The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1906-06-07

nearly a week, and curiosity had
reached a fearful pitch. The men all
seemed crazy. and overwhelmed her
their own conclusions.
Some cheap actress as likely as
not, my DEAR" said the buxom widow.
But she's very sweet to speak to-"
said the youngest daughter, land she
never fOrgets to ask nicely how people
are if they have not been well, and I've
never heard her say a nasty thing yet"
You may gather that the youngest
daughter was quite young.
That's all very WELL" said one of
the spinsters; "but why all this mys-
terry about showing her face? I asked
her point blank yesterday why she 81
ways wore a veil, and what do you
think she said:"
I Excitement was intense.
What" csked several eager voices.
"'For the same reason as other peo-
PIE, 1 expect she said. smiling with
that silly mouth of hers.
"'Oh,' I said. and why do other peo-
pie wear them?
well, there are quite a lot of rea-
sons she answered. To enhance
ones good looks, 10 save ones COM
plexion, to hide ones ugliness, 20
avoid recognition, to battle curiosity,
etc. Don't you think 60?
And hen she smiled again and
asked me if I Gidn't think the river
lovely this hot weather." Depend up
au ff caid apnTbar crSrsEor ssAb;rn.
are no. al straightforward. A wolf in
sleeps clothing. Why, she may be a
burglar!'
"Oh, dear. said several l7C:es.
o a lady detective, Or a poison
err! One morning we shall all wake
up TO find we have been murdered in
our beds, 1 daresayr' The lady,
warmed with her subject, was ex-
ceedingly annoyed to hear one of the
average young men giggle and ask
her if she had any relatives in Ire
ianc.
The men we're Dearly as bad. Wild
surmises as - the lady 1nG her ante
cedents werE put forth, every man
chafed the others about their atten-
tons to the "yeiIed lady," but no man
slackera I'd those attentions in any de-
gree.
Now, it ear to pass that Mrs.
Russell, kindly soul. Lad promised the
ladies to investigate Miss Rowland,
and if it was not as it should be to
give her notice.
With thooe good intentions, she
knocked at Miss RoEiaLG's door one
morning. She was kept waiting about
two minutes. and when admitted Miss
Rowland's Lead and face were en-
velo1ed in a large shawl
The chameDrmaid had previously
reported that this was always the
case when she took the early tea in,
too.
Mrs. Russell was received with
affability, thereby quite disarming
her first intentions. With tact, how
ever. Miss Rowland gathered all the
facts, and acquired also . complete
quotation of the spiEste rs vehement
~ uttered suspicious.
Mrs. Russell, however, found he:-
self dismissel without hzving gained
an iota of information. After she had
5OhGg Ale ~ dn0 AOOh uCL hCdh OuL
Of the shaw. and examined her face
in her mirror.
You're getting yourself into a nice
pickle, miss" she said. "We'd better
drop our joke. eh, little face? But l
think the spinsters should be pun
ished. don't your -,.
| And then she laughed merrily. to
the detriment of the peace of mind of
the engineer whose room was next
door.
When she went out for her usual
walk that morning the engineer asked
permission to accompany her.
NO" she said; but if you like to
ask m tomorrow morning you may"
That night the spinster who had
surmised that Miss Rowland was ga
poisoner" and other disreputable
things, heard a knock at her bedroom
door just when she was in the act
of taking off her last stocking, and,
thinking it was the maid with her hot
water bottle, called out, "Come in"
She was absolutely petrified to see
a figure in a long red silk dressing
gown, with a black lace mantilla
hiding b entire head, come into he
room. r. ~
1t was never exactly known what
t~ranspired, but the spinster went into
Mysteries, and told a jumbled story
next morning about how THAT yelled
woman" had stood dramatically in the
middle of the room, muttering in Sc
pulchFal tones something about seeing
rivers of blood" and "gore-stained
acres" for "wallowers in calumny,"
and had pointed a finer at her. call
ing Upon Nemesis to 90 his work,
And the yelled lady left that morn
ing, and the engineer found he had
to go / town on business that day,
too. ata 31#~ t..iJ
Il suppose you'd prefer that 1 did
not travel up il your c~arriage"" he
asked, when he met her OF the plat
form.