The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-10-18
MR.. ANANIAs COMES HOME.

1T suppose" said Mrs. Ananias al
the breakfast table, in sarcastic tone
of voice, "that you were kept late al
the Office last night"
She looked severely at her husband.
If Ananias felt as bad as he looked,
he must have been in a pretty bad
way. He only hoped that he didn' t
look as bad as he felt.
"Well, no, Maria,' he said, brac-
ing up, ''the fact is that buziness was
slack yesterday, and at 8 o'clock in
the afternoon 1 found I had nothing
to do-so I went right over to Char
ley Simpsons Office, and told him
that I wanted a drink, and that he
must come out and have one with
me. He didn't want to come, but I
insisted upon it"
"Oh you did, did you 7" return
ed his better half with asperity.
and" continued Ananias, 1--WE
went around to Dutch Jake's and
found some other fellows there, and
we had a good time. l must have
blown in ten dollars. 1 did most of
the treating"
Mrs. Ananias gasped-s was sur
prised way down to her toes, that
was clear-at her husbands frank
avowal. But she concealed it as best
she could.
"And then 1 suppose the rest of
the night you had to stay with sick
friend?" she remarked ironically.
"Well, no." he returned, I'll tell
you how it was. We had all had SO
much that we didn't any of us dare
10 go home" Mrs. Ananias shifted,
but her husband unabashed, went on,
SO we all went out and had cham
pagne supper at Molatte's-that hot
French place uptown, you know.
poid for it, I" he continued, "and then
we went 10 roofgarden performance
it was great insisted on paying
for the tickets"
"Where did you get all t h e
money!" she demanded.
'I'm coming to that, Maria
man paid up bill in the morning,
and-I want to tell you the rest. We
were all feeling SO good after the
show that Charley Simpson suggest
ed-or rather I suggested to Charley
that we all go to his club and play
few games-of poker, you know
Maria-and make night of it. And
1 want to tell you, Maria, I had q
hundred dollars to start with in the
afternoon-that was the money the
man had paid me- "And," he con-
tinued, IT intended to bring it home
and give it to you-all of ito buy
some new clothes with" He paused
and then went on. II wanted you tc
have some new clothes, you know, y
lie said.
She shifted again. "Well," she
said. WELL" he continued, 1--WE
got to playing poker, and l had just
$50 with me when I started, and
when 1 finished"
"How much did you VIM" she
interrupted.
"That's just it, he said, ri was
going to buy you a new dress with
that $50, you know, Maria-I was
really-and Go you know I went and
and lost it, every cent-to Charley
Simpson-that's fact, Maria. And
so his wife's going to have new
dress. And then," he continued,
deftly dodging a well-aimed coffee
cup that came his way, and then
Charley Simpson, he blew us all off,
and I drank lot, and 1 was drunk
well, there wasn't mau there as
drunk as l was-I was the first man
under the tablet was beastly drunk,
Maria"
Mrs. Ananias had become frozen
into a pillar of ice by her indignation
"And l smashed my hat, and tore
my clothes. And it was me that
made such an awful racket getting ir
last night. 1 tell you. we made q
night of it, Maria, and 1 was the
worst of the lot"
"And what time did you get in
last night2" she asked through hel
clenched teeth.
"I'll tell you," he replied. 81
broke my watch getting in-trying
to open the door with it-and it must
have stopped when it broke-and here
it is-it was just 20 minutes after 4
this morning when l came in-beast
IL late, Maria"
She rose from her chair and looked
down upon him in mighty wrath.
And do you mean-do you dare
have you the face, sir-the impu-
dence, to sit there and tell me all thi:
toto my face, sir. How dare
you, sir p
Ananias looked at her with a milo
expression of surprise upon his face.
"I-I just wanted to tell you abou
it, Maria. You asked me and
thought you wanted to know. Yol
didn't-you didn't think I'd lie tt
you, Maria, did you? I'D rathe
stay out thousand nights like that
Maria, than-than to tell you a sin
gle lie-I would, indeed !"
1t was at this juncture that Mrs
Ananias felt herself fafling-falling
falling, from tremendous heigh
down to the lowest depths of bot
tomless pit. Then suddenly ther'
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