Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1897-01-22
A BLANK LETTER.

OIOhSi many VI Which lOOh JnC IndJOrlul
form of dinners, opera parties, theater par
ties or suprcrs, nearly all given by reign
ing grandees.
ANY other girl Flossic," said her
mother, would behave as if she enjoyed
it. Sometimes l really think you don't 3"
Marriage, - said Flossio musingly, sis
full of such awful solemnity" Then she
quoted:
"Time turns the old ways to dcrision,
Our loves into corpscs or wives,
And marriage and death and division
Make barren our lives"
GLOW scandalousr moaned her mother.
"And you just engaged to dear, lovabla
Jack, who's given you that hazelnut of a
diamond and made you the envy of hun
dreds l hope you don t talk like that be.
fore him. "
"Jack," said Flossie, "has already flash
ed his sunshine, like ,searchlight into
the moldy and noisome caverns of my
soil He knows exactly tho kind of crea-
ture lie is getting-in actual age 21; in
worldliness and experience shriveled
bag"
At which poor Mrs Lambert lamented,
ooh, Flossie!' just as she had done count
less times before, and in what her daughter
impudently called her hen that has matched
q duck voice.
Among Flossies girl friends and ac-
quaintances there was one whom she felt
to be secthing with hate and rage and
malice at her engagement to the vastly
eligible Jack. This girl name was Leah
seymour Jack at certain times had paid
her marked attention She had sat on the
box seat with him in the coaching parade
of the previous spring, and later some one
had started a rumOr of their engagement.
In Il hard white, black and red way, she was
handsome girl, somewhat too tall, some
what too bOny, somewhat too sHuous Of
movement, but withal exceedingly grace
full She had ii kind of sway over men, and
for three seasons had held her own as
belle of the first rank. Flossie now and
then detested her, and now and then forgot
to do so because of the amusement that her
petty deceits and falsehoods and makeshifts
afforded In many paltry white lie the
girl had caught her, and in one or two of
darker shade as we'll
Leah, as recorded, had been secretly fu-
rious at the engagement, and she had suf-
fered the acutest jealous Disappointment on
learning of it. She was not in the least in
love with Jack, but she had immensely
wanted to marry him. And now that Flos-
sic, as she herself would have phrased it,
had caught" him, the chief matrimonial
chance of her life seemed to have fed
But she could not bear her chagrin with
either wisdom or generosity. a rancorous
desire to deal Flossie some Vengeful stroke
had seized upon her. For days she went
nowhere into society, and even refused two
dinners at which she knew that Jack and
his betrothed would be the guests Of honor
a certain near relative CHANGED to be rather
dangerously i'll, and this she made her ex-
cuse for not appearing abroad, though the
relative, attended by careful nurses knew
little of her alleged solcitude.
Jack Prescott, during their acquaint-
anceship, had not written Leah more than
three or four unimportant notes, but it
CHANGED that she had retained an envelope
almost intnct-one ON which deficiency in
the cumming had caused it to open with
out any tear whatever-and which lore her
name in Mr. Ircscott's very characteristic,
breakneck, topsy turvy cailigraphy. This
envelope gave to her maleN olence mean
and feline incentive.
She took large sheet Of perfectly blank
white paper and folded it so that when
placed within the envelope it had a very
stable and noteworthy look Then she
ope in which she had lodged this rather
weighty little packet. Afterward she care
fully studied the defaced Hostage stamp
and concluded that the letter" needed an
other. This she secured from u second old
envelope, using hot water in the process of
detachment. Then she made certain care
full changes by means Of an eraser and
piece OF burned match Finally, having
surveyed her work, she decided that it
was most adroitly deceptive. when l
leave it, as if by chance, in Flossie's
house, Leah meditated, "she will recog-
nizo the handwriting But she will be too
honorable and all that to dream of open
Ing it. And before he can see it will
have got it back again Afterward | can
deny, if please, that it is his handwriting
at all, and so ON, and SO on. Meanwhile
the little stab will have been dealt the
trouble will have been brewed Simpler
things than this have even broken off en-
gagements. But I've no such expectation
as that-of course not.
The next day she called upon Flossie and
opened conversation by wishing her the
greatest happiness. Il ought 10 have come
before ana told you how perfectly delight
cd | am and how very bright a future, my
dear, teel certain is awaiting you.
Flossie laughed. What's Leah Seymour
up to, wonaerY" she thought. Her pro-
fuse amiabihty somehow smells of mis-
chief" Aloud she answered: "Oh, we're
neither of us a saint, but Jacks amiable,
and dare say we shall get on fairly we'll
together. They tell me that your cousin,
Mrs. Proudtlt, is quite i'll
"Oh, wretchedly I'm on my way TO her
now. IN lplateQ IN So abNions ~