The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1903-10-02

'Nh ANb ~ AlSl
thought. She looked to be rather un-
der than over 25, was slender and ele-
CANT in figure, her head small and
shapeiy, her large dark eyes far apar.
and her nose short and straight.
Conversation languished until after
the fish. Jimmie was not in his most
talkatiye vein-it was a little awk-
ward not knowing his companions
name-and she herself was not COM
m~unicativc.
With the entree matters looked up
a little. They had cantered easily
through the COnyentiOnalities 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
ME, you are IN old friend of Mrs.
Vanderveer's and must know every
one here, will YOU not tell me who
some of them are? know almost no
one"
Jimmie, by a 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 a single
~night-there were those malicious
enough TO say that the hair she wore
now did not jlnRarrn tho ohio p,a1onp
change on Mrs. Swans own head, but
Of this Jimmie said nothing. Then
he pointed out Mr.. Asiel, whose bride
fell. into a eva 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 ever remotely
worthy OF the bestowai Of her hand,
and who, now, at 90, 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 her ne added: There
are just three strange faces here to-
night. the blonde lady on my left, the
little brunette III a white lace dress
and the stout lady Ill green. One of
these must be the celebrated Mrs. lie
Clair"
There was the slightest possible
pause, then the lady said in a one be-
tokening mild interest. Mrs. -"
Mrs. LIE Clair; haven't you heard of
her?'
Il havo been in New York a very
short time"
so 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.'
1t seems she was welded first at the
tender age of is. 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 again, a 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.
Clair, SO when later a young bust
ness man of San Jose fell in love with
it was not necessary for her to
get a divorce in order to marry him.
This was rather a pretty complication
as 1T stood, but the strangest thing is
after another veal the original
husband turned up alive and we'll, with
thrilling story of capture by Indians,
Or something. There was
an affecting meeting between husband
md wife, for she loved him still. The
lew Enoch Arden did not hold the
San Jose spouse against his wife-he
thought 1t quite natural and right for
ner to wed again, but when, in the
of narration No. that is No.
really somewhat complex
the wealthy miner husband, had
% be unveiled, the returned one ragged.
Two successors to himself in SO COM
,%aratively short a space of time were
NosS .hoh Az u oi6lSC oO aS uOOh |
off in a huff. And now see
he predicament this fair one is in.
At the early age of ss or SO she finds
herself married to three men, all liv-
ng, none divorced, yet none available
IS a husband. It's a strange story,
sn't it,"
Very strangers you tell it. The
woman appears in a most unpleasant
light. Are there no circumstances ex-
enuatiRg or making more natural her
conduct? For example, might she not
AVE been left very poor when her
lrst husband did not come back, and
she not have married the mine
'wner for a home and his protection?
Then, when that turned out so i'll, may
lot the poor woman have been des-
,erate, and willing to go to great
engths for a name and an honest
mans loye?"
"Ah, or these subjects l am not in
ormed."
would it not be we'll to be informed
thoroughly before repeating a story
Ike this?' she asked gently. Il mean,
you'd it not be simple justice TO the
vnnnan fnr wh,an, fhinpc Yn,,st no hord |