Evening star., 1902-03-15
A VIVID IMAGINATION

'Deuced annoying. I cali it!'' exclaimed
the young husband, casting upon the table
letter which he had taken from his pocket
to reread. Here's . letter from that
French automobile firm that's making my
new $4,000 racer. informing me that the
work on It has been unavoidably delayed
and that the firm can't ship 1t until the 1st
of June at the earliest. Slow lot, those
foreign workmen, aren't they?"
We'll, there's plenty of slowness in this
country, when 1t comes to that" replied
the young wife, dreamily looking up from
her lace work. II had note today from
that New York firm to which 1 gave the
commission to assemble for me the twelve
strand necklace Of matched pearls-remem-
ber?-or did I say anything about 1t to you?
no. come to think of it, ordered It while
you were hunting in India last spring.
Wen. the note informs me that the firm Is
experiencing the greatest difficulty in OBJ
tanning matched pearls for the making of
such long necklace. 1t says that dozen
Cingalese pearl divers have been especially
employed in seeking the pearls in those dread
full. shark-infested waters ever since ] gave
the order, but that they report exceedingly
slow progress. and that It. will perhaps be
two years before they will be enabled to
send me the completed necklace Bother,
say
The young husband picked up his paper
and read for awhile, but it was obvious
from the far-away expression in his eyes
that his mind wasn't on what he was read
ing. Finally, he put the paper down and
said:
Dye know, my dear. was thinking this
afternoon that I'd rather like to make an
other japanese cruise on the Mermaid. You
know the last time we did the Asiatic seas
was before the Spanish war. and we never
thought of visiting the Philippines. I was
thinking that it 'ud be rather good scheme
to prowl around the Japanese ports for
about six months. say, and then run down
and have a thorough good look at the Phil
ippines. Fact is, we ought to take in all
of the South Pacific islands on the cruise
Samoa, the Fijis. the Carolines, the Mar
quesas-all of 'em. How does the plan
strike you. Ermyntrude?
The young wife placed her chin in her
hand and looked thoughtful.
II should like it above all things" she re-
piled after a silence, but 1 did want to
be on hand in this country to supervise the
decorative work on our new Aiken chateau.
You know how terribly disregardful of ones
II Instructions these decorators are-remem-
ber what an awful mess they made of the
rose room Of The Peaks our place on the
Hudson, while we were-let me see, where
were we when they were decorating The
Peaks? Oh. yes; l remember-doing the
Tyrol. Well, you recall that they didn't
obey my instructions at ALL and that they
actually attempted to give the drawing
room Trianon effect, when didn't want
that at all?''
"Um-yes," replied the young husband
scratching his chin ref1ectively, but we
might engage some competent man this
time, you know. to supervise the work and
have 1t carried out with absolute fidelity
to our plans. should think we could OBJ
tain the services Of some artist felow-a
lot OF those poor devils live in garrets,
INTERCHANGEABLE Of attending to the
overseeing for a little matter of $4,000 or
s2OnO year. Ell? That would render us
- 1I,,bf hi fY,Cr
to worry about during the cruise
VERY WELL Alaric," said the young WIFE
pleased at the suggestion. You have such
head for practicable detail. Go ahead
and the south Pacifc-I really believe. |
should enjoy 1t quite a little"
Lets see.' unused the young husband,
stroking his mustache, "where the deuce
is The Mermaid now. anyhow? Last let
ter had about her from Jorkins my COM
mander-mighty sound and safe fellow, that
Jorkins. and swell navigator. too-he was
somewhere up in Maine, and l believe he
left The Mermaid tied up somewhere
around New York. Come to think of it.
he suggested to me the last time l saw
him that he thought The Mermaid ought
to have a new starboard engine Guess Ia
better wire Jorkns to put The Mermaid
into temporary commission and take her
down to Philadelphia to have that engine
put in. It'll only cost $4,000 or $4,000,
and we might as we'll have 1t done for
this cruise as to wait for the next. en-,
my dear? Have you got the address Of
Ktnslow The Mermaids' steward? When
we quit the yacht after that West Indian
cruise last fall the fellow told me that he
was going to Scotland to see his people,
and he gave me his address so that he
could be cabled for any time we decided to
put The Mermaid in commission again.
Think gave that address to you. didn't I?''
Eyes. I have it-Kinslow's in Glasgow"
replied the young wife.
well, I'll just cable him to run across
and provision the yacht" said the young
husband "and I'll let Jorkins summon the
rest of the crew-he knows where the men
maid around the cape to San Francisco
I'd rather make the start from there,
wouldn't you. my dear?"
"Oh. yes" she replied. II don't want to
go through the Suez any more than can
help
"Well. then Ermyntrude." said he, 'the
repairs ought to be completed and Jorkins
ought to get her around through the straits
by the first OF September anyhow-and
that's a quiet season on the Pacific. too.
Srpposing you just name a date now for
the start. my dear?'
"Oh. well. say the 18th OF September"
said she, and he made note OF it In his
little book, and thus the matter was all
arranged.
Were they millionaires?
Oh no. not at all. He was $500 stenog-
rapher in the patent office, and they were
ments on Capitol Hill They were just
playing "pretendins.' and they were quite
unimaginably happy over the game, even
If, all the time he was trying hard to figure
out how he was going to get her a little
so2.5O tailor suit for spring that she had
got her eye on in of the shops and