The record-union., 1897-03-12

| belonging" Evidently the blonde was
| right, for all the other women nodded
assent and the hostess was apparently
breathless to tell of some personal griev-
| ance on this score when the first
speaker broke in again.
| You see" she elaborated, I'VE used
to think it might have been the SER
wants fault. or an honest error, when
we found our possessions exchanged
for others less valuable, or simply dis
| appearing, until two or three times the
offenders We're caught right in the act,
and then came the awfully dismal con-
seriousness that really no one could be
/ trusted.
| My first experience was with very
costly fan l carried to a dinner. l
held on to it most affectionately
throughout the evening, until some
half-dozen of us went up to the hostess
bedroom for our wraps. There l laid
it, with my vinaigrette and fan, on the
dressing table, and when 1 turned to
get them again the fan was gone. l
protested, the maid searched. but moth
ing came of it, and broken heartedly L
went down, bewailing my loss to a
sympathiZing feminine companion. We
went out to our respective carriages
| together. but as the butler opened the
hall door puff of wind blew her long
| cloak aside, and there I saw, snug in
its pocket, my precious fan. Well, the
next day I wrote her very frankly, ask
ing for its return, suggesting, of course,
she had taken it by mistake; and home
it came; but we have never spoken
since"
That taught me to look for higher
offenders than maids in dressing rooms.
who are usually accused of making way
with all wraps, umbrellas, overshoes,
and what not that may be missing.
'Ah, that is not my trouble" chimed
| in q debutante across the tea table,
The favorite plan is now to exchange
! bad for good things. / am growing al
most philosophical over the deplorable
shabbiness of my wardrobe from this
| constant swapping. Last week on
coming up late to the dressing room
from a dance, I found in place of my
| brand new green suede carriage over
shoes two over-large, badly-worn ones
| of rusty black velvet, and my lace
head-scarf exchanged for q frayed one
of soiled white chiffon. Naturally cross
and sleepy, | fell on the tired maid, who
wept and denied, but looked as if she
could tell lie.
| only to make a test case of it, roll
ed MY new French goloshes in my
macintosh, laid my card on top, and
put them in a safe corner of the dress
| ing room of a house where | went to
luncheon the other day. But it was Of
no avail; the goloshes had been meta
| f.,nrnhnca6 into a nair of n1lGdV b.
bers with holes in them when l went
back, and 1 didn't grumble. since my
pretty umbrella was left. Altogether
| this season has cost me some four pairs
of perfectly new rain boots and end
less umbrellas, and yet my case is not
so hard as that of other victims. The
work of the spoiler goes on in the
cloak rooms, when big wedding recep-
tions, teas, musicales, and private balls
are in progress.
AT one of the big dances of the sea-
| son the hostess simply ordered her
maid to issue checks for every womans
wraps, and charming to relate not so
much as hairpin was lost, for at her
| daughters wedding reception, only
| week before, three muffs got away
somehow without their rightful owners,
and the possessor of a $500 sable hand
warmer found a scrubby old astrachan
| one in it's place.
| That is where these fashionable
kleptomaniacs salve their consciences
| by an exchange you see, for rarely IS
anything taken that some inferior arti-
Gle is not put in its place, and very rare
ly are they caught up with. Their posi-
| ton in society is one protection, and
their victims are too timid or proud to
trace a clew, which too often leads
right to the door of their best friends, or
some woman who is aiding materially
| in helping them along in society.
There are occasions, however where
a bold spirit does demand justice, and
| do know of an instance where this de-
| termination to chercher la femme led
| to almost tragic results. Both victim
and the guilty one had hard attacks of
| nervous prostration after it, and the
pretty aristocratic kleptomaniac has
gone to live permanently abroad
Then there isn't the slightest reason
why we shouldn't hear all about it," in
sisted the blonde, while everybody else
clamored for the story.
We'll, the victim was a Boston girl,
who is not at all rich so her joy and
pride in a brand new seal skin coat, a
wealthy aunt gave her, can be under
| stood. During the winter she was in
vited to stop at a charming house in
/ New York, and during her visit a smart
| friend gave a luncheon in her honor.
| 1t is needless to say she wore the seal
skin coat and had a very good time, but
| all her pride was turned to tears when
she failed to find in the cloak room
| her precious wrap. Laid exactly in its
place was sealskin coat to be sure, but
a caricature of her own new and beau
| tiful one. The hostess was in despair,
| and wrote around to all the other
luncheon guests. asking of they had
worn her friends coat home by mis-
take, she discharged the maid, who had
that day presided over the cloak room,
| and the Boston girl went home in a
state of almost settled melancholy.
She wore the ragged Old substitute
| around while, and finally, one day,
when she was obliged to mend one Of its
pockets, put her hand down in the lining
| and drew out a letter At least a piece
of one, which was nothing more than
an affectionate epistle to the hostess of
that fatal luncheon. from her husband.
Being endowed with plenty of genuine
New England frankness, fearlessness,
and grit that Boston girl promptly took
| the train for New York She spent
twenty-five intense minutes in the
house of her late friend, and though she
came out very pale. she wore her own
long-lost sealskin coat having resigned
fine old one TO it's riphtfuI owner