Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1900-08-25


look into il even the-er-rathep startling
features of that picture may he saLisfac-
torily explained away"
Are you going to do the explanationw
asks the duchess, who has drawn her boy
to her lap, and is pretending to conceal
a smile behind his head.
Alone I'll do it, says Mr.. Blount with
a rather Shakesnearian air.
Are we to understand that you will
undertake the part?" asks Capt. Stamer,
who is feeling really interested.
why nOt?" demands Mr.. BlOunt with
mild surprise. when the original COS,
tune is little toned down | see no rea-
son why | should not delight any audi
ence with sprawl and a squall that |
promise you will be above criticism
"Oh. Battyt cries Evelyn; she has
given way to wild mirth-hitherto
beyond control; she leans back in her
seat. and laughs unrestrainedly; it is all
most as absurd as that picture of Mr..
Naudrey rushing about the village in the
long clerical coat and waistcoat only. and
twice as amusing. There is an element
of grief in the one idea, nothing save Il
sense of the ridiculous in the other.
Il can't see what there is to laugh at,
says Bartholomew, aggrieved He fixes a
plantive eye on Evelyn; and as
if filled with remOrse because of
it. she sits up suddenly, and
MII%EIV@ SktteHanpf. ana SItFtS ut
Bartholomew in an almost frenzied fash
ion.
What is the matter?" ask Mr.. Craw-
ford and Eaton Stamer in the same
breath
"Oh. | don't kncw--I'm not sure-but
| can feel il, cries she distra ctedly; she
rises from her seat with signs of mortal
terror on her brow. and involuntarily lifts
her hand 10 the shoulder she has wrig-
gled.
Everybody grows terribly concerned.
All eyes are directed towards her Is it
catching Is it in the air? First Mr..
Blount threatened with dangerous insani-
ty-and now Miss Darcy.
What is it, What has happened p
ask twenty voices in twenty different
1T is here cries Evelyn. clutching her
shoulder now with q tight hand that is
suggestive of death or victory.
But what--what?" demands Mr.
Crawford pertinently, who is by this time
scarcely less frightened than she appears
to be.
An earwig! an earwig, | am sure!''
gasps she, still grasping her shoulder and
letting her Mortified eyes meet his for a
moment. Il can feel ii crawling, crawl
| ing! Oh. what shall do?"
She makes a step forwdr hesitates,
| and thcn-no doubt maddened by another
| crawl she filings her racket to one
side and flies precipitately towards the
house.
What little tornado" says the pref
| ty woman, who has spent her day picking
out faults in Evelyn's faultless face
What has happenedE' asks the duch.
eSS. with some anxiety, sweeping up to
where Mr.. Blount is standing She had
not seen or heard anything. except Eve
llyn's dart, swift as IA swallows, to the
house.
Nothing nothing really says Mr.
| Blount, laughing.
Il suppose it would be indiScreet to ask
| what has given us this suspicion of trag-
edy:'
Not at alI-not at all" says Mr.
| Blount suavely. 80 far as | can see
| Miss Darcy has contracted an earwig
| during her walk in the gardens with Mr.
Crawford, and naturally reSents its in
trusiOn upon her privacy. An earwig up
| ones back is not to be despised. 1t
| means business"
"Oh! if it was an earwig," says the
pretty woman, in Il distinct tone of un-
belief
1T was I assure you. regret that /
must persist in my first impression. as
see you are not partial to-earwigs, but
SO it was. Even the most callous must
| admit that an earwig is at no time a
| precious possession, and Miss Darcy
| gazing at Evelyn's still flying figure
seems to have an exaggerated objection
to them. See how she runs pointing to
the slender figure now lessening in the
! distance, but still racing as madly as one
| of her own colts. The prOverbial three
mice aren't in it with her. though after
all perhaps the comparison is unfair For
my part should far rather he pursued
by ten butchers wives with ten carving
| knives, than one small diabolcal ear
| wig"
oh. l wouldn't cries the young duke,
who has been rapt listener. Il don't
mind earwigs bit, but a carving knife
would be horrid. 1t could kill a person,
but an earwig couldn't"
There is no contradicting this great
fact, so the argument comes to an end