The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-04-04

From the Chicago Times. Herald.
"HERE was q Goodness between
Billy Hamilton and his young wife
no doubt about that. He knew
Il it, felt it, saw it. but being Il
philosopher and an optimiSt, he
ascribed the temporary change in her
behavior to the natural disappointment
of Il young matron of two years whose
maternal yearnings had not been graft
fled.
Wed be all right if we only had a
child" he would murmur to himself as
he walked from the station to his fiat
and bounded up the back stairway to
show his smiling face and crack his
joke of greeting with his pretty wife.
But somehow his smile looked like a
grin to her, his jokes didn't so any
more, and she would loll toward the
dinner table and carry the conversa-
tion no farther than monosyllabe.
OF course this got on Billy's nerves II
bit but he didn't show it. He was one
of those irrepressbly amabe men who
won't scrap With Il woman. That
makes some women furious. There are
some women who find it hard to forgive
the man who will not argue, scold and
even threaten. A family row always
gives them II chance to air their grieV-
ances, to unburden suspicious and to
wind up with II good cry Mrs. Billy
didn't know it, but she was one of
those thoroughly feminine persons who
resent the denial of these wifely privi-
leges
Now cute as he was Billy was all
wrong in his guess about his Martha $
spell" She wasn't yearning for II
child at all, but in her fretful soul the
shadow of an ugly suspicion had grad
ually grown into the intolerable cer-
tainty that Billy, her Billy, WAS un-
faithful. She didn't have any final
proof, us yet, but she was so sure of
the hateful truth that she hardly dared
to face the visual certainty. Mean
while her husband came home each
evening gay with a gayety that she re-
garded as n mask, full of such tender
ness as he had not shown since the
days of their courtship, and as sprucely
dressed as II he We're Il lover instead of
"A husband.
Now, the impending domestic trage-
dy, which didn't worry Billy half as
much as 1t should have done, started
i'm u very innocent and natural way.
Coming back from her summer vaca-
tion to rehabiltate her fiat, Mrs. Ham
ilton had been unable to find Il suitable
domestic, She was poor housekeeper,
couldn't cook, and hated houseclean-
ing. Furthermore, she didn't like
housewifely "drudgery," as she called
it, and Billy, who was something of an
epicure, fond of all creature comforts
and prone to take Martha to the thea
ter with him, was even more anxious
to get a girl than was his wife.
She was sitting in the parlor one
evening reading the paper, when he
rushed in with:
Good news, Martha! I've got a
girl.'
He 0uld have plunged into details
then and there, but smelling at the air
with slckly grin, he added
"Supper's burning, Martial" But
as she ran to the Kitchen to pull forth
he charred turkey he followed her
With: "Let the darn thing CO. Martha.
Wen go downtown and celebrate,
rhe girl viii be here in the morning
sure. Luckiest thing in the world for
as. Tompkins and his Wife are going
to Europe for six months | Just hap
pened to mention the fix we were in
this morning, and he up and says:
whats the matter with taking my
girl till We come back Tomky says
she's treasure. You won't even have
10 tell her what to do