The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-08

steps across the noiseless velvet of the
carpet.
do you wish to be waited upon?''
| she asked with a smile
| Yes, answered the woman. 1T like
this hat right here" and before Jack
had time to count ten with precision
! the girl had unfastened the door to
the case, taken out the hat and was
gracefully preceding the woman to a
| little private room where she could try
| it on.
| Jack meekIy took a seat outside in a
! little chair set against the wall, en-
| deavoring to appear unconscious amid
! the cross-fire of sly and laughing glanc-
| es mingled with whispers from the sur
! rounding shopgirls, wondering why
| shopgirls persisted in looking upon a
man out shopping with a woman as
| something extraordinarily mirthful in
| the way of a freak; but wondering
most of all why the woman had gone
to the trouble of bringing him along, to
! endure tortures of ignominy outside
while she closeted herself in the little
room and selected her own hat,
He had begun to wish he had stayed
| at home, when the woman advanced to
| the door of the little private room and
| reckoning to him said:
Come here, Jack" in much the same
manner as if she had whistled and
said: Here Fido. herel"
He got up, however, and went to her.
! The private room was glitterlng cir
| Of mirrors framed in white. In the
| center of these mirrors on little white
chair sat the woman. He took a similar
chair beside her and looked at the
many reflections of her in the mirrors
round about.
On her head was the black velvet hat
with the pink rosebuds. The contour
was excellent. He had to acknowledge
that The velvet pressed fetchingly
down on the back of her head, the
rosebuds dangling over. The rim half
| shaded her eyes, more rosebuds dang
! ling over.
He looked critically at her side face.
at her three-quarter face, at the fluff
Of her hair, all glitteringly set forth
| like SO many portraits framed in white
and touched up with charming high
| lights by the flash of the electrics.
The woman turned her head this way
and that, looking first at a near refiec-
ton of herself and then at one some
what further off. There was a slight
frown on her face which was also re-
| flected till it couldn't be reflected any
| more.
'How do you like it?" she asked.
II like it very WE'LL" he answered,
'but are you going to buy the first
hat you see? Why not try on an
| other?"
Bring me another" she said to the
| girl but be sure you leave this here,
| and she laid her hand on the hat and
held it for fear it might get away.
The girl brought an elphantine black
hat with an enormous black feather
slanting three sheets to windward or
more. She poised it lightly upon the
woman's head. She screwed it down
a trif1e, stuck a hatpin through and
| turning to lack. said
Don't you like that, sir?"
Jack bridled. The sir pleased him
| To a certain extent it compensated
for the giggles of those other girls
back of the closed door to the little
| private room.
yes" he nodded, smilingly and re-
| fectively, Il like it very much
| While the girl kept three white fin
| gers ON the crown of the hat for some
reason best known to herself, since
! the hat pin should to all intents and
| purposes have kept it in place, the wo-
man frowned at herself again in the
| glass. AS before, the frown instantly
| imprinted itself upon her full face, h-r
| profile, her three-quarter view, upon
| everything in fact, but the back of
! her head, and Jack, seeing it, was fill
| ed with foreboding.
In the event that she should choose
another hat after his admission to the
| girl that he liked the one with the
| feather, about how small would he
! feel? 1t was difficult to speculate.
Strengthening himself up manfully.
he braced himself for the ordeal, but
| his countenance reflected as. many
! times almost as that of the woman.
took on an expression which bordered
| upon sadness.
After a long period of cogitation the
woman spoke.
with that huge black feather slant
! ing like a sail in q gale said she,
| I'D look as if I were always blowing
| one way Here, take it off. Put on the
| velvet one with the rose buds. l like
that best. I won't have any other.
Here's the money. Put my old hat in
a nice big box and send it. I will
wear this one home"
The girl took off the feathered hat.
She replaced it by the hat of the rose
buds. She took the name and adj
| dress down in a little notebook. Then
| she went out into the larger room for
the change. AS she passed him Jack
thought he detected in her eye a look
som ewhat akin to pity.
The woman, again infinitely exam
lining her reflections in the mirrors,
| happened to take a glance at few of
! his faces pictured there.
whats the matter with you?" she
| asked, startled. what makes you
| look so Woe begone|'
He thoughtfully and silently picked
! at a stray travelling that had caught
! on the lapel of his coat. He was upon
| the eve of saying: "Since you select
| ed your own hat and in all probability
| started out with the full intention of
| selecting 1t, why in the name of COM
mon sense did you bring me with you
| AT all?" but coming to the conclusion
| that a discussion of any sort was
| hardly worth entering into at so final
a stage of the game he said instead:
Nothing is the matter with me.
! Nothing at all!
Mrs. John w. Mackay, who now lives
abroad nearly all the time, and most
of the time in London, has a pair OF
matched black pearl earrings which
are said to be worth $4,000. She also
| has a chain of diamonds nearly two
yards long, besides many other exceed
ingly valuable jewels.
No one outside a clergyman's family.
says the New York Times. knows the
queer requests made of clergymen and
the odd things they sometimes feel
! called upon to do for the benefit of
their parishioners. One of the queer
| est on record was a proposal made
by one minister to a man in his parish
for the benefit of a widow who felt
some delicacy in taking the step her
self. but who was confident that the
result would be one that would be de-
sirable all around. The minister was