The San Francisco call., 1898-02-11
SWOONS
 THREE IN
 NUMBER Tragic Events at the Murphy Fancy Dress COtillon. Dame Grundy in Clover Ever Since Last Fri
 day Evening. Aylett Cotton and Miss Trumbo Transgress the Rules Of
 Hoyle. "LIKE A PUBLIC BALL" Even an Angel From the Great White Throne Would Have Got the
 Classy Orb.
Aylett Cotton and Miss Trumbo Transgress the Rules of
 Hoyle.
"LIKE A PUBLIC BALL."
Even an Angel From the Great White Throne Would Have Got the
 Classy Orb.

A sob, a sigh, nervous twisting to- gether of two dainty hands and a quick huttering of the breath sadly indica- tive of incipient hysteria. Then her eyes sought the exact spot where the chandelier was suspended from the ceiling, as if in mute appeal for par don from above at the sacrilegious character of what she intended to ut ter-and then she spoke.
 Why, if a dewy-robed angel from the base of the Great White Throne had appeared at my ball under the same conditions 1 would have been just as mortified"
 The speaker was Mrs. Murphy, Mrs. s. G. Murphy, wife of the president of the First National Bank. Her agita- tion was something touching to wit ness By her own confession she has been laboring under this awful load of woe since last Friday evening, the oc- casion of her fancy dress cotillon in Maple Hall at the Palace Hotel. And she planes young Aylett Cotton for it all, he who is distinguished from his famous brother of the football bangs by blond locks not quite so abundant. Miss Trumbo, sister of the colonel, comes into the tragedy in the role of chief assistant to the villain.
 Mrs. Murphy had laid her plans for that cotillon with loving care for months. It was to be the occasion when her youngest daughter, Adelaide, who has been carefully cultivating becom- ing Parisian accent for many moons, was to make her bow in the charming role of debutante and take society at the point of the bayonet. Portraits ga- lore illustrating dainty feminine finery worn at various epochs in the land that fathered the great Napoleon had been carefully studied, and when the bud appeared at the cotillon she was at tired a la Francaise from her exquisite coiffure to the tip of her neat Louis XIV slipper.
 All went well, and everybody was gay and light-hearted until the mysterious element crept ina careful count of noses divulged the fact that instead of 150 persons there were just 151 present Mrs Murphy was mystif1ed, but soon had matters explained.
 Young Aylett Cotton came forward with a young lady to introduce to the hostess. Colonel Trumbo's sister, who is here on a visit from Salt Lake. And then Mrs Murphy'S orbs turned glassy. Incidentally, her daughter tainted dead away three times during the evening cause unknown.
 Now Mrs. Murphy Is full of words words, words, despite the fact that she has already dispensed chunks of verbal ice anent the subject to all of society's devotees. So, as result, Mrs. Grundy is in clover
 Mrs. Murphy asserts that MT. Cot ton brought the young lady without first consulting the hostess, which cer- tainly is not according to Hoyle. This the young fellow vigorously denies, saying that Miss Murphy herself au- thorized him to invite Miss Trumbo. But the hostess will not be appeased by any such explanation, and insists that Mir Cotton has attended cotillons and "fortnightlies' before, and should know better.
 '"They acted just as 1T they were at nublic ball or Junction. she asserts. And if there is anything worse than that under the sun it is impossible of conception to the lay mind.