Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-04-07
A ROMANCE
Of CONFETTI


"Confound the confetti! I've swallow
ed about half a pound. We shall find
the things sticking. in our clothes for
months"
Yes; 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 outside a cafe at
Cannes.
1t was $50 on an evening in the begin
ming of February. Two days earlier they
had left their native London, ankle-deep
in slush and dirty snow, and yelled in
sulphurous fog: here, in favored Cannes,
they sat beneath a sapphire sky. fiecked
with diamond stars. and watched the car
nival maskers in their gay costumes of
stuff or satin. dancing upon the asphalt
which surrounded the band kiosque, n
even pirouetting gayly upon the open
road.
All around them was life and color,
laughter and movement, the sound of
many languages intermingled in gay BAN
ter. the democratic jostling of Pierots m
Pierettes in satin with white-capped mar
ket women townsfolk in cheap n gaudy
dominos. and tweed-clad tourists armed
with guide books and kOdaks.
To Norton. the n of the two men,
the scene had the charm of entire novelty.
At the battle of confetti, earlier in the
day, he had exhausted himself by two
hours and a half of confetti-throwing UNI
der a blazing sun, and now, after an ex-
cellent dinner, he was ~laughingly com
planning of the confetti 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 little paper
missiles. was rich and independent, and
spent his time in perpetual travel. Car
nivals were nothing new to him. and as
a 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 usefulness
passed into his gray eyes, and softened
the lines of his mouth under the closely
trimmed golden brown moustache..
Its odd" he beg an dreamily: but 10
years age almost in this identical spot, |
had the happiness of my life ruined by
one of these same mischievous Confetti"
His companions round blue eyes grew
rounder still in amazement.
by Jove! Are you serious?" he ex-
claimed.
1T was a night like this went or the
other, "only it seems to me that the stars
We're brighter, the music was %jollier, the
fun more spontaneous. Mind, I only say
seems Probably the falling off is in me,
not in the music and the stars and the
fun. I am five and thirty now, I was five
and twenty then. There was a 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 a fig
ure as 1.-THE and light as a willow branch.
l know my smiles are old. but | can't find
words to tell you she was like to
me. You see, I was in love with her. and
she was my wife,"
"Your wife," Norton repeated in aston
ishment. why l never knew you had
been married. Though ! remember I did
hear there was some romance or other"
"Oh. there wasn't much romance about
it," Fleming said bitterly, lowering his
voice as a laughing party of three mask
ers took possession Of the seats at a
neighboring table. 1.-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 i~ncompatibility of temper. or
heaven knows what, according to the
laws of the state to which she belongs
And where is she noW?"
"Oh she has consoled herself with a
German baron. Three years ago, being
dead tired of knocking about the world, I
was actually fool enough to decide to go
over to America and persuade Mamie
that was her name-tO marry me all over
again. You must know she was an
heiress, the only child of a mother who
spoiled and idolized her. ! met her on a
short visit to the states, and fell in love
with 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 a blue domino who formed one
of the group of three at the neighboring
table turned in her seat and fixed the
gaze of two bright. dark eyes shining
through a black velvet mask upon lack
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 a week. AS l told you, we left
her at the hotel. n here, under the
palms, l felt my shoulder touched and
heard my name called out of the crowd.
Jack! Jack Fleming! Don't you recog-
nSze me?' 1t was Ethel Marlborough, an
old sweetheart of mine. We were en-
gagged once, but she was such a firt she
drove me half mad, and l broke it off.
She was In a mask and domino, but l
knew her voice in a moment.
II felt NAMES grasp tighten on my
arm, and saw her face change. ] don't
know whether Ethel knew I was married.
| The whole thing had been very sudden.
and l hope. for her sake. she didn't.
But. just to plague me. she hung on my
nrno on6 konf whiQnorinu oh0,tt old
times. and finally, after l had broken
away, declaring l did not know her, she
slipped a scrap OF paper into my pocket
| and ran away. laughing. Mamie seized