Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1907-11-28
HIS WIFE'S
REVENGE

"Oh, I am sorry!'' exclaimed Claire.
Poor May! Is she still living over
at Remington, at that pretty little
house with vine she was always
talking about?"
Yes
do you think she would mind if
called there to see her? I've never
been, you know"
Il think it would be awfully good of
you to go, Miss Barton" said the
Superintendent May thinks a great
deal of you, and I'm sure you'd cheer
her up. She seems dreadfully low
spirited and down. A visit from you
might cheer her up and do her all the
good in the world
Then I'll go this afternoon" said
Claire Il shall be anxious till | know
if there is anything really the matter.
I'll send her wire to say I'm coming
on to see her, then she'll expect me-"
Claire Barton drove to the tele-
graph Office and dispatched wire to
the address the superintendent had
copied out for her:
Sorry to hear you are not well. Am
calling at four.-Claire.'
AT 4 o'clock Claire Barton knocked
at the door of The Winery, and TUNA
answered the summons.
us Miss Wilson at homer" asked
the visitor.
TUNA was so overcome with the
magnifcence of the visitors toilet
it was far grander than anything Mrs.
Peyton Pteherick ever came in-that
for moment she made no reply.
She was studying the skirt Of the
lady's dress, and wondering whether
it was too late to tell her dressmaker
what it was like and have her own
made like it for the policemen's fete
at the Palace.
So Claire repeated her question.
Miss Wilson, did you say, ma amp
stammered TUNA, still studying the
hang" of the skirt mo, mum; she
amt never at home of an afternoon
except Saturdays and Sundays
But | thought she had come home
ill.," said Claire. Il have been to
her.
Then the actress hesitated
1t had suddenly struck her that it
was not quite the thing for her to ex-
plain to a maid of-all-work that Miss
Wilson had left her place of business
in the morning to go home, and that
l., Iicf,1 no t0
hear that she hadn't arrived.
DO you think" she said after
moments hesitation, that it would
be any use my calling AGAIN."
Not before s at the earliest, ma am.
Miss Wilson's never ome afore that,
'ceptin', of course, Saturdays and Sun
days"
Claire was worried. There was evil
IDENTIFY some mystery about May. In
Regent street they had told her that
she was very i'll, and had been sent
home soon after she came in the morn
ing. 1t was now past 4 and May had
not returned.
What could it mean?
There was nothing to be gained by
cross-questioning the servant, even if
such a course had been permissible.
So Claire looked in her case for a
card, and found that she had only one
with "The Pandora Theater" on it.
She thought that perhaps May
would not like that to be shown about
the house in connection with her Wis
itor and so she gave Tuna a verbal
message:
Tell Miss Wilson that Miss Barton
called, and say | will write to her"
Then Claire Barton went along the
street to the corner, where she had
left her hanson waiting, and drove
away very much perplexed in her
mind as to what could be happening
to her friend May.
Perhaps it's a love affair." she said
| to herself as the hanson went jerk
| ing over the tramway lines. THANK
goodness, I've escaped that worry so
! far. I like Reggie Sinclair, but I'm not
. i'll because he's left London for six
months, so of course | don't really
! love him. [ don't suppose I ever shall
! be in love. But if good-looking man
! with a good-looking income ever
comes along and offers to make me
MY lady | shall try and make up my
mind to like him. Poor May! How
different the lines of our lives have
rum"
If Claire Barton could have seen
into the future she would have known
/ that the lines apparently so far apart
were presently to meet and cross, and
the woman who would first have the
right to be called my LADY, was not
Claire Barton, the beauty of the
Pandora, bit May Wilson, the quiet
! little milliner's assistant of Regent
street.
4
At s o'clock that evening May en-
tered her sitting room at The Winery
She had not come home earlier be
cause she did not want Mrs. Cheney
to know that she had been though
too ill to stay at business.
She dreaded the questions the goot
soul would put to her. She feared
that to confess a breakdown nigh
make the impression that her trouble
was mental rather than physical =
and it was.
She had let herself in with he
latchkey, and TUNA had not seen he
to give her the visitors message.
It was dark when May entered thu
sitting. room She struck a mattel
! and lit the gas.
, The first thing she saw was tele
gram on the mantelpiece.
With little cry of terror she tot