The Press., 1899-01-12
TALE OF A TIARA.

my dearest Hermione'' looked uE
from her morning corl Jurisprudence Hell
air was one Of profound abstraction.
and she comm enced to sugar my coffee
with quite uncalled for generosity
1T is altogether too bad" she ex-
claimed. as | rescued the cup with the
fifth lump suspended above it. She TOOK
no notice even when the sugar Topped
into the marmalade, and her forehead
was puckered into frown.
Nv bat is it:' said. sitting down
and settling my paper afresh.
"Oh. here is IL letter from May We're
She has just had preseny from her ia
ther-i law, diamond tiara, and she
says '-this rather doubtfully-''thati il
is quite the be It of the whole lot She
will wear it first at the duchess recep
ton. That makes the sixth tiara in the
family, doesn it:'' (Mrs. Mark We're
is my wife's cousin).
II suppose Soft you say So.
was frankly more interested fer the
moment i'll the money market column
than in May Vere's latest present
There followed . longish pause. Her
mione ratified the teaspoons and mad,
much of the cat. Then her voice came
to me across the table decorations will
just touch of fretfulness:
"Jackv'
"U'm!'
II should look SO nice in a tiara
Jack. -
/ tossed the paper on to an armchair
Although we have been married thre,
years that particular infection in m,
| wife's tones never fails to arouse m,
curiosity, and-well, something else
eff l were only rich enough be
gan recklessly. You see, knew WASH t
'Oh, Jack, l didn't mean that. l an
not SO mean as to reproach you. W.
have really everything that is necessary
A tiara can be done without. couldn'
bear to have anything but very expen
sive one, and May won't look anythin.
but plain in hers, however beautiful j
is. But still-well, what | meant VIA
that it seems almost misfortune tina
l should look SO nice in one--as havin;
one is out of the question.
II don't see that | said. ~ woul,
rather have you as you are. "
MAY is generally acknowledged a
plain''-
81 wasn't comparing you with her
1t would be absurd
would it?'' smiled Hermione An
AM not yet proof against Hermione'
smiles SO in sport suggested some
| fhirrp ho,, Ia; /, 4, 4
just as joke, and nothing more Tha
she would act on it never dreamed Q
for moment. Yet Hermione still de
clares all that followed was entirely IN
fault, and that but for me she woul
not have to suffer the prolonged ignu
miny OF being the only girl out of seve
married cousins unable to boast Clia
mond tiara among her possessions.
We had several engagements til
week Of the duchess reception, but tina
was the fist and was very general
considered tie n.ost important | ais
happened to be very busy just then.
rather expected bad quarter of a
hour when l told Hermione how absc
lutely impossible it would be for me t
do more than just look in at quite a lat
hour, but, as is often the case wher
she is concerned. my anticipations wer
not fulfilled
She smiled at me very sweetly, sal
she could find plenty of people to &
with and that l need not worry ON he
account, and | fancied | detected sign
OF relief in her expression, which ma
have been the reason why made m
way to the reception rather earlier tina
| originally intended.
| The duchess who was giving it ha
scattered her invitations broadcast, a
is within the rights of duchess. Th
spacious rooms were extremely CROWD