Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1903-01-08
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AN EASTER /
! DTSCORD J
BY GRACE G. KINCAID 4
Copyright, 1901, by 7. G. Mcclure

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The coolness between Mrs. Went
worth and Mrs. Drewelowe was begin
i ming to occasion remark. They met
frequently, for Mrs. Drewelowe was
the gracious mistress of a beautiful
Euclid avenue home, while just around
the corner, upon a short and unpreten-
| tious side street, stood the smaller
house rented by Professor and Mrs
| Wentworth.
Years ago they had been girls to-
gether in the little village of Mayville,
| when she of the stately mansion had
been only Maria Duzenbury, daughter
of the most shiftless man in the vii
lage.
In those days Mrs. Wentworth had
| lived on no side street, but in the state
| ly white pillared mansion which
crowned the highest hill In Mayville
and which was pointed to with pride
as the home of Judge Titus. Fate
| plays strange tricks! After the death
of the judge, when the lawyers were
! quite through, somehow there was lit
tie or nothing left for the daughter, al
| though one of the lawyers took his en-
tire family abroad within the year and
the other built himself a new house.
| The trouble began at the Culture
club. Mrs. Wentworth had felt sure
| she had detected most peculiar smile
upon Mrs. Drewelowe's face at the
! precise moment when she stood up to
read her paper on Egyptian Archi-
lecture" Then, later in the afternoon,
Mrs. Roberts, also of Euclid avenue,
/ had leaned over and said laughingly:
Mrs. Wentworth, Mrs. Drewelowe
says she doesn't believe you ever wrote
that paper. 1t was so good she thinks
| your husband must have written it."
Any clubwoman knows this is most
| grievous insult.
Mrs. Wentworth gave charming little
teas in a modest, side street fashion,
and the bitterness ranked in her heart
| to such an exRnt that she left Mrs.
| Drewelowe off her list the next week.
| Then there was an elaborate social
| function at the Euclid avenue man.
sion, and Mrs. Wentworth did not re-
| ceive cards.
But the climax was reserved for Eas-
| ter morning in the vestibule of the Eu-
| cid avenue church.
Mrs. Drewelowe and Mrs. Wentworth
met, and, remembering the sacred
threshold, bowed less coldly than
usual, then gasped and stood trans
fixed Taking in every flower and
knot Of lace, they realized that their
beautiful new Easter bonnets were ex-
actly alike.
Their husbands, balancing their hats
carefully in one hand and with the
other holding each vestibule door,
were courteously awaiting them. They
had cordially shaken hands, for it Ill
became dignified men to notice wo-
mems small Quarrels.
Mrs. Drewelowe was first to recover
"a beautiful morning." she said in her
sweet, even tones, and bar Of purple
and yellow flashed from the window
across the violets in her bonnet as she
turned and swept after her husband.
Mrs. Wentworth bowed in silence,
biting her lips in vexation, and raised
q delicately gloYed hand up to see If
her bonnet, that had cost her so many
economies, was really upon her head
or upon that of rich Maria Drewelowe.
She felt that now, as ever since they
had lived in the city, Mrs. Drewelowe
had the best of her.
A little path had opened through the
garden of spring millinery across the
congregation, and through it she saw
Mrs. Drewelowe turn and stare direct
ly back at her, smile in a superior way,
then whisper something to Mrs. Rob-
erts in the pew just behind, whereupon
Mrs. Roberts laughed most immoder-
ately, considering the time and place.
The hot blood rushed to Mrs. Went
worth's face In such force as to make
her quite dizzy. She knew what Mrs.
Drewlowe had said as well as though
she had heard every word.
"Annie Wentworth, never content
with running after me, has managed
in some way to copy my bonnet, and
don't you think, Mrs. Roberts, 1t is an
outrage"
Alas! Annie Wentworth, daughter
of Judge Titus, to be thus openly fiout-
ed by Duzenbury!
1t was bad enough to be reduced to
living on side street, to watching her
in the lead of the most exclusive set In
the city, but to be accused Of copying
her clothes-that was the last straw.
Move! Indeed they'd move the LIST of
Mayi She would resign from the Gull
ture club! They would go where she
might never meet this regal, queenly
daughter of aimless, shiftless old Du-
zenbury or her husband, who had made
his fortune in kerosene.
The minister scared away in mag
nificent flights of oratory, but Mrs.
Wentworth's mind constantly returned
to the problems of how the bonnets
came to be alike and what Mrs. Drewe
lowe had whispered to Mrs. Roberts. At
last she solved the first question. Mrs.
Drewelowe had discovered her treasure.
the little milliner who made it possible
for her, the wife of Professor Went
worth, to appear for $40 in bonnets
which looked as though they had cost
$780, the poor little relic of better days
who lived in the old tumble down brick
building behind the cathedral and who
had a wonderful knack for copying
expensive bonnets. To place her old
est customer in such a humiliating po-
sitionl Mrs Wentworth turned cold
all over with the remembrance OF the
whisper. Oh, the letter she would
send with the bonnet straight back to
that traltl'ess!
She was quite hysterical by the time
the last amen was pronounced and
hurried the daZed professor home at
rapid pace. Patiently he listened to
the time worn complaints-the wreck
of her fathers estate, the bitterness OF
seeing Maria Drewelowe in her beau
tiful home while she must live in an
obscure corner.
Tenderly he soothed her and bathed
her throbbing temples. Years of wed
ded life had taught him the futility of
argument when his wifes MIND was
made up. He remembered, too, that
for love of him she had refused Henry
Drewelowe back in the old sunny days
at Mayville.
Unable to be up the next morning,
nevertheless she managed to indite
bitterly accusing note to the little mil
liner and dispatch it with the bonnet
by messenger boy. Several days
elapsed, and no answer came. Finally
in desperation she gathered her
strength and, boarding a downtown
car, was soon mounting the steps OF
the old brick huilding behind the ca