The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-03-04

cheated thirty minutes or so in busting
the gaudy little reception room down
stairs, with Its crystoleum reproductions
Of Bougereau, and other dainty nick
nacks. telling herself that her husband
was hideously unreasonable, and most
iliogically wishing him back again In
stead Of wasting their holiday by sulking.
She decided, too, when posing his pho
tograph for the tenth time Opposite her
own under the adorabIyi gilt mirror from
the Rue de Rivoli, that he was not at all
DID, but rather quite young, which was
perfectly true-as far as the photo went.
She compared him with the Beaupres,
father and son, very much to the disad-
vantage Of both gentlemen. She remem-
bered that he had remained her lover
through two April years of married life,
a fact highly creditable to his taste, and
1t was this circumstance rendered their
frequent mal1ing~up so interesting, for
he was exceedingly original. She decided
that this reconciliation should be a MEM
orable one.
Downing an apron, she went down to
the cook, and with her own dimpled hands
prepared a favorite dish of his, planning
she worked the evenings programme.
There would be, first of all, the >reconcil-
iation in a pathetic tea gown. Then they
would go to the play and afterward to
supper at gay restaurant, where every
body would be in the best possible tenn
per- and the Problems of Life. shivering
at the door outside, be cheated for a few
golden ante-meridlan hours, and ever as
the laughing minutes flew she would grow
coyly seductive and Leon appreciative,
and the waiter from Languedoc conflden-
tial as he brought them-well, the second
bottle of violet-breathing Chateau LATTE.
Her cooking finished, she hurried to the
piano and tinkled off a moroccan of Cho-
pin, rendered a la Franchise BeethoYen's
Moonlight" which she rapidly changed
for the sunshine of Mozart and then, she
could hardly tell why, slipped into "Tri-
umphal March redolent with memories
Of the peaceful Breton convent where she
had spent three years of needless girl
hood. 1t had formed, she remembered
the overture to a five-act drama nlustrat-
ing the virtues of st. Elizabeth, a per-
Torrance in which she had taken the title
role, but without once opening her mouth
as she appeared only in the last tableau
when Elizabeth lay dead upon her bier In
the dim-vaulted church, and Frederick IL
placed his own diadem upon her worn
brow, naughty Felicite being chosen for
this instead Of the convent pet, who had
sustained the sanity part up to that
point, owing to her trick Of retaining her
breath and keeping perfectly rigid pose
for an almost indefinite period.
She suddenly ceased playing and went
to the mirror, holding her breath, ten,
thirty, sixty seconds, minute and a half
Bon! 1t was death itself, and her cheek,
how pale 1T grew! She closed one eve
and regarded herself critically She was
really bewitching-so pale, so calm. so
utterly remote from a sordid, a sinful.
and, 1t must be confessed. a somewhat
dingy world. If only one could be sure
OF being like that when one really diesi
Ouf. she was growing fanciful, Struggling
her shoulders, she glanced at her watch,
Icons latest present, and pouted. It was
very late and he had not come back Was
ever loving little wife, eager to forgive,
treated so before? Perhaps he would new
er return! Perhaps he had gone off with
some abandoned woman. Impossible as
such contingency should be, it was nav
ertheless, not altogether improbable.
suddenly thought struck her-so
dramatic so artistic, that she clapped her
hands and laughed aloud. She would
Write him farewell letter, expressing her
regret for what had occurred. and assur
ing him that he would never have CAUSE
10 ny into passion with his devoted wife
again. since she had taken poison. and
mad Quilted forever a world his heartless
ness mad made unbearable Then she
would lie on the marriage couch, ho'd her
breath and hear what he had to sav--st1e
felt he could be eloquent.
Changing her robe for a more elaI,orato
one. glorffied by a Medici collar trimmed
with ostrich tips that had never scurried
across desert plain, she FASTENED to the