Connecticut western news., 1900-06-07
A Romance Of Confetti.

hS&SAHA@N@AHASS "Confound the confetti! I've swal- lowed about half 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 out | side a cafe at Cannes.
 It was 9:30 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, f1ecked 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 l 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 Ehimself by two hours and 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 inde- pendent and spent his time in perpetual | travel. Carnivals 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 he sat watching the dancers under the palm trees In the starlight the spirit | moved him to be confidential.
 He lit cigarette and blew slowly I up into the night air. A curious wist- 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, I had the happiness of my life chievous confettip'
 His companions round, blue eyes grew rounder still In amazement.
 By love! Are you seriousY' he ex- claimed
 "It was a night like this," went on the other, "only 1t 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. 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 figure as 1.-the and light as a willow branch. I know my similes are old, but I can't find words to tell you what she was like to me. You see, I was in love with her, and she was my wife"
 "Your wifer Norton repeated In as- tonishment. "Why, I never knew you had been married, though I 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, I am SC sorry"-
 "There is TO need to be sorry, and she isn't dead. She simply divorced me on the ground of incompatibility of temper, or heaven knows what, accord Ing to the laws of the state to which she belongs"
 And where is she nowT
 "Oh, she has consoled herself with German baron. Three years ago, be ing dead tired of knocking about the world, I was actually fool enough tC decide to go over to America and per suade Mamie-that was her name-tC marry me all over again. You mus know she was an heiress the only child of a mother who spoiled ant idolized her. I met her on a short wis ia to the States and fell in love with her and married and brought her over to honeymoon in Europe. London wa; too cold, and we came to Cannes fol the carnival. One night we left hei mother at the hotel and came out tC see the funr'
 A lady in a blue domino who formed one of the group of three at the neigh boring table turned in her seat ana fixed the gaze of two bright dark eyes shining through black velvet mask upon Jack Fleming's face.
 "Then your wife's mother was witf youT'
 That was the beginning of the mis chief. She insisted upon following u. to Europe In a week. AS l told you we left her at the hotel, and here, un der the palms, I felt my shoulder touched and heard my name called ou of the crowd: Jack! Jack Fleming Don't you recognize mep It was Ethe Marlborough, an old sweetheart oi mine. We were engaged once, but sh, was such a filrt she drove me hall mad, and I broke 1t off. She was in ( mask and domino, but I knew hel voice in a moment.
 II felt Mamie's grasp tighten on my arm and saw her face change. I don't know whether Ethel knew I was mar ried. The whole thing had been very sudden. and I hope. for her sake. shs