The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-05-08
A Romance Of. Confetti.

"Confound the confetti! I've swal-
lowed about half a pound We shall
find the things sticking in our clothes
for months"
Eyes; they're small but insidious.
You have no idea of the mischief one
of these scraps Of paper can do"
Tie speakers were two fresh colored,
good looking Englishmen, wearing
light overcoats and dress clothes and
drinking their after dinner coffee out
side cafe at Cannes.
1t was $50 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 sapphire
sky, fecked 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
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
himself by two hours and half Of
confetti throwing under a 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 indie
pendent and spent his-time in perpetual
travel. Carnivals were nothing new
to him, and as 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.
lie lit a cigarette and blew slowly
up into the night air. A curious visit
fitness passed into his gray eyes and
softened the lines of his mouth under
the closely trimmed golden brown mus
tache.
tits odd" he began dreamily, "but
ten years ago, almost in this identical
spot, l had the happiness of my life
ruined by one Of these same mis-
chievous confettiw
His companions round blue eyes
grew rounder still in amazrment.
by Jove! Are you serious?' he ex-
claimed.
at was a night like this" went on
the other, "Only it seems to me that
the stars were brighter, the music was
jollicr, 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. l am five
and thirty now. was five and twenty
then. There was a girl on my arm
such girl she seemed to me! A little
soft, round face, like peach, lips
made for kisses and laughter and a
figure as 1.-THE and light as a willow
branch. l know my SMILES are old,
but | can't find words to tell you what
she was like to me. You see, | was
in love with her, and she was my
wife"
Your wife" Norton repeated in as
"Why, never knew you
had been married, though | remember
did hear there was some romance or
other
"Oh, sthere 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 n neighboring table. 1.-THE
whole thing only lasted six weeks"
"Your wife is dead, then? Old
man, am so sorry
"There is 10 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 now?'
"Oh, she has consoled herself with
| German baron. Three years ago, be-
ng dead tired of knocking about the
world, was actually fool enough to
decide to 60 over to America and per-
'uade Mamie-that was her name-to
marry me all over again. You must
know she was an heiress, the only
,hlld of mother who spoiled and
dollzed her. met her on short WIS.,