The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1900-05-22
A R(NlQlCe Of Confetti.
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eyes; they're small but insidious.
You have no idea Of the mischief one
of these scraps of paper can do"
The speakers were two fresh colored,
good looking Englishmen, wearing
light overcoats and dress clothes and
drinking their after dinner coffee out
side cafe at Cannes.
1t was $50 on an evening in the be-
ginning of February. Two days earlier
they had left their native London ankle
deep In slush and dirty snow and veil
ed in sulphurous fog. Here in favored
Cannes they sat beneath a sapphire
sky, fecked with diamond stars, and
watched the carnival maskers In their
gay costumes of stuff or satin dancing
upon the asphalt which surrounded the
band kiosk and even pirouetting gayly
upon the open road.
All around them were life and color,
laughter and movement, the sound of
many languages intermingled in gay
banter, the democratic jostling of Pie
rots and Pierettes in satin with white
capped market women, townsfolk in
cheap and gaudy dominos and tweed
clad tourists armed with guidebooks
and kodaks.
To Norton, the younger of the two
men, the scene had the charm of en-
tire novelty. At the battle of confetti
earlier in the day he had exhausted
himself by two hours and a half Of
confetti throwing under blazing sun,
and now, after an excellent dinner, he
was laughingly complaining Of the con-
fetti which passersby every now and
then cast in the faces of the two friends
over their coffee.
Fleming, the elder of the two and
the one who had complained of the
mischief making capabilities Of the lit
tie paper missiles, was rich and indie
pendent and spent his time in perpetual
travel. Carnivals were nothing new
to him, and as rule he avoided them,
but this spring the fancy had taken
him to revisit Cannes in the company
of his relative, Norton, and now, as
he sat watching the dancers under the
palm trees in the starlight, the spirit
moved him to be confidential.
He lit a cigarette and blew slowly
up into the night air. A curious visit
fulness passed into his gray eyes and
softened the lines of his mouth under
the closely trimmed golden brown mus
tache.
"Its odd" he began dreamily, ''but
ten years ago, almost in this identical
spot, l had the happiness of my life
ruined by one of these same mis-
chievous Confetti"
His companions round blue eyes
grew rounder still in amazement.
by Jove! Are you serious?" he ex-
claimed.
at was a night like this. went on
the other, "only it seems to me that
the stars were brighter, the music was
jollier, the fun more spontaneous.
Mind, only say seems Probably the
falling off is in me, not in the music
and the stars and the fun. l am five
and thirty now. l was five and twenty
then. There was girl on my arm
such a girl she seemed to me! A little
soft, round face, like a peach, lips
made for kisses and laughter and
figure as 1.-the and light as willow
branch | know my SMILES are old,
but can't find words to tell you what
she was like to me. You see. | was
in love with her. and she was my
wife"
"Your wifep' Norton repeated in as
constituent "Why, l never knew you
had been married, though | remember
| did hear there was some romance or
other
"Oh, there wasn't much romance
about it," Fleming said bitterly. lower
ing his voice as a laughing party of
three maskers took possession of the
seats at a neighboring table. THE
whole thing only lasted six weeks"
"Your wife is dead. then? Old
man.. am SO sorry
"There is no need to be sorry, and
she isn't dead. She simply divorced
me on the ground of lncompatibility of
temper, or heaven knows what, accord
ing to the laws of the state to which
she belongs"
"And where is she nOwW
ooh. she has consoled herself with
a German baron. Three years ago, be-
ing dead tired of knocking about the
world, was actually fool enough to
decide to go over to America and per-
suade Mamie-that was her name-to
marry me all over again. You must
know she was an heiress, the only
child of mother who spoiled and
idolized her. l met her on short Wis
It to the States and fell in love witt
her and married and brought her over
to honeymoon in Europe. London was
too cold, and we came to Cannes for
the carnival. One night we left her
mother at the hotel and came out to
see the fun!'
A lady in blue domino who formed
one of the group of three at the neigh
boring table turned In her seat and
fixed the gaze of two bright dark eyes,
shining through black velvet mask
upon Jack Fleming's face.
"Then your wife's mother was with
your
"That was the beginning of the mis-
chief. She insisted upon following us
to Europe in week. AS | told you,
we left her at the hotel, and here, un-
der the palms, felt my shoulder
touched and heard my name called out
of the crowd: 'JackI Jack Fleming
Don't you recognize mef 1t was Ethel
Marlborough, an old sweetheart OF
mine. We were engaged once, but she
was such flirt she drove me hall
mad, and l broke it off. She was in
mask and domino, but knew heI
voice In moment.
II felt Mamie's grasp tighten on my
arm and saw her face change. DOM
know whether Ethel knew | was mar
RED The whole thing had been very
sudden, and I hope, for her sake, she
didn't. But, just to plague me, SHE
hung on to my arm and kept on wills
pering about old times, and finally
after | had broken away, declaring
did not know her, she slipped a scraE
of paper into my pocket and ran away
laughing. Mamie seized 1t and never
spoke word until we got to the hotel
Then in the presence of her mother sh'
| opened it. 1t was nothing In the worlt
but pink confetti disk, with the name
J Ethel written across It, but It Gu