Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1897-04-22
ADVENTURE In ACAB.

so timid, so irresponsible, as Marquis
Suetone Amentor de Longuerne. My
hero possesses a heroine, that is to say,
a legitimate heroine, 24-year-old her
,oine, as beautiful as you might wish and
as unmusical as you can imagine. From
the rising of the sun till the last flicker
of the nightlamp, she was constantly at
the piano. She Strummed with such
untiring zeal that it was impossible to
keep servants in the house. There
were times when the marquis, surfeited
with Schumann, tortured by Mendels-
sohn, and dead weary of Saint-Saens,
even envied the good fortune of his
servants, who could escape the instru-
ment of torture.
Twill the marquis please settle my
account"
"Are you going to leave us?" ..,..
Eyes, sir, on account Of"
"The pianoP know-you have had
enough of it,"
IF it were only enough, 1 could stand
it, but it's too much; it is driving me
crazy"
Il understand"
'YoH are not angry, them"
1.-THE deuce, no! but how can I re-
place your"
81 know a man who would suit the
piace-he is quite deaf"
Lucky dog!"
Even the neighbors were driven to re-
'bellion. Petitions and threatening let
teTs poured in daily, until at last the
poor marquis determined to move to
some isolated quarter near the bar
racks, where the cornetists and drum
mers were sent to practice scales.
1t is scarcely to be credited, but the
marquis deeply deplored the absence of
a better rival to his wife's affection than
the piano. He hated it with a deadly
hatred, and it is not surprising that he
seized the opportunity to escape when
the misguided virtuosa said to him:
"Can l count upon your escort Mon
day evening, dear? I have promised to
play fantasia from Henry VIII at
Nine. la Marechale's. Are you fond of
Henry WHIP"
"Yes-since I've learned to feel for
him"
The intended sarcasm passed unno-
ticed his wife thought he alluded to
the bold harmonies of the modern
school.
The marchioness, however, was
obliged to go unattended to Nine. la
Marechaie's. Monday evening at ten
o'clock, she dropped her husband at his
club, and, extending the soft little hand
that was so soon to torture poor Henry
VIII" she said to him:
''Will you call for me? play at half
past II. No applause would give me so
much pleasure as yours"
The marquis bent his head over the
extended hand, and disappeared with
out a word.
He played at the club and lost, so
heavily, in fact, that he soon found him
self wishing he had gone to the recep-
ton, thinking that even Henry VIII"
would be preferable to this. From
''Henry WILL" to thinking of his wife
was but a short step, and he deter
mined to go after her. For you will re-
member that Elizabeth Aida Marcel
line de Longuerne, away from piano,
was a very charming little woman.
Hardly conscious of what he was do
ing. the marquis allowed himself to be
driven to the house of Nine Ia Mare
chale. Not caring to enter at once, he
remained outside, listening to the hid
eous Fantasia being performed by his
wife. st is half past eleven" he thought
to himself. 1T is she playing-those
diScordS are unmiStakable. Anne
Boleyn and Catherine Howard are at last
avenged. Henry the Eighth, go thou
to thine execution"
The noise of a passing cab momen-
tarily drowned the sound of the piano,
and the marquis forgot his wife's mu-
steal shortcomings in mental contem-
plation of her shoulder, her arms, her
eyes. her luxuriant hair, and her other
PROJECTIONS. This vision appealed to his
aesthetic side. He felt that he had been
too exacting in the face of so many al.
Turing charms.
"Dy Apollo! if a piece of ill-luck
should come my way, I'd get no more
than / richly deserve. What if her heart
is wrapped up in those little black
y
loves me with constancy that is really
touching. l can put up with little
music: at any rate, l shall not care the
less for her on account of it. Poo
woman. how abominably she plays
But they applaud her. And II have
played the coward. will wait outsid,
here for her, if it takes an hour, to maxi
mp for it,"
But his ardor was doomed to be damp
ened by fine. seld rain that now begaI
to fall SuetoLs Amentor grew impa
sient and was CONSCIOUS that he was get
ting tired. Ha Nad waited full hall
hour. just then he noticed coup
ccme out of the courtyard and draw u
near the kerb behind a line OF carriage
''This rain -~ili not last long," he sal
20 himself; lin all probability, the las
CUES. TO arrive will be the last one to 81
lshall wait in her coupe and rest"