Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1898-10-22
A SPIDERS STING.

II was downright hot and no mis-.
take. Poor little Mrs. Robb gaspe6 the
dinner time throughout was impos-
sible to eat. If one could only have
had ice. or even something moderated
~ coidl But you can't get ice in Paso
del Macho, down below Vera Cruz,
where are the big plantations and the
'hot country" and If you are so unfor-
tunate as to be there during the hot /
months, why. you can only put a good |
face on it and pray for rain and the !
ceoler season.
Juan, who served the simple meal, !
was airily clothed in simple. very SIM
pie white g2rments-two OF them-and
even he, native of the terra caliente
as he was, wore n face the color OF a
boiled lobster, and out OF the hearing
OF his mistress swore vigorously and
without ceasing. Without doubt it'll
was a relief 10 him when the sonora
pushed aside the fruit and left the din
ing room, unable to eat.
Out on the veranda, Mrs Robb stood
gazing without seeing anything. In
trHth, the glare and the heat hurt her
eyes too badly for il. or course it was
hot and glazing even at home now; but
how different, On the lawn, in the
magnolia groves, and on the banks OF
&he lake one could at least get wee bit
of a breeze; here the air seemed dead.
No wonder the administrator wife, a
Northern woman and unused to tropi-
cal weather, had lost her reason the
year before.
OF course, Robb could not leave the
plantation on account of the newly
painted trees. But his wife could have
gone home, and every one wondered
that she had not done so. But Mrs,
Robb had many old-fashioned ideas to
which she chung with startling persist
enee for so small and slight a woman.
Mrs. Robb was very happy, in spite
81 all. Nothing, not even the tremen-
dbus heat, could have made her COM
bIain. But the truth was that two
days before Robb had received a mys-
aerious summons--he said it came from
Opckerell, a brother planter-necessi-
tatiRg his immediate departure. He
Rad seemed greatly disturbed, and told
his wife that he might be away two
days at the most. This was the third
day, and he had not returned Mrs.
Robb understood her husband too well
10 send a mozo out to find if anything
had happened: she could only wait
Fortunately the Mexican servants wor-
shipped her, and even in the case o,
thieves. no one would harm her.
Some time later Mrs. Robb decided
- -, -,
her husband returned-surely he would
soon be back-with home letters. Ac.
cordingly, she shut out the glarins
light from her own bedroom, and set.
tled down with desk and lately receiv-
ed letters. to write her sister at schoo
IN France and the other one now will
gay party in the Blue Ridge Noun
tains
None can't think or compose we'll dur
ing the hot weather in the Mexican
tFopical country. Hence it was tina
Mrs Robb soon found herself dreamin!
about those same Blue Ridge Mountain
where she first met and loved Robh
They were living in the pretty iittl
summer cottage, which her family, tn
Ravenels, owned there. Robb was, a
he said, having his last fling" befor
burying himself in the Mexican wilds
He did not say that his family wer
sending him there for the purpose o
getting rid of him and the good-size
debts which he would contract 70
their ultimate payment
There had been other men, of course
for Dorothy Ravenel, with her charm
nag ways and chic half-French beaut,
was admired everywhere. And ever
ore wondered at her marrying Ernes
Robb, who had no money to speak o
% Brains-merely a good-looking, ratl
en- rOwdy fellow. But Dorothy didn
care for the opinions Of others. Sh
Bowed Robb and proposed to MARI
him, whether her guardians withheld
aheir consent and her goodly little To-
tune or not
She wasn't sorry, as she thought oVI
1t all, alone in the Mexican haciend;
Ernest had his faults, of course, but
made no difference. For the man yC
Dove you can make many excuses. Al
Ernest loved her-she was sure
that
She sprang up and gathered togeth
her heavy hair as light tap sounds
at the door. 1t was Juan, with a til
folded scrap OF paper in his han
Something that the senior perha
dropped" he explained. 1T was lyil
in the patio. Perhaps it was of impol