1t seems In my poor judgmeI
t there remains nothing for these dear pc
ole TO do now but TO call the lady ii
Golden Calf" outright. Yes. it will
carrying personal journalism n little (
however, as an imaginative writer, / O
fer them the poor suggestion for what IL
: worth.
. Well, il was much the same with Mi
~Theodosia's beautiful rubies. Sure, the
were gems OF great value, pearls OF gres
g price. Miss Theodosia was inclined I
stoutness, was very fair still, dressed wei
D and lid not hide her neck, and the grea
wells Of blood-r red light became the obje,
Of much comment. Aud as they becan
known they also advanced in value, an
passed from the perhaps somewhat ey
travagant description of the finest rubie
In England to the most valuable rubies |
Europe. And why not2 When you so 1
for display, why not as well be hange
for a sheep rs a lamb Doubtless ha,
Miss Theodosia gone 70 London the fo
lowing season her rubies would have bee
reckoned still higher and all the worl
would have been challenged to outshin
them. As ii was, however, circumstance
interviewed. And In this way. To b
quite frank, the celebrated rubies receive,
so many invitations to dinner, that by tn
middle Of July their owners digestion
had gone to pieces and the two old ladie
were peremptorily packed of to a German
Bad, 10 be followed by six weeks in tn
Engadine, a s~ojourn by the Italian lake
and a winter at Monte Carlo and the ad
jacent towns.
Meanwhile, the rubies were locked u
FOR the benefit OF their health in tn
strong room Of the bank where the sister
kept their valuables, and did not see tn
light again until they were sent TO b,
cleaned in February, when the sisters re
turned TO Little Street 10 entertain tn
usual party of that month. And the da,
after they were sent down, the rubie
went, aye aud practically everything els
of value in the house went also.
And then what a weeping and a wal
ing there was, How Miss Lavinia shiv.r
ed and ~shuddered rs she went up the wild
old ghostly stairs and insisted upon tw
Of the men servants sleeping In a room o.
the other side of the corridor. and that he
maid should sleep in her d~ressing-room
how she upbraided Miss Theodosia 10
her cruel heartlessness in giving all he
thoughts to the jewels. when she wa
frightened nearly out of her seven sense
at which Miss Theodosia retorted sharI
ly that she could no; possibly be brighten
ed out OF what she hadn't got, a remarI
which Miss Lavlnia took rs personal ant
resented accordingly. going indeed so ia
as to suggest intentional insult on her sis
ter's part.
Nor would Miss Lavinia listen to reason
on her part-in vain did Miss Theodosi
explain that as Miss Lavinia was not nj
normally constituted In her body, sh
could only have the five senses with whic
weak humanity is ordinarily endowed, q
vain did she beg her sister to believe tina
she, T~heodosia. had referred only to tn
number OF senses of which she had spoke
aud not in any way to the quality of then
yes, all in vain-Miss Lavinia tossed he
head aud put her nose high In air an
mazda vvftharipu ranarkc af the wall ahov