Evening star., 1901-12-07
MATRIMONIAL DIPLOMACY

think" remarked unto himself this
young married man on his way to town
from the races on, Thanksgiving day, that
i Shall tust-er-pinch and hold out the
century of this wad, so to speak. to the
end that l may ihave little allby-my-
lonesome account with myself and he
smiled fo&ily as he reflected upon the great
Dig one hundred dollars worth of secret
that he was going to- have from his spouse.
DID you win Or lose. my dear?' his wife
asked him when he arrived home.
Oh, l won few doilars-'bout thirty
ne replied in anooff-hand manner, pulling
the money out of his pocket. He handed
1t over to her, saying:
fou may as. Well .toddle down town to-
morrow and buy yourself some little old
thlng that you need-the thirty s velvet.
Whereupon,- of course, she hugged him
enthusiastically, and told him that he was
the pest old thing that ever was, and so on,
"hiie ne thought of the neat-looking one
huhored-dollar bill slowed away in his left
hand vest pocket and thought of the things
ne would do with that amount in certain
little poker game that he knew Of a few
nights later on
He had in mind her v,ifely habit of going
through his pockets, absent -mindedly, while
Drusnlng on his clothes-as she always put
the matter when it came up for discussion
ana SO, the first chance he got, he sped up
SeeiA " put the $lUU Dill away III SoHle
safe place until he had an opportunity to
remove 1t and restow it in his clothes when
dressed on the following morning. He didn
nave much time, as he figured that she was
maple to be right upstairs after him. and
so he hastily pulled open the bottom draw
er of the chiffonier and tucked the bill un-
derneath a lot of linen in that drawer.
On the following morning he had no
cnance 10 get at the bin again on account
of his wife's presence in the room, and so
prehenSions, to let it remain there until the
following morning
After he had gone to the Office young
woman friend of his wife's called upon her
N.Y. remarked the young woman visit
or, but wasn't your husband lucky at the
races, though, yesterday. We saw him just
after the last race, and he told Jack that
nee won more than a hundred and thirty
dollars! Wasn't that grand?"
Yes, 1t was just too splendid"' said the
young wife, swallowing a gulp, but never
giving the situation away by so much as an
altered expression Of countenance HE
gave his winnings to me to buy things for
myself with when he got home.''
After her visitor had departed the young
Wlfe sat down in a rocking chair and stud
leo quite hard She traced all Of her hus-
bands movements out from the moment
of his arrival home from the races on the
evening before until his departure for the
office that morning. Then she walked right
upstairs and with feminine intuition that
brand of that article she pulled out the
chiHonier drawers one by one until, ex-
ploring the bottom of the last one, she
found the "held-out'' 800 bill.
oh. you naughty, naughty old thing,
you! she exclaimed, shaking her finger at
him with mock severity when he got home
that evening
Huh? What've done now?" he inquired,
feeling deep and strong within him that he
had been corralledl on that 500 '.hold out
She pulled the $l0O bill from inside the
waist of her dress and waved it gayly be-
fore his eyes.
"Oh. thatH' he exclaimed disappointedly
being pretty crafty himself at a pinch
Pound 1t. hey25 Sorry. Won that at the
races yesterday, in addition to the thirty
gave you. Pshaw! I'm sorry you found it,
Was going to save; it to buy you your
Christmas present-that turquoise and dia-
mond ring that you were looking at in the
window the other evening. Wouldn't have
touched it for anything if you hadn't found
it; but now, as long as you have found 1t
and the surprise feature of the present is
broken up, why, TIL have to apply the
money to a couple Of pressing little bills
that I owe! Hate, to do that, too. BY jing,
it's hard luck that you had to go and find
it! Now I'll have to get you something else
for Christmasr'a FIR = -.
There never was time yet when two
couldn't play at the countering, feinting
and uppercutting known as the game Of
matrimonial diplomacy.