The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1907-08-30
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YO8.
entlemen and lad,e. up stairs.

gentlemen and ad,e. up stairs. Yoe
can go on with your dancing.
The two guests looked at one another
and broke INTO Il strained laugh. Then
they Gained their faces again ana Went
back up the stair.
And / WAS envying that man a min.
ute ago" said one of them. Well. az
ilesh is but ~rass. as the poor peggaA
would say himself. Shows hey little
YOU can gauge & mans finances from
seeing what he spends. I say, bet YOU
a FLYER my wife goes to the trial. b
knows Il Judge
The music stopped at the end OF a
polka, and the gabble Of talk burst
promptly out and was carried about all
over the house. But by degrees It
hushed. and in its place grew the rustic
of whispers. The scandal microbe trav-
els quicker thar his cousin Of cholera
Some were sorry, some were shocked,
a few were grirnly glad. The band
broke out into "Eldorado.' and being
the best pand in London it played SO
the very chairs tried to Jig about and,
dance of their own accord. But no
leather sole kissed the glisteling par
| quet of the ballroom. The only things
that moved there were the music play
ers and a latter of tulle which whirled
about to the gale of the cornet.
Mrs. Theodore Shelf stood like q
woman lnazed. 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 grtpped 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 unspoken
stream OF her guests, cloaked ana
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 to 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 gone a white faced SER
want came up and told her what had
happened. The police had been quick
With their reach. but the man they
wanted had been quicker. He had left
the house ten minutes before they ar
rived.
rs that alp"
That is all, madam"
Very WE'LL said Mrs. Shelf, Il
shall not var you any more tonight,
Lock up, and hen you may go TO bed"
Then, picking up her fan. she walked
leisnrely out of the drawing room ana
went to her own boEdolr.
That Mr.. Theodore Shelf had made
his own exit and brought about his
wife's social downfall most dramati-
cally even the worst hit Of his VIC
tilea could not but admit The police
with exquisite trouble had traced him
to P%addington station and found that
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
on board one of his own steamers
which had just finished coalillg there.
The police and the victims safd .
good many things when they learned
the simple means by which Mr.. Shelf
had escaped, and they confidently ex-s
) world and hoped to miss him in the
next. And consequently all were con-;
s!derably ~astonished and not :, little
pleased WHOM only two days later Mr.
Shelf re-entered London with all his
freer movements hampered by vulgar
letters. 4
OF course Mr.. Sheif could not forsce
} that when his steamer was passing
Lundy at a brisk fifteen knots her
steering gear would break down and
Jam jam the rudder SO hard aport that
$ she would take the ground before re-.
, vcrsed engines could check her way.
/, And because of this lack OF foresight
he was after some Formally though
i regular diet, to which he went among
l the wailings and curses OF a ruined
l multitude. And there requiescat.
AS to Mrs. Shelf. l do not know what
7 has become of her; neither do 1 par
I ticularly care. But the odds are she
I is keeping on her feet SOM ewhero,
5 somehow. She is a clever woman, Mrs.
$ Theodore Shelf, If expensive.
e The good she did in his world dur-
e ing her sway may be summed under
. the heads of encouraging dressmak-
ers. society Journalists and the manu-
4 facturers of old masters. and by theso
, and a few others she will be missed.
: The evil she did is the tall; of thu
street, and 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 neg for hus-
bands who knew her; to hang a moral
t on for the Gslcetaticn Of their unfor.
tunate wivcs.t
! Continued Next Week.J :.
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