Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-04-27

utes. There's hardly a household
that hasn't its Bluebeard's chamber"
Except yours. And so you can af-
ford
"Generalities, please. Agnes, just
for a little while. There are Fatimas
who do pry, and there are Fatimas
who don't. The latter have by far
the best time of it-that is when their
Bluebeards treat them fondly and
courteously. Discretion is a wonder
full safeguard to conjugal content
ment. The moral obligation with
men should be as strong as it is with
women. l freely grant you that. But
society does not grant it and in the
lives of our great-great- great grand
children it will not practically employ
any such system of ethics unless l
miserably err. 1t is a system talked
about, written about, and. if at some
day it will be actively exploited, on
that day everybody who now lives will
lie, as | firmly believe, in graves
whose deepest cut headstones have
grown undecipherable blurs. The new
woman may dream her dreams and
even realize a few of them. But, after
all, it is still a mans world, and a
mans world for many centuries it.
must remain. Fatima will reap no.
thing by her curiosity except unhap-
piness. So many of them live and die
in blissful ignorance. And it is so
much better that they should. Men
n no hn wi
change his spots. Why not let well
alone? A wife can tend and water
her jealousy and her suspicion pre-
cisely as if they were two different
specimens of fern in a favorite jardi-
Mere. Of course marital neglect, i'll
treatment, rudeness, are all autre
chose. But 1 have often taken a
thoughtful survey, Agnes, Of my own
social surroundings. They are very
much the same as yours, my dear
We often meet at the same teas, din
ners, dances. We know the same set
the smart set, | suppose one would
call it-and most of our men friends
are married, like ourselves And I've
repeatedly asked myself, judging as
much by what they don't say as by
what they do say, if a vast amount of
family torment may not be avoided
by the simple process of Fatima re-
framing from all interference with
Bluebeard's key bunch
Here Agnes sprang from her seat
by the fire and looked tearfully, i'm
petuoUsly round the tasteful sitting
room of her friend
ooh, Marion" she cried you tell
me you are talking generalities, but to
me they are the most piercing per-
sonalities! And why? Because
I'm not only jealous of him-Im
jealous of you! From your serene
the wife of man who worships you,
as all the world knows, who is
model of every virtue under the sun
and who probably never looks at a
woman without thinking how far she
falls below you his ideal, it is easy
enough to preach discretion and cir
cumspection. You have the key to
all your apartments. You're a Fatima
with a Bluebeard who doesn't know
the meaning of a locked door, Here
Agnes laughed in a sort of hysteric
way and pointed to a near chair.
That's one of his overcoats now"
While speaking she slipped across the
room and lifted a mass of dark
broadcloth, holding it aloft
why, yes" said Marion. raising
her quiet brows in surprise. HE came
back this morning after leaving for
downtown and ordered a thicker one
Of Strayne because Of the changed
weather. Strayne must have left it
there. He's good servant enough,
but he has his careless moods
Agnes, with another odd laugh, thrust
her hand into one of the pockets.
you've no fear of finding anything,
you irritatingly happy Marion. You
are
Suddenly she paused She had
drawn forth lilac tinted envelope
which had been raggedly torn open at
one of it's sides.
ga woman's hand, Marion" she ex-
claimed, cor I've never seen one! And
the date of arrival four days back 1t
smells of violets too. Well, reallyi''
"Agnes!"
Marion went forward and took the
note from her friends grasp with I'M
characteristic speed. She was pale
already, but she grew paler as she
scanned the superscription and then
raised the envelope to her nostrils.
She loved her husband intensely
and knew that he returned her love-
Not the slightest incident of her life
had she ever kept concealed from him,
and she had always felt confident that
on his own side there was a like abso-
luton of confidence and candor It
stabbed her to the soul as she thought