The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-12-01
THE RUsE THAT FAILED.

the train and handed over her ticket
"I want you to be sure and write tc
me every day, and tell me everything
you think, how much you miss me,
and all about the way the servant
gets along-don't omit any of the de.
tails, thinking that I shall not be in
terested, for every word that you
write, dear, will be precious to me.
Put plenty of local color in your let
ters."
"Oh, I'll keep you posted" he re-
piled. "You have good time, and
don't worry about me. I'll get along
somehow. Of course, it'll be lonely
and all that, but I'll manage to pass
the time. It'll be rather dismal for
me to sit in the garden alone. when
it begins to get dark, thinking of you
in the gay crowd having a good time,
and never giving thought to-"
Arthur" his pretty wife inter-
rupted eff you continue to talk that
way, 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, love, will you? Remem-
Der that, wherever may be, and no
matter how gay my surroundings, I
shall be thinking of you"
They threw kisses at each other as
the train moved away. Then Bar
rington went to his Office and began
writing letters. They were 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
filling sheet with endearing 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 were 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 a male COM
panion, determed to have a good
time for ten or twelve days.
He had been gone nearly a week
when there came telegram to him.
OF course. kilograms had to be
opened, and when Miss Wildreth, the
lady clerk, read the message, she
turned pale.
''Why don't you answer my ques-
tions about the housemaid's ankle
and your liver? Am awfully wor-
ried."
That was what Elizabeth Barring
ton had telegraphed.
After studying the matter for a
while, MISS WIidreun decided that it
was necessary for her to act. She
was clever enough to hold a position
that not more than one man out of
fifty could have filled, and she had
the habit of keeping her eyes and
ears open. Still, she said to herself j:
"The housemaid's ankle? 1 can
see 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, if I ever
get married."
But instead of finishing what she
had started to say, she wrote the fol-
lowing dispatch:
LEG and liver o. K. Don't
worry"
1t was about 10 O'Clock the next
day when another telegram for Ar
thur Darlington was received. 1t
read:
Yesterdays letter contradicts tel
egram. Why are you deceiving me
Are you better today? Shall come
homer"
The lady clerks reply was as fol-
lows:
cam 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 messen-
ger 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. Darlington watched eagerly
for the postman on the following day,
and when he handed her Arthur S
letter 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:
"Mercifu1 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, in today's letter, he tells me
that the housemaid has just fallen
downstairs, spraining her ankle, and
that he made himself a Welsh rarebit
the night before last, and ate so much
of it his liver is all upset. Why OIL
earth did the housemaid fall down
stairs when she had sprained ankle,
and what ever possessed Arthur tc
eat a Welsh rarebit when the doctor
had Just warned him about his liver?
Her aunt was trying to work it out
when Elizabeth Darlington happened
to think of the telegram she had re-
ceived the day before.
"This letter must have been writ
ten about the time they were sent, .
she said. "I'm going home. Some
things wrong. Arthur's liver trouble
has gone to his head ! My poo
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