Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1907-09-06
gentlemen and ladies UP stairs.
You

gentlemen and ladies' UP stairs. o
can go on with your dancing.
The two guests looked at n another
and broke into a strained laugh. Then
they calmed their faces again and went
back up the stair.
And / was envying that ma a min
ute ago. said one Of them. We'll, all
mesh is but "rass. as the poor beggar
would say himself. Shows how little
you can gauge a mans inances from
seeing what he spends. / say, bet YOU
a flyer my wife goes to the trial. She
knows a judge
The music stopped at the end Of a
polka, and the gable of talk burst
promptly out and was carried about all
over the house. But by degrees 1t
hushed, and i'm It's place grew the rustic
Of whispers. The scandal microbe trav-
els quicker than his cousin OF cholera.
Some were sorry, some were shocked,
a few were grirnly glad. The bandl
broke out into "Eldorado," and being
the best BAND in London it played so
the very chairs tried to jig about and
dance of their own accord. But no
leather ssie kissed the glistening par
quet Of the ballroom. The only things
that moved there were the music play
ers and q latter of tulle which whirledl
about to the gale Of the cornet.
Mrs. Theodore Shelf stood like a
woman mazed. She could not change
color, for happily, that was fixed, ac-
cording TO the canons of the day, but
she stood behind a chair in the drawing
room and gripped with her gloved
hands upon the back till muscles arose
in her plump white arms which had
never shown there before. Through the
dOorlesS doorway she saw an unspokeni
stream Of her guests, cloaked and
shawled, making their way to the head
Of the stair. Most kept their looks
studiously before them, and OF the few
who cast her a glance, half scared. half
curious. none added the smallest ghost
OF a bow.
OF all the wondrous crowd. only two
men came up 10 her before they went.
One said, Good night. Mrs. Shelf
The other said, Goodnight, Laura,
I'm very sorry
Then these followed the rest, and
when ali had zone a white faced ser
want came up and told her what had
happened. The police had been quick
with their reach, but the a they
wanted had been quicker. He had left
the house ten minutes before they ar
rived.
rs that ALP"
THAT is all, madam
Very Well" said Mrs. Shelf, IT
shal not want you any more tonight.
ASSh up tIlN ItlNAA you may 81 W bCus
Then, picking VI her fan, she walked
leisurely out OF the drawing room and
went TO her WI boudoir.
=
That Mr.. Theodore Shelf had made
his own exit and brought about his
wife's social downfall most dramati-
cally eve the worst hit OF his VIC
TINS could not but admit. The policei
with exquisite trouble mad traced him
70 DnI1g,nr4n~ rtnfinn nnI f1,,r1 thnkl
he had taken a first class ticket to-
Liverpool, and after using the wires
they had returned to bed with the firm
conviction that their seaport associates,
would meet the gentleman at Lime
street. OF course they could not pos
sibly guess that he and a wire haired
fox TERROR dog had changed their
route TO Monmouthshire and had ar
rived In Newport in ample time to go
OF board one of his own steamersl
which had just finished coaling there.
The police and the victims said a.
good man. things when they learned
the simple means by which Mr.. Shelf,
had escaped, and they confidently ex-
pected never TO see him again in this
world and hoped to miss him in the
next. And consequently all were con-
siderably astonished and not a litthl
pleased when only two days later Mr.
Shelf re-entered London with all hisl
lrSer movements nanpereu by vulgar
letters,
OF course Mr.. Shelf could not forsee,
that when his steamer was PASSING
Lundy at a brisk fifteen knots herr
steering gear would break down and
jam jam the rudder so hard aport that
she would take the ground before re-
versed engines could check her way.
And because Of this lack OF foresight
he was after some formality thought
regular diet, TO which he went amongI
the wailings and curses OF a ruinedl
multitude. And there requiescat.
rs to Mrs. Shelf, I do not know what
has become Of her; neither do I par
ticularly care, But the odds are she
is keeping on her feet somewhere,
somehow. She is a clever woman, Mrs.
Theodore Shelf, r expensive.
The good she did in this world dur
ing her sway nay be summed under
the heads Of encouraging dressmak-
ers, society journalists and the manu-
facturers Of old masters, and by these
and a few others she yiI ne missed.
The evil she did is the talk Of the
street, n the poor folk who were
ruined by the failure OF her husbands
companies can be eloquent thereon.
But her loss Is not without one gain.
Now that she has gone the poor wo-
man makes a very pretty peg for hus-
bands who knew her to hang a moral
on for the delectation of their unfor-
tunate wives.
(CopfipueJ Neyt w1aL.