Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1905-05-19
t will be several minutes before they

circumstance. Inelr conversation
seemed to be very earnest. Now and
then the man bent tenderly toward the
woman and assisted her with the
steering apparatus.
1t was more than the poor little
woman standing helpless on the street
corner could endure. She made a.
start toward the automobile. Discre-
ton. caused her to retreat With a
despairing little cry she turned again
to her cabman.
II you'll get me a machine III give
you dollar" she said.
The cabman was sympathetic. 81
was going to get you one anyway" he
responded. you wait right here I'M
til l come back"
He disappeared in the crowd that
surged endlessly toward the Auditor
ium hotel
When he came back with a motor
car the pitiful little woman gave her
instructions to the chauffeur briefly.
You are not to lose sight of that red
runabout, she said. Then she entered
the car and waited
1t was several minutes before the
red car moved down Wabash avenue
slowly. So engrossed had its two oc-
cupants been in their conversation
that neither had looked about, so The
little woman was quite unnoticed.
That was about II o'clock in the
morning. Until three in the afternoon
she followed the red runabout A
merry chase it led her, too. Once the
car in whieh she was driving had to
turn out into another street and run
the danger Of losing the game.
That's mighty fine car said the
chauffeur. eff I'd known it was any
thing like this I'd "a driven a newer
machine myself. This is all right for
little trips, but not for such a chase
as this
Her lace grew Whitewater than it
was, that is. 1--WE mustn't lose sight
of it, she said. IF we do" Here
the road was rough. She finished the
sentence to herself: I'll go to a drug
store and buy some carbolic acid"
This happened out beyond Fort
Sheridan. In all those hours only one
stop did the red machine make. Then
| the man went into hotel and brought
the woman glass of water.
At three o'clock the red runabout
turned homeward. Straight toward
the city it came, even to the very front
of the building in which was her hus-
bands Office. Half a block behind the
w Of oil
in her hired car. Great shadows were
| drawn in around her eyes. Her cheeks
| had grown hollow. Intense mental
agony was in every line of her coun-
/ tenance. She halted her chauffeur,
| left the car, and paid him. A nice bill
| it was, too. The money she had
| meant to pay her weeks household ex-
| penses with. Swiftly she walked
| toward the place where the red run
| about stood. "She paused in the en-
trance of the building, deliberately,
| and looked into the face of the woman
who sat in the car. Her misery was
complete. 'EShe is younger and pref
tier and wears better clothes than
do" she acknowledged to herself.
''The truth of it is, he's got acquainted
with her somewhere and he just loves
her more than he does me-
Her Wonderings did not carry her
| farther. 1t was too much agony to
wait for her husband to come out
again. She went straight to the ele-
waited station and took the south
| bound train for her home.
in, hor ho
her husband came whistling up the
steps.
Il won't go down to meet him." she
said to herself. 1t was the first time
| she had ever failed in that. He called
to her, little impatiently. ooh, Nell
| come down here, I've got something I
| want to show you"
She stuck her head out of her bed
room door and replied stiff1y: Eve
| got too bad a headache to come down."
He was up the stairs four steps at a
time.
"You look it." he said. What on
earth have you been doing with your
| you did when l went away this morn
| ing"
| The tears welled up in her eyes and
| ran over.
eve got enough to make me look
older" she replied, looking at him
| with all the suspicion she could
| muster.
He did not catch her meaning.
ftWell. I've got something" he cried,
chat will make you well in three min
| utes. Come here"
He lifted her up bodily in his arms
and carried her down the stairs. With
a roaring laugh he set her on her feet
| in the hall. He opened the hall door
wide and took her by the hand.
Look" he cried. 'You won't have
| to walk any more in the park. I've
| been a whole month making up my
mind to buy this thing"
He led her down the steps. A mo-
ment afterward she was perched up on
| the seat of a red runabout. Her eyes
/ were shining and she had very
| much ashamed feeling in her heart
Funny thing" said her husband, as
they drove along at a goodly pace. "a
woman sold me this machine. There's
several of them in town now, demon
strators, you know"
'IH never tell him." she said to me
confidentially last night, what an
idiot I was!''-Chicago Chronicle.