Newport daily independent., 1903-01-19

which she was as proud as Samuel Pepys the first time he received a letter with the word Esquire after his name; but Mir. Chambers laughed her out of il, so she walked to the cloak room closely followed by the woman in the black domino
 The sleepy young woman in the cloak room handed a ticket to Mrs. l Wallace. No. 373." she said, drowsi- ly, and then she bundled together the sable coat as though 1t were the yilest Japanese" and stuffed it into pi- geon hole, at which Mrs. Wallace gave d gasp and then a sigh of happiness at the thought that its very quality would save it from injury. The wom- an in the black domino and mask stood by and disappeared few mo- mcnts later.
 It was about four o'clock before Mrs. Wallace had had enough of it and walked with him toward the exit. He was half way into his coat when Mrs. Wallace, reckless of decorum, rushed into the men s cloak room.
 "Come with mew she screamed; "ny sables have been stolenW
 The sleepy attendant was wide awake and the other young lady to whom she referred as her colleague was blinking ia a corner.
 q tell you" said the girl, fearful ly, 'the lady came in at about mid night, she said she was '373,' gave me the ticket and l gave her the beastly cloak"
 Mrs. Wallace stormed. "She could n't have given you the ticket! I've got it, look herew and she produced the slip of paper with 1913" printed on it.
 T can't help it, madam" ;" replied the girl; "Tm sure she gave me the number"
 Show it mel" shrieked Mrs Wal lace; "show me the ticketp'
 q can't, madam; can'tl l SUD- pose it's on the floor among all the others. You can look for it if you like"
 Mrs. Wallace began to push her way through the gaping little crowd to the end of the barrier.
 "What's the good?" interrupted Chambers, fuiously; ''the things gone and the ticket won't help you"
 Next day, just before dinner time, the engineer reached home. On his way, to his surprise, he found himself imagining with quite glow of pleas ure the embrace that he would re- ceive on his arrival from his simple minded wife.
 This evening he once more felt az grieved that the cab drove slowly and the footman wasted much time. When he reached the drawing room his wife was sitting down, nor did she move.
 "You are i'll, dear," he said, hasten ing forward, anxiously.
 Not a bit" she answered. 'Why do you ask?"
 And he blushed, embarrassed. He tried to kiss her lips; she offered her cheek coldly, and then asked him questions about his journey, and there was something in her manner that caused him to lie very clumsily
 All of a sudden she jumped up.
 Do you know anything about furs?" she asked
 ''No," he replied, stammering.
 "Do you know good sable from bad?"
 "How should IF" he answered.
 "I'ye got cloak very chcaply. You know you said, dear, you couldn't af ford furs this year; but thought you wouldn't mind a great bargain. Come this way"
 And she took him to the end of the drawing-room and showed him, lying on table, the missing fur cloak.
 For a moment he gasped, bewil- dered, then the thought came that the thief might have sold it to his wife. He took it up, handled it, and said, timidly: Tt seems very fine"
 He had recognized it in a moment. There were few like it in London, and tho makers name was on it, as well as barbaric golden jeweled chain that Mrs. Wallace had fastened to it, as means by which it could be hung