The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1903-10-09

thought. She looked to be rather un-
der than over Is, was slender and ele-
CANT in figure, her head small and
,shape!y, her large dark eyes far apart.
and her nose short and straight. u 8
Conversation languished until after
the fish. Jimmie was not in his most
laxative yein-it was a little awk-
ward not knowing his companions
name-and she herself was not COM
municative.
With the entree matters looked up
little. They had cantered easily
through the conventionalities which,
with all but the very rare, are an es-
sential preliminary to the steady trot
or gallop over the conversational road
way, and now the lady said to Jim
mic, "You are an old friend of Mrs.
< Vanderveer's and must know every
one here, will you not tell me who
some Of them are: I know almost no
one"
Jimmie, by carefully careless
glance of eye and cunning nod, indi-
Gated Mrs. Aldgate, the celebrated
leader, and told the story of her ia
nous necklace, which she wore to-
night, which had been stolen in Paris
and mysteriously recovered in St. Pc
tersburg; Mrs. Swan, the marriage of
whose daughter with a coachman had
turned her hair white in single
night-there were those malicious
enough to say that the hair she wore
now did not undergo the chameleon
change on Mrs: Swans own head, but
of this Jimmie said nothing. Then
he pointed out Mr.. Asiel, whose bride
fell into crevasse in the Alps during
their honeymoon 20 years ago, and
who had never married again; Miss
Allaire, so beautiful, rich and intel
lectual, no sutton had appeared whom
her parents considered even remotely
worthy of the bestowal of her hand,
and who, now, at 20, was threatened
with old maidenhood through very ex-
cess Of the gifts of fortune. OF all these
and more Jimmie told the handsome
dark lady, and then he added: There
are just three strange faces here to-
night, the blonde lady on my left, the
little brunette in a white lace dress
and the stout lady in green. One of
these must be the celebrated Mrs. LIE
Clair"
There was the slightest possible
pause, then the lady said in tori be-
tokening mild interest, Mrs. p"
"Mrs. LIE Clair; haven't you heard of
herr"
II have been in New York a very
short time.'
$50 has she-about four weeks or
so. She comes from California and is
said to be young and beautiful. She
was written up in the Day You
don't see that delectable sheet fancy?
Well, you are so much to the good.
She is known as the 'much-married'
It seems she was welded first at the
tender age of 18. A few years after
ward her husband went north to the
Klondike gold fields, and, as he did
not return, he was given up for lost.
After an interval of three years or so
she married as.4:3. wealthy mine
owner from the coast, but the mar
riage did not turn out well. She was
unhappy and left him. Afterward it
was discovered that the wealthy mine
| owner had a wife living somewhere
at the time of his marriage to Mrs
LIE Clair, so when later a young bust
ness man of San Jose fell in love with
her it was not necessary for her to
get divorce in order to marry him.
MI
as it stood, but the strangest thing is
that after another year the original
husband turned up alive and well, with
thrilling story of capture by Indians,
shipwreck or something. There was
an affecting meeting between husband
and wife, for she loved him still. The
! new Enoch Arden did not hold the
San Jose spouse against his wife-he
thought it quite natural and right for
her to wed again, but when, in the
course of narration No. THAT is No.
Pits really somewhat complex
mean the wealthy miner husband, had
to be unveiled, the returned one ragged.
Two successors to himself in so COM
paratively short space of time were
more than he could forgive, so he took
himself off in huff. And now see
the predicament this fair one is in.
At the early age of 26 or so she finds
herself married to three men, all liv-
ing, none divorced, yet none available
as a husband. It's a strange story,
isn't it?'
Every strange-as you tell it. The
woman appears in most unpleasant
light. Are there no circumstances ex-
tenuating or making more natural her
conduct? For example, might she not
have been left very poor when her
first husband did not come back, and
might she not have married the mine
owner for home and his protection?
Then, when that turned out so i'll, may
not the poor woman have been des-
perate, and willing to go to- great
lengths for a name and an honest
mans lover"
"Ah, on these subjects I am not in
formed"
would it not be well to be informed