The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-01-06
TOM LANDERS' WIFE

~ y Mrs. Vandeveer," said one
8 " 6 Of the chattering bevy Of
n II Eembroiderers on the hotel
1c< piazza. sometimes I have
n fancied she has something
on her mind"
Mrs. Vanderveer frowned. "Non-
senser' she said quickly. "Black makes
any girl look pale; besides, Elinor's
mother has not been dead six months,
and her deep mourning naturally shuts
her of from all the gayeties of a sum-
mer resort. I try my best to make her
feel less lonely, but she cannot forget
that she is an orphan" .-, Z.
Nevertheless, she felt worried. 1t
was no small responsibility to chaperon
an heiress, but when she had under
taken Elinor Haywood for the summer
q fit Of melancholia was the last thing
In the world she had looked for. She
had expected to have q battle with
scores of ineligible men, the kind that
always crowd around a girl with
money, but Elinor did not seem to care
for. attention, and kept to herself as
much as possible.
In fact, the one. eligible man in the
place, the one whom Mrs. Vanderveer
had picked out as the only desirable
party. she had kept at severe dis
tance. This was Tom Landers-a hand
some young lawyer Of good family
with some means of his own. He
seemed more than willing to try to
make Miss Haywood's life pleasanter,
but later her avoidance Of him had
been noticeable. Mrs. Vanderveer
wondered if there was another love
affair, Of which she knew nothing,
somewhere in the background. She de-
termined to find out.
"Why don't you like Mr.. Landers?.
she asked. when the two were alone
together. The girl flushed painfully,
and turned, away. II don't dislike
him." she faltered, "but don't care
to talk to him; you know like to be
quiet. In fact, was wondering"
wondering what?" said the elder
woman, anxiously.
"There are so many people here. I
thought we might be more comfortable
II we moved to some other place"
Mrs. Vanderveer raised her eyebrows
q trife. my Gear girl, that's ridicu-
lous. You yourself chose this place,
and you know our rooms are taken for
the entire season"
The girl sighed and said nothing
more. She was very unhappy. She
longed to tell Mrs. Vanderveer what
she felt it would blister Her lips to-
utter. and yet it seemed strange that
she did not see for herself what all the
people in the hotel knew. For though
Tom Landers had sought her out from
the very first and seemed determined
to make her like him in the end, he
did not conceal the fact that he was
married man; in fact he was spending
his vacation with his wife.
Elinor had not known it at first. Mrs.
Vanderveer had presented him, and
she had taken it for granted that he
was unmarried. He had been so kind
and thoughtful, and in her loneliness
her heart had gone out to him; with
out intruding upon her great sorrow or
even mentioning it, he seemed to un-
derstand everything, and by the very
sympathy Of his manner helped her to
bear her loss. If he had only told her
then!
Elinor could not remember without
certain humiliation the day when she
had first discovered the truth. A party
Of girls had chartered a coach and had
persuaded her to drive with them.
Without listening che overheard the
conversation of the two just in front of
her and found that they were talking
about the subject Of her own thoughts,
Tom Landers.
eyes, he's awfully handsome" said
the first speaker, "but I think Miss
Landers, his sister, is the sweetest
thing. She came this morning"
"She isn't Miss Landers, she's Mrs.
Landers; most people make that mis-
take" said her companion. "He was
speaking about it the other day. They
think it great joke"
. By an effort Of will Elinor nerved
herself to dress and 60 downstairs to
meet Tom Landers' wife. She was at
least no coward. He himself intro
duced her that very evening, and Eli
nor got through it somehow witho t
breaking down. Mrs. Landers was
very pretty, and very young, with a
frank smile and very cordial man
ner. .. -. .-.'. - ... ... .. f..
One afternoon several women were
discussing husbands in general and
tobacco in particular. One. speaker said
that she allowed he1 husband three
cigars a day, but when he was away
from her she supposed he smoked all
the time. Mrs. Landers seemed to find
this very amusing.
TON is the best boy in the world
she said, "and I dare say he would give
|up smoking to please me, but I would
no more try to limit the number of
cigars nay husband smokes than I
kwould the number of clean collars he
wears. Would you, Miss Haywood%