Evening star., 1898-12-31
THERE is TROUBLE AHEAD

One of these days, ,tNhen a pair of elderly
spinsters, sisters, who hibernate in an ad-
joining town. come to Washington and visit
the tenants of a certain furnished house of
which they (the maiden spinsters) are the
joint proprietors. there Is going to be
sensation the like of which hasn't been
seen in the quiet. residential district Of
upper 18th street for a whole long time.
This is why:
A newspaper man from the buckeye state
rented the aforesaid house, furnished, at an
exceedingly moderate rental a couple OF
months ago. That isito say, his wife rented
it. 1t looked like a bargain, and, in fact, 1t
was a bargain. The house was pretty
nicely furnished throughout. 1t was tenn
porariy occupied by the two spinsters VINO
now i've in the before mentioned adjoining
town when the newspaper mans wife rent
ed it. The splnstcr who transacted the
rental business had but one stipulation TO
make. 90.
The back room on the second floor" she
said. has been used by us as storeroom,
and, as we have no place in which to store
the few little articles we have packed away
in there now, shall have to retain that
room. All of the rest of the house. of
course, is yours when you take possession,
except this one room which l snail lock
in order that the articles we have stored
there shall not be 'obtruded upon your
gaze"
This was satisfactory all right and the
newspaper man and his wife moved into
the house They We're perfectly contented
with their establishment, until one of the
neXt-door neighbors, with whom they be-
came acquainted shortly after their advent
in the neighborhood, paid them visit. This
next-door neishbor told the newspaper
mans wife that the furnished house had
formerly been rented to a member of Con-
gress, elaborately furnished, for a very
stiH figure. The figure was so steep that
the newspaper mans wife wondered now
the NJ c. could have been such good
thing, as it were. The rental paid by the
congressman was out of all proportion to
the furnishing of the house as it stood.
Then, that locked, secret chamber began
to pique the curiosity of the newspaper
mans wife quite a lot She thought that
room was pretty mysterious anyhow. From
thinking over it 4 great deal, she found
herself imagining al sorts of Bluebeard
things about the locked chamber and, final
ly, she began to cast about for an old key
that would fit the room. At length she
found the right key and she entered the
room. She stood upon the threshold,
amazed. The room was piled almost to the
ceiling with gorgeous house Furnishings
irch-thick velvet carpets, fine tapestries
and lace curtains, divans, ornate foot stools
and an extraordinary number of choice
articles of bric-a-hrac.
This is good thing" she murmured.
1t was early in the forenoon, and so she
and the servant got to work to revise and
rearrange that furnished house from top
to bottom. Every article from the store
room was put to use, velvet carpets and
all. 1t was swift work, but by the time
the lady's husband got home for dinner it
was all finished and complete. The house
was simply paldtial from vestibule to bath
room. The parlor was Il miracle of beauty,
and the dining room was a wonder in its
new dress.
Il guess I've got into the wrong shack
said the husband, when he entered his home
with a latch key. But his wife called him
back. and he entered the parlor, passing
his hand over his forehead with mystified
air.
Il haven't taken a drink today, honest I
haven't" said he to his wife. And yet
here | am in trance.f
Then his spousa explained the thing to
him. She wound5 up her explanation by
asking him demuRely:,,
Amt we just as good as any old Nom
Der Of Congress, to have nice things I'd
like to know?' 81
"Gooder." replied her, spouse. "The only
thing is, can we make it stick-can we
make the bluff good? For I'll tell you one
thing: when those two COrkscrew-curled
maidens turn up here. I'm going to finish
the talking. ] hope you understand that?'
I'm not bit afraid of them" she re
Piled. and this Is just where the case now
stands. For lady who isn't afraid at all
the newspaper man's wife does a heap of
pecring between the open spaces of the
lace curtains when there is a ring at the
front door bell and, in general. there is
a good deal of suppressed excitement
around that house ..-.. ...l .-o-t
Eve. heard d lot about people living over
a Volcano" says the man. of the house
but | should think that would be the
height of security and repose compared
with my game just at present.