Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-04-13
A Would Be Flirt.

/
her husband, she cannot expect to
have very good time at Dance"
So spoke the dearest little woman
in all the world late one evening on
returning from a pleasant entertain
ment given by one Of our neighbors,
as she sank YEARLY into one Of the
big sofa cushions that adorned the
couch of our room.
L knew by the curious way she had
acted during our short walk home
that something was troubling her
pretty head, SO preserved a discreet
silence after the utterance Of the
above remark She gave me quick
glance to notice the effect of her
words, and seeing me busily engaged
in removing a bunch Of white carna-
tons from the lapel of my dress coat
she continued:
''She may enjoy herself after a fash
ion, but in order to thrill as she did as
girl it is necessary to be interested
more or less in somebody else"
Still I kept silent, and gathering
courage from pure lack of opposition
she went on:
eff I were only able to fiirt, could
get along famously. l have often seen
other women add this variety to their
lives, and as | could ever find out no
harm resulted"
''Pray do not abstain from any such
enjoyment on my account" I inter-
posed.
"Don't fiatter yourself, my DEAR"
she said. ~ have the inner consci-
BUSINESS that have tried and failed
yes, failed utterly"
''Tried what?'
ssTried to fiirt, you goose. [ deter
mined to try it just as an experiment.
I'll tell you all about it if you won't
interrupt me and will be cal good to
me for the rest of my life.
eyes, 1 tried desperately to imagine
myself an i'll treated woman; that l
hated you terribly, and finally to
make myself believe that such per-
son as Godfrey Gordon never existed,
but to what an end! Just as fancied
I was succeeding, you would bob up
serenely into vision and there you
would stay, no matter how hard L
tried to forget YOU"
Of late, after the many social func-
lions we had attended, had noticed
a disposition on the part of my wife
to answer only vaguely to my in
quiries as to whether she had enjoyed
herself at Mrs So-and-so' musicale
or Miss Somebody's reception, but [
never supposed for moment there
was anything serious on her mind, as
the above somewhat gloomy express
! sion indicated. So I turned all atten-
ton to hear what might be called a
confession.
"Maybe you would not be averse o
being given an opportunity to use my
insurance money, or else a judge in
the divorce court might be prevailed
upon to render his decision''-
| But here my remarks were cut short
! by demonstration that would hardly
! look we'll in words-in fact, I should
! be at loss how to express such a
manifestation of feminine protesta
ton.
When she had resumed a state that
made intelligibility possible. she broke
! forth:
stNow, Godfrey, that is too unkind
for anything. When L come to you to
tell you all, you stand there and make
fun of me. You had better be careful
young man. 1t may be worse than
you suppose. You know what your
favorite Congreve says:
| Heaven hath no rage like love to hatred turn
ed, Nor hell fury like woman scorned.
$50 keep real good till l have fin
| ished
'tYou see, before / was married,
whenever I went to a dance, there
was always some one-four or five in
fact-whom l thoroughly liked, and
on whom I could count to speak to
me before the evening was over and
with whom could have a pleasant
chat and dance. So, no matter how
distasteful my present partner might
be, my anticipations were pleasant
enough to make up for the present.
"There were certain men who per-
haps were not actually in love with
me (she said this with a perfectly
straight face), but who invariably felt
disposed to drift in my direction, SO