Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1900-11-10

II
harrington as her hus-
v band put three handbags
& on the seat beside her In
the train and handed over her ticket
Il want you to he sure and write tc
me every day, and tell me everything
YOU think, how much you miss me
Snh all about ala. way the servant get
hlong-don't omit any of the details
thinking that l shall not be interest
cd, for every word that Won write
dear, Will be precious to me. Put
plenty of local color in your letters "
"Oh, III keep you posted" he re.
piled. "lou have n good time, and
don't worry about me. III get along
somehow. or course, it'll be lonely
ana all that, hut I'll manage to pass
the time. It'll he rather dismal for
me to sit in the garden alone when
1t begins to get dark, thinking of you
IN the gay crowd having n good time
and never giving a thought to"
Arthur" his pretty wife interrupt
Ell, IF you continue to talk that way
l just shan't go. You know I shall
think of you every minute I'm away
and If the doctor hadn't said the sea
air would be good for me | wouldn't
have thought of accepting Aunt
Laura's invitation. Please don't fret
me, love, will you? Remember that,
wherever / may be, and no matter
how gay my surroundings, l shall be
thinking of YOU"
They threw kisses at each other as
the train moved away. Then Barring
ton went to his Office and began writ
ing letters. They We're to his wife.
He wrote fourteen Of them-enough to
last for two weeks.
In general outline the letters were
about the same. He started each by
illllng a sheet with eIdearing words
and declarations that he was very
lonely without his darling. Then fol-
lowed the local color she wanted. in
the form Of comments on occurrences
OF the day In and about their home.
The letters We're not dated, but he
sealed and addressed them, and ar
ranged them in pile so that his lady
clerk could take off the top one day
after day and drop it into the letter
box.
Then he went Off with male COM
panlon, determined to have good
time for ten or twelve days.
He had been gone nearly week
when there came a telegram for him.
or course, kilograms had to be
opened, and when Miss Wildreth, the
lady clerk, read the message, she turn
ed pale.
"Why don't you answer my ques-
tlons about the housemaids ankle and
your liver? Am awfully worried"
That was what Elizabeth Darlington
had telegraphed.
After studying the matter for a
while, Miss Wildreth decided that it
was necessary for her to act She was
clever enough to hold position that
not more than one man out of fifty
could have filled, and she had the hab-
it Of keeping her eyes and ears op' II.
Still, she said to herself:
THE hOusemaid's ankle? I can zee
how he might know something about
his own liver, but-and why should
his wife, of all people, want him to
see about it? Well, il l ever get mar
ried-"
But instead Of finishing what she
had started to say, she wrote the fol.
lowing dispatch:
Leg and liver o. X. Don't worry"
1t was about ten o'clock the next
day when another telegram for Arthur
harrington was received. 1t read:
yesterdays letter contradicts tele-
gram. Why are you deceiving me?|
Are you better to-day? Shall 1 come
home?"
The lady clerks reply was as fol-
lows:
Am true as steel. Don't think of
coming home"
Miss Wilreth had just begun to feel
that she had succeeded in settling the
disagreeable business, when a mess
enger boy arrived with another tele-
gram, in which her employers wife
said:
Don't understand. What do YOU
mean by being true as steel? Some.
thing tells me you are worse. Wire
Immediately"
Never mind reference to STEEL Am
all right"
Mrs. harrington watched eagerly
for the postman on the following day.
and when he handed her Arthur's let
ter she opened it with trembling
fingers. Eagerly she scanned the first
page and was about half through the
local color when she jumped up and
ran to her aunt. crying:
"NIerciful goodness! what can this
mean? Three days ago Arthur wrote
that the housemaid was still laid up
with her lame ankle which l have
tried in vain to get him to tell me
about, and that he was not feeling
we'll. and the doctor had told him that
his liver was out of order Yet here.
into-day's letter, he tells me that the
has just fallen downstairs,
spraning her ankle, and that he made
made himclf a Welsh rarebit the night
before last, and ate so much of it his
liver is all upset. Why on earth did
the housemaid fall downstairs when
she had a spraincd ankle. and what |
ever possessed Arthur to eat n Welsh
rnrehit when the doctor had Just |
warned him about his liver?"
Her aunt was trying to work it out.
when Elizabeth harrington happened
to think of the telegram she had re
ceived the day before.
This letter must have been written
about the time they were sent" she
said I'm going home. Something's
wrong. Arthur's liver trouble has
gone to his head. My poor darling
has lost his reason He writes a thing
and then denies il h. telegram Rv