The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-12-11
STORY OF THE MARoulsE RING.

as q volunteer through the Cuban cam
I paign. was 70 steal brandy OF the dead
dagos. Every man Jack of them had a
/ TASK. / guess it was the worst brandy
+ ever distilled. but it tasted mighty good
/ 20 me, and, ss I say, stole il and drank
it and felt like a ghouI all the time.
All. you're thin-skinned. growled
Heathcote, d Harvard man who had
come to be Texas Ranger because he
was plucked a. West Point; If you want
10 feel real downright % cents you ought
10 try peacemaking between a woman
and a wife-beating husband. 1 did You
remember il. don't you, Harris
Neither one OF you knows what he's
talking about" drawled Lieutenant Col
Inns, who was doing his second year on
the frontier with his regiment.
He got q fresh bottle ont Of the cup
board, sent the Chinaman for another
( siphon, ana said:
You remember, Heathcote. while I was
at the academy I was forever running
back to Cincinnati TO spend a day.
/ week or a month, or whatever time l
could get on sick leave, bogus kilograms
or other subterfuges. Wen. they We're
all bogus, but 1 had q, reason, or thought
/ had, for going there so often. NO
man? Yes, of course it was a woman.
That is so, she was the making of g fine
and beautiful woman"
Wen, / don't think Edith-that was
her name-I don't think she ever knew
how 1 felt toward her; you see I was
never forehanded with women, or she
wouldn't have invited me 10 that theater
party. I don't know exactly how her
mother sprung it, but anyhow we hadn't
been in Edith house five minutes before
everybody knew that she was engaged
TO Herbert Humphreys, a spruce little
dandy. with lght-colored eyes and clothes
that would have made freddie Gerhard
! look like a costermonger. 1 didn't like
him first. last nor any time, but OF
course 1 was a prejudiced party.
We'll, I was assigned that's what you
call it. guess; I was assigned 10 Fannie
Ziegler-you know the Zieglers, Heath
cote? Brewers, you know. and we went
off to the theater in a lot OF carriages,
the girls all talking about the coming
wedding and what lovely doings would
be pulled off, and what a lovely ring that
was Edith had, and me-you can just
guess how I enjoyed that theater party.
I don't remember what the play was or
who was in my carriage besides Fannie
or anything about il except that one Of
the party was a girl cousin Of Edith
who had come from New Orleans tc be
leading lady, or bridesmaid.
well, sir, she was a stunnerl I think
il I hadn't been so faded on Edith Ia
have gone after that cousin. Her name
/ was NDA AAAc Il VI q blOlltE NAEt4r
with purple eyes and q forml Oh, sayl
I've seen her only once since then, but it
was too late. I'm always too late on
the wooing business, but wait. That
comes in the story too. We were at the
theater, weren't we? Well, ] noticed this
squirt Humphreys. Edith's fiance. SEEM
ed TO make better Roadway with the Gre
ole goddess than any OF US. I was dying
to 'wheln my woe'-that's in a poem
I was dead anxious TO get next her. but
so help, me, that Internal puppy had
way with him that distanced US all and
I began to wonder what Edith thought OF
the sudden Irritation that made all US
men SO weary. Maybe the girls didn't
notice it. or maybe they didn't let on,
for they ali saw that Corinne was
winner from Winnerville
The last thing 1 remember at the the
alter was Humphreys showing Corinne the
beautiful ring that he had given to Edith
as a guerdOn of their troth. 1t was a
peach. and no mistake. I think they
called it a marquise, at any rate its set
ting was an oblong opal, trimmed with
diamonds, but the popularity of it, and
think its chief beauty was the green
glory of the two emeralds set at the far
ends Of the oblong. Corinne looked at it
and then at Humphreys in that awful
way these women with velvet eyes have,
and said: Ia say yes myself TO a ring
like that Then she laughed in that
limpid, coddling way a certain class of
women have, and Humphreys-he was a
forward imp-slipped the ring on her
plump, white finger to see how ii look
ed Edith's mother was with US, chap
eroning the party, but nobody except me
seemed to have any evil thoughts, and 1
even suspected myself.
I'VE got back to the house without any,
thing more thrilling than small talk. and
after nice little supper at which, I
thought, Humphreys and the creole kept
up a pretty steady exchange of rather
tropical compliments. we all went into the
MUSHROOM for g song. / think there
We're eight besides Ediths mother in the
party, all nice young people Of the very
best families in Cincinnati and all old
friends except Humphreys and the New
Orleans cousin. She fitted in all right at
least with the men, hut Humphreys
Just couldn't help figuring him out as an
interloper, a misfit, a what you might
call cheap skate
Now for the ugly part OF It. Some
body asked Edith to sing a ballad and Of
course We all insisted. She sat down to
the plano. fingered the keys Il moment.
took off the beautiful marquise ring. laid
it on the top of the instrument, and be-
gan to play and sing. I think she played
four or five tunes before We would let her
stop. She was an exquisite pianiste and
one Of those amiable girls who loved 10
give pleasure without being coaxed. She
didn't require any notes. and as she
played we wandered about the big room
or sat stiu TO enjoy the effect. I noticed
that some OF the girls couldn't resist
picking up the ring. They We're all en-
vious Of il, and II I'm not mistaken
Humphreys stood for quite q while near
the piano. At any rate It was during
the music that I got my only chance to
whisper to Corinne ForgerOn. That's
what makes ne think Humphreys must
have been by the plano.
when Edith got through playing and
looked for her ring It was gone, Sac
laughed at first and called on US 70 "quit
lokiug, but when we had lighted all the
lights and crawled over the floor and
lifted everything movable. poor Edith
began to pout, and. well, you can inns CINE
how we felt No servant had entered
the room. The top OF the piano was
closed. il was an upright one. and We
moved the instrument four times ~ the
vain search. The men looked sheeuishly
1T one another. The girls looked n11s-
titled and scared Only Humphreys kept
up his front Nobody wanted 30 so first
and everybody knew Il was time 70 60
I, for one, was convinced that there WAS
q thief in the company. end naturally I
suspected i was Edith s hance. whom
hated cordially Finally. iu q burst ~
long suppressed anger, ] suggested thar
the men should retire t. the uarlor and
search one another. That made the girls
angry and Edith began 70 CRY. ~ last We
AL retired. feeling Ike "a !oZ Of whipped
c'lrs. ali bat Humphreys He bad The
iu1pudence 10 keep reassurinE Us. sals
that no doubt the ring wrlid turn NJ
and 50 forth. ti3 7 felt ike choking h5a7
Then he said something &c pcor Edith