Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1904-09-30

watching me with surprise which 1
could not help but feel was unfatter-
ing.
At the conclusion Of the cotlllion,
my partner escorted me to the dress
ing-room door, where he expressed the
wish to wait upon" me soon Che
never made calls) He bade me good
by with an almost fatuous smile as
he preseed-nay. squeezed my hand
well, Old lady, you've done pretty
WE'LL" said Tom as he edged into the
Victoria with me and my favors. The
children will think chat Santa Claus
Is abroad in the land. There's enough
stun here 10 bam . good-sized Christ
mas tree"
Il really had q delightful time," 1
said. Why. Tom. felt quite as 1
used to a. Q girl at our dances at
home. Do you remember that sum
mer cotillion. where we nrst metT
Remember! should think soi
That was nearly twenty yeas ago. l.
a callow second lieutenant, fresh from
West Point, and you a slender little
girl in a pink frock! You were aw-
fully pretty then. but" and here
my husband went on to say something
foolish, which was quite unusual for
him; for, happy as we were, with us
those things were more often under
stood than mentioned.
As I was preparing for my needed
repose that night, took of my rings
as usual to lock them away In my
5ewel-case, and dropped one, which
rolled OF into some dark corner. l
looked for 1t for a moment, but being
very sleepy and seeing that only tha
little moonstone ring was missing, l
postponed the search until morning. I
then informed Fortuna OF the loss.
She told me later that, after looking
thoroughly, she had been unable to
find the ring. was almost sure that
It had rolled underneath the wash
stand, but when we moved that piece
of furniture and It was not there, I
dismissed the thing from my mind, as
the article was really Of no intrinsic
value.
That evening as my carriage stop
ped by the bandstand on the Luneta,
and as 1 exchanged greetings with my
friends, saw many of my partners
of the previous evening. A few of
them stopped for word or two, but
many Of them passed on with merely
bow. l was rather amused to see
that staff officer who had nearly shed
tears the evening before, when a pre-
vious enga agement had prevented my
accepting from him a tin trumpet be-
deckd with ribbon. pass me by with
all. Indeed, could not but remark
that the fervor Of my admirers Of the
night before had waned Derceptbly.
Upon reaching home that evening,
found an unpleasant episode In prog
ress. AS we drove through the front
door. into the stable, which occupies
the ground floor Of most Manila
houses, large group of servants,
children, and chickens stood watching
fight between Domingo. the stable
boy, and Juan. the cooks assistant.
AS Domingo was belaboring his an
tagondst about the head with q brass
candlestick, the consequences threat
| ened to become serious, but the CO.
chero. descending from his box, lay
about him WIN his whip until finally
the combatants separated.
l stopped to inquire into the causes
Of the afrray. When a Filipino Is an
CRY he Is very incoherent, and the
mixture Of Spanish and Tagalog which
the two culprits poured forth was
quite unintelligible to me. From the
cochero gathered that somebody had
promised to marry them both, and
that each was determined to murder
the other in consequence. After
threatening them both with the Gala
boose GaiD. l ascended the stairs, and
there received Fortuna perched on the
newel-post, her bare feet tucked up
under her red skirt, her hair freshly
annointed with cocoanut oil, and her
eyes dancing with an unholy JOY.
could not help feeling that she was at
the bottom of the whole affair.
Two days before I left for Japan,
Fortuna came to me and said that she
was unable to 90 with u.s. She in
formed me that nothing but the fact
that she was to be matrimonial
would have induced her to leave the
children and myself.
Whom are you going to marry,
PortunaT' l asked, wondering wheth-
er Juan or Domingo were to carry off
the prize.
"A man muy rico, senora," she de-
clared. proudly. HE give me beauti-
full jewels and fine casa. You see
him often on the Luneta-Simon Sc