Evening star., 1898-11-12
STRANGER THAN FICTION

The herein contained Is a true story OF the
lost and found.
While visiting at the Zoo on Sunday after
noon last former Washington woman
noted for her beauty. dash and cleverness
when she lived here-who figured in nota-
bic divorce suit, instituted upon her own
application, in this city a few years back,
and who, not long after she secured her
divorce, married wealthy Baltfmorean.
lost pocketbook containing a considerable
amount of money, very valuable pair Of
diamond hoop earrings. a diamond sun
burst, two marquise rings and a few other
articles of jewelry Of smaller value. The
pocketbook was contained in small satch-
el of the sort women wear swinging to their
skirts When she noticed the absence of the
satchel the Baltimore woman, with great
agitation, told her companions of her loss,
and the Zoo police and keepers were hasti-
ly sought. None of them could do any more
for the distressed woman than to tell her
that they would watch out for a satchel of
the kind she described. With her compan-
ions the young woman from the terrapin
town hunted industriOusly for the lost
satchel. retraeing carefully the path she
had taken through the grounds. But her
search was unsuccessful.
The satchel has been picked up said
the victim of the loss disconsolately, and
of course, 1 shall never see hear of it
again.
Upon the gloomy return of the party or
women to the city the husbands of the vic
TINS companions tried to assuage the young
woman'S grief by telling her that 1t would
be dead easy" for her to get back her
satchel with it's contents intact; that they d
go right down and put ads. in the paper for
it, and that Somebody'd be sure to fetch it
around for the reward in the morning be-
fore breakfast, etc. etc. She thanked them
for their optimistic views of her loss, but
declined to be comforted One of the hus-
bands was just about to go into the nan TO
get his hat and coat preparatory to starting
down town to the newspaper offices to in
sert ads. for the lost satche when there
was tug at the door bell, which the man
answered himself A small colored boy had
u daintily addressed note for Mrs. So-and-
So, the Baltimore woman who had lost the
satchel. The man, feeling that the note
contained some information concerning the
loss. hastily carried it to his wifes guest
When she opened and read it she was al
most overcome with joy. The note read:
IF Mrs. So-and-So of No 1900 L street
will call at No. 20OO & street / think she
will be able to identify a satchel which she
probably lost at the Zoo this afternoon
The writer of the note prefixed the
Mrs" in parentheses before her name.
Il street is not far from & street, and the
happy young matron from Baltimore was
at the address given in the note in a trifle
less than no time. A handsome woman of
thirty or thereabouts was sitting in the
bay window of the residence when the VIC
tim OF the loss rang the door Dell. ana Sne
answered the ring herself, probably sur
missing who the visitor was The finder of
the satchel was "a very gracious woman.
She handed the satchel, with all of its con-
tents intact. over to the young matron
from Baltimore without asking for identifi-
cation of any of the articles.
"Of course she said, Il was compelled
to open the satchel when I picked it up-for
various reasons l did not care to hand it
over to the police officers or the Zoo people
I letter addressed
you from Baltimore. That's how / hap
pened to know your name and address,
How fortunate that 1 stuck the letter I
received from my husband into the satche
yesterday afternoonv exclaimed the Bal
timOre woman. She was very profuSe in
her expressions of gratitude to the finder
of her lost satchel. but she seemed to be
hesitating over something. She looked
around the rich rooms. and then said:
IF you would only permit me to send
some little token to your children, to ex
hibit my profound gratitude to your
The other woman smiled graciously, and
said
Il have no children-I have only been
married three months. And L am very
sure that you have nothing whatever to be
grateful to me for"
Then the young woman from Baltimore
had an idea.
Il am forever losing things she said,
| land I'm positively afraid 1 shall lose this
satchel again on my way back to my
friends home. 1 shall just put the ear
rings and rings and pendant on, anyway,
so that if 1 do lose the satchel again
shall at least save something"
Which she did Then. with renewed ex-
pressions of gratitude. she started to take
her leave. AS she did So there was the
rattle Cf latch KEY in the inner vestibule
door. and then a tall good-looking man
with rather cruel mouth and jaw-enter-
ed. When he saw mis- wife's visitor. the
mans face assumed an extremely myst-
EXPRESSION FIR n
| the other of the women with a puzzled
| countenance. His wife's visitor gave the
| slightest start in the world when he man
| entered, but controlled herself beautifully
when she got a significant glance from
| him. The mans wife introduced her Wis
| itor TO him, telling Lin at the same time of
the happy outcome of the loss of the
satchel. While she was telling .he story
! the man looked hard. and with an ex-
preston of recognition at the diam ond
| hoop earrings in the ears of his wife's
| visitor. Then the young matron from Bal
| timore took her leave.
| When she reached the home Of her
| friends and told them of the recovery of
| her pocket book. amid many expressions
| of congratulations, she went up to her
room and her hostess followed her.
| Jack had a chance to again look noon
| the hoop earrings ne gave me for a we'd
| ding present. said the Baltimore young
woman to her hostess. removing the ear
| rirgs.
Jack? Surely you don't mean that you
| met your former hus-"
| Yes. He's now the husband of the
| charming woman who returned my satche
TO me. She presented him 10 me. Oh 10
| no scene, no recognition, no melodrama, OF
| anything like that. 1t all passed off beau
| ufully. They've only been married shree
months. she told me. l wanted so much tc
| say to her, God help you, you poor wo-
man" But of course l couldn't. A very
| tiny world, is it not?"
The next morning she sent to the finder
| of her satchel a magnificent bunch OF
| American Beauty roses. The recipient OF
| the flowers all unconsciously were them n
her cCrsage at the theater that evening,
i EHAzRn nj