Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1900-07-19

HER LADYSHIP J

TIER LADYSHIP won her name be-
eause of I certain touch OF dig
nifty evident when she pressed her ten
toes TO the floor and STOOD erect in her
fanneiet1e bedgown waiting for her
nightly dismissal
Then her wisps OF hair were worked
into candle ends and drawn away
from her wonderful white ears, and
she held fast in her bosom and Law
ished her love on a hideous Indian ma
hogany doll. which she called "Katie's
drefful black baby"
She was a born II standing
three feet oue: d Turk, a Terror anda
Tyrant; a delicious lapful, and aged
three years.
katie's dada was an underwater IN
Cornhill. Fitting initials under ships
names on slips OF paper day by day
seemed, III abstract. d simple enough
thing TO Go. Yet he had served many
toilsonle years that he might sit No 2
in q marine underwriting-room- He
was deep-shouldered. large-limbed and
d kensington ratepayer- He had a
taste for admiralty law, and a passion
for athletics
He was d straight left with the
gloves. and Il good stick" at hockey,
and could sprint a hundred in IL
kensington Gore was o~rnamented
with polished Indian clubs and iron
6uInb-beIls: cross foiIs were linked to
the walls. There was. besides. a hori-
zontal bar in the garden. and a punch
ing ball suspended in his bedroom.
"katie's mamma was pink-fngered,
petite and unPunctual, and as fair as
gold She made altar cloths, platonic
acquaiutaaces and wonderful shivering
fable ieilies- With men she was
NEEDY and she had a pretty way
with her words Also she had a little
one OF her own
All along her line of Iife-from cradle
to coTsetS-she held in favor small
things; forget-me-nots and tiny fairies,
seed pearls and ponies, skye terriers
and dainty Moorish slippers. And she
ended. as Is tit and seemingly, by mar
rying an extremely big husband. whom
first she fouted, then feared. and final
ly was proud of. Now she rallied to the
royal nod, pampered his appetites,
pandered 10 his whims and generally
killed the king with honey.
The fourth character is the other
man. He was almost the very ordinary
of natures handiwork. He was not
much Il look upon. as the phrase runs.
Still there were certain notes and
touches appealing to the species femi-
nine; the cultivated chivalry and the
suggestion Of strength; the practiced
b~oyishness of his voice and manner.
the carefully engendered atmosphere
of mystery Gle was, in fact. so very
secret a man that, instead of putting
his eggs in open baskets, he concealed
them in his tail pockets, and OCCASION
ally sat on them-)
"Katie's dada" was ar this time in
Cairo. swimming in the Nile and see
ing TO something about underwriting
Egyptian halls
She asked all her brothers and all his
sisters TO the house IN North Grove,
Highgate; and the other man came.
too. So often, indeed, that people whis-
pered and wrote to and fro! and wom-
en- offered her cold cheeks and men
curious eyes, until she began TO feel al
most that the best way of s~tultifying
criticism was to justify it.
Her sister. the credentialed disputant
OF the ld1l11A Lb1S4- dA 1881 * pACSSAtCd
the general feeling in unmistakable
terms.
But "katie's mamma" was no cul-
urit, and she burned In the cheeks and
grew tail and beautiful to look upon.
She felt. maybe, prospectively guilty,
which is a most uncomfortable feeling.
Jess" she said TO her sister. You
NAV go TO the place wherefrom the sui
phur comes, and there you may sit On
q coal and eat small sour apples"
He turned mp soon after with some
forced flowers and things. for she was
dancing that evening TO Willoughby's
band. She confessed TO her maid that
she felt strangely fresh that evening.
He said she looked "ravishing," and
raved about eternal devotion and "a
life of consecrated worship" and 9TH
er strikingly absurd things MAIDS
Nabs. trust me and test me, darling"
he concluded
The upshot was that, being a neg
lected wife and a woman OF moods. she
sent him away, and said she might
meet him al eight. perhaps, al the
grove, by the bar gate
1t was still a quarter 10 eight, and he
stood there under I dripping umbrel-