Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-02-22
Mrs. Bo7b-
By JOHN STRANGE WINTER,
Author OF ''Bootics' Bdbp,'' "BedutifuI
Jim" Etc, Etc.
CHAPTER Ia SERIOUS QUESTION.

Anthony Stanton OF the same regiment.
she declared To eyerybody that she no
longer intended TO live In Blankhampton.
There were III natured aud euy ious peo-
pie In the Town VINO remarked hat
Blankhampton rad doue uncommoniy
well by Mrs. TRAIT ord. ani tina; for her to
betake herself out OF II rs soon rs she
had secured the two best matches of
thar year was "A regular case OF burning
her boats behind her and kicking down
the ladder by which She bad climbed to
fame and fortune.
Mrs. Trafford wns resolute however and
actually before the Stauutons had return
ed from their honeymoon she. with her
eldest and only unmarried flower, Julia,
packed up their boxes aud went of 10
London town for the osteusible purpose
Of fading what Mrs. Trsftord. like a good
many other people who DO not wish 10
set mp a large establishment called a
p~jed-d-tcrTe.
II was an Innocent pilgrimage. They
puE mp ut the Grand and worked from
thence West by Southwest. They wanted
to be nearer the Park than Charing Cross.
and ia fact % be in the best part OF May
fair, a part OF London IN which IL Is not
easy to establish q pied-d-tCrre on reason
able terms. They were really very un-
iucky-they just missed a charming little
bijou residence over "a saddler's shop in
South Audiey Street. what in prosaic Ian
guage Is called an upper part" but, con-
sIdering the tiny rooms, the bad lookout.
the narrow passages and stupid twisted
stairs, II ~ not very likely that Mrs. Traf-
ford would have consented to change her
smart commodious house In the best part
OF Blankhampton, for which she paid a
modest fifty pounds a wear, for the bijou
residence in South AudIey Street at a
yearly renta! OF two hundred pounds.
AtHll events she did nothing Of the
kind: after thoroughly searching over all
the best districts in town, after intery W
ing innumerable house agents. worrying
"a greater number OF ~caretakers. visiting
quite a quantity OF fats large and small,
and generally having al uncommonly
good time. Mrs. Trafford II Julia went
back 10 BlankhamptOn and took up their
quarters again at No. 7St. Ewes. well,
/ had not quite decided TO leave" Mrs.
Trafford explained deliberately during the
next week or two, though | had more
than half a mind TO live in London in
future MS being nearer my young people.
or at least as being always n likely aud
convenient centre for all Of Us. But we
did not see anything that we liked, and
dear Laura and Madge begged US so rot
10 leave ~. Eyes till the regiment goes.
that Julia and / thought we would let the
question rest for the present. Besides
that" Mrs. Traford added, with the little
-.-I4I l.,.l sL.N 1t, l. A,ka I.l af0AI he.
In such good stead. 81 am not a million
aire, but "A poor little widow who has just
had two smart weddings to drain her
purse, and really house rent in London
means quite an income-two hundred a
year for a little hole could not get my
piano into"
So the question remained in allegiance
aud Mrs. Trafford and her eldest flower
took up the thread of their old life once
more, aud the people who had said dis
agreeable things about burning boats had.
OF course, nothing further TO say.
But although life In Blankhampton Is
Of the dullest. and you may &c dreaming
On from day to day until you begin to
wonder for what reason YOU were born
and why YOU 20 on living. TO a woman OF
uhlS. AldlAOlh = AFllpNl lCh AilNAC ls ~
ways more thar enough To fill up the day.
She had her house, as heretofore, all her
old society excepting such rs she had
judiciously weeded QUIT. aud a great many
new frteuas wno&s Aeqanintsnc. che nsa
made after or about the time of the two
smart marriages which had so drained her
purse. And IN B~lankhampton, like a
great many other provincial towns, the
keeping up OF society is n very serious
matter. Almost any afternoon between
the hours OF three aud Ave you may see .
dozen old ladies sallying forth in all the
glory of their best bonnets, holding in
their pale kid-coyered fingers u resplen-
dent card-case. II il Is a silver one, so
much the better, or IL may be OF carved
ivory hailing from China or Of ivory and
silver from the far of Indian strand.
Failing these comes in the useful and
highly o~rnaineuted mother-o'-pearl which
is sometimes made up with little squares
OF shining green substance, some kind OF
shell, | fancy. All! dear, dear, 1t is all
very funny
Mrs. Trafford was great on calling, n
she was also one OF those little friendly
women who make O virtue Of calling out
side the regulation hours-at some houses,
that is TO say. And also she had. besides
her house aud her acquaintance to keep
up. "A great and serious object in life, an
object which was she very well knew not
TO be entered on lightly or with f%rivolity,
an object which in plain language was TO
get her remaining flower, Julia, suitably
settled IN life,
In the case Of Mrs. Marcus Oxford mat
tiers had arranged themselves-and Lady
Staunton's marriage had undoubtedly
come about by reason OF the other: but
with Julia 1t was rather different. Julia
was no longer In her first youth, and she
was not pretty, neither was she an inter
esting or particularly accomplished young
lady. She sang a little. II Is true, but,
somehow, her singing did not seem to
''catch on" with the Blankhampton peo-
pie. who rather pride themselves on their
taste for music. Nor was Julia Trafford
popular in the town; she had a high-pitch-
ed somewhat cracked voice aud q laugh
that did not ring true.
Still Mrs. Trafford did not despair.
Julia had inherited all these characters
ties from her and they had not In her
case prevented her from making a match
which vas n really brilliant one, and,
moreover, she had since the two smart
marriages, come TO feel herself quite like
a general to whom defeat Is an unknown
quantity.
In due time the Black Horse left Blank
hampton, taking Mrs. Trafford's youngest
daughter and her niece In its train, but
still her object was not yet accomplished,
and the little woman began TO feel that
she was losing time aud that her eldest
flower was losing ground. She began to
feel, In short. hat something must be
done. that she must bring all her energies
to bear upon the question and. to use a
sporting tel m, the event must be pulled
of.
Now the thing is" said the little wo-
man TO herself, how shall l do Ii and
what shall I do.' and then she east
abont In her mind and went over all the
likely young men that the town contain
ed.
They were not many. for, somehow, IN
those sleepy old cathedral towns the
young men seemed to drift away into the
outer world and very few stay behind to
carry on the traditions OF their forefath.
ers. generally those who do stay are the
steady-going unambitious oucs OF the
flock to which they belong. who stay in
the sphere In which they are born because
it Is easier to do SO than TO make an effort
and break the bonds OF tradition by which
they are bound.
To 90 iuto detail. there was first of all