The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1909-01-28

house as much sought after man Of
fashion. And it gave a distinct
Flip to my vanity to find that the
fashionable widow recognized this
from the very first.
1t may be that in the course of my
life l have met women who know
more about society than this one, but
L am quite certain that none of these
talked as much about it. And very
fascinating indeed was this talk that
not only kept the entire table agape
but also stirred up in my silly mind
some of the least worthy desires that
it has ever known. And the fashion.
able widow never failed to address
this talk to me as the one person at
table who was thoroughly accustomed
to fashionable ways.
In looking back 1t seems to me that
il was always Mr.. Radcliff who acted
as interlocutor, introducing the topics
somewhat in this fashion: Il see by
the evening paper that Mrs. Jack Ad.
dleton is going to Europe next week
to lie gone a year."
At this we would all prick up our
cars, not because we knew Mrs. Addle-
ton or had any expectation of knowing
her. but because we felt that we
would fall behind in the running if we
did not keep tab on the doings of
fashionable life, and as we sat with
knife and fork in midair and the food
untasted on our plates the fashionable
widow would make answer, speaking
as one with authority.
"Going to Europe, indeed? My dear
Mr. Radcliff, wonder that you, aof all
men. should be deceived by such an
absurd statement. Don't you know
where Mrs. Jack is at this very mo.
ment? No? Well I'll tell you. She's in
retreat in Connecticut, not more
than a thousand miles from a certain
country club where Dicky Tweedle-
mere spends most of his time when
he's sober. That's how Mrs. Addiction
is spending her time in Europe
All this would be said in a most
knowing manner and from time to
time she would glance at me as if
to say that, of course, she and 1 knew
all about it even if the rest of the
boarders did not. But, after all, what
could be expected of them? And then
perhaps the conversation would turn
ON the approaching wedding of Mrs.
Goldburg's daughter, which would give
the fashionable widow a chance to
display her knowledge of the most in.
innate details of the trousseau, the
source of Mr.. Goldburg's wealth and
the precise sum that had been paid
over to the we'll connected Englishman
who had won her.
1t is amazing to me, now that long
contact with the world has rubbed off
the sharp edges of youthful credulity,
to think that l could have listened,
to conversation of that
sort. 1 have already confessed that
my story is a silly one, but even at
this late day blush to think that I
preferred this empty, idiotic chatter
TO the simple little things that my
sweetheart uttered now and then
from her place at the head of the Ia
BILE and that all unconsciously was
allowing my infatuation for that ex-
cellent girl to cool off and my admira-
ton for the talkative woman beside
me to grow apace.
But, after all, as my affection for
the landlady's daughter had been
merely an affair of vanity SO was this
new interest of mine founded upon
the same quality. AS can plainly
see now. the fashionable widow took
the single grain of social conceit that
had already taken root in my soul
and by carefully feeding it with in
sidious flattery soon reared 1t to fun
gus growth that might in time have
poisoned every decent quality of heart
or mind that l possessed. And while
she was doing this l was neglecting
that good little soul to whom my
troth was plighted and she was find-
ing solace in the quiet but persistent
attentions of the man whom still re-
garded as my defeated rival.
We four, now a friendly quartet, &C.
cupied the back parlor nearly every
evening, and while the landlady's
daughter and Mr.. Radcliff played and
sang the sentimental ballads of the
day the fashionable widow and chat
ted about the great brilliant world of
fashion in which firmly believed she
had been dominant attractive figure.
And it was while sitting there beside
her that the dream of becoming a
man of fashion myself and treading
the mazes of the social dance with
her at my side grew and grew until
it took almost complete possession of
my soul.
But if l was unconscious of the dis.
indignation of our little romance,
there were others who were not; and
at last the day came when l found
myself seated alone in the back parlor
en- the same horse chair sofa where
had sat so many evenings listening
to the strains of Some Day" and "In
the Cleaning" and to the far sweeter
music of the voice that filed my ear
with enhancing tales of fashionable