Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1909-10-29

my breast and scatter the other flow
ers along the sheet. Then when he
comes in you tell him hat l found
this letter on the floor. and-mind that
1 say on the foor-and that l gave n
piercing shrek and fell dead"
81 will. ma'am," said Mary, taking
the ragged letter.
In the meantime Mrs. Fenton had
pushed a chair to the side of the table
and prepared to mount, while she said
p%laintively:
ooh, Mary, | feel like some of the
people they write about-the Indian
girls that leap from p%recipices, singing
their death songs.
place me on Sunium's marbled steep,
Where nothing but the waves and l
Can hear their ghostly purmurs sweep.
There, swan-like, let nae sing and die"
Annie stepped to the table from the
chair preparatory to lying down and
assuming her corpselike position. Mary
gathered her skirts around her feet
Mrs. Fenton had on a very pretty
white dress with much lace around the
waist. She prepared to 'be dead" as
Jenny Wren calls it, when George, who
had got nearly all the soap out of his
eyes and off his face, stepped forward
to surprise his pretty wife. whom he
sincerely loved. But the strange words
and actions caused him to stop, listen
and look through a hole in the screen.
At first he thought of rushing out and
surprising her. But he didn't and stood
quite still, awaiting developments.
At last Mrs. Fenton managed to get
down to the table. and Mary adjusted
her head and the clothes about her
feet. Mrs. Fenton closed her. eyes and
folded her hands across her breast;
then she was suddenly struck by a
thought.
MARY, don't cover my face until just
before you go to the door. Oh, l for
got to loosen my HART George likes
to see it sol And, Mary, l do hope
and pray he may repent after this"
well, ma'am, he ought to. but 1
don't see what he has DONE"
While this was being said and done
George said to himself:
by Jinks, this is getting interesting.
I'll help carry this thing out in fine
style. 1t is a joke that can cut two
ways. I'll slip out the back way and
ring the bell and come in, and I'll bet
q stack of little round silver dollars
she'll never play such a trick again."
And he took his gripsack and went
out the back way.
Mary continued arranging the corpse
and set all the chairs around the walls
as If for Il funeral. Then the bell rang
suddenly and hard. Mary jumped.
Mrs. Fenton said:
Hurry, quick; give me the powder
boxl" And she put the powder OF so
thickly that she did look very white.
She continued hurriedly:
"Now, Mary. cover my face careful
ly so l wont sneeze. Now go and let
him in.''
As she said this Mrs. Fenton sud
denly begah to CULVER and INT ner
knees under the sheet and sneezed
three times, while Mary vas fairly
dancing with fear as the bell rang
again, this time %furiously.
At this minute George was at the
door and bounced in. laughing heart
lily, while Mary looked too shocked for
words. He threw the bag down with
a slam as he shouted:
$50 the old hen has kicked the buck
ct, hoped the twig, passed in her
checks and gone to kingdom comei
Well, I'm not going to cry over it.
What was the matter with herr"
Mary remembered her instructions
and with a tragic air handed him the
letter.
"This, sor!"
George took the letter and read it.
laughing still harder.
"Yis, sor; she found it on the flure-
on the hure-yis, on the 1ure-and fell
did on the spot"
"What spot?" asked George. looking
about him c%uriously.
"Lor'. | don't know, sor," replied the
girl. who was beginning to be ratified
with the turn affairs were taking.
"Well. | don't care. Now, Mary, this
letter was written to her by a big lum-
mux of a galoot, and | wish he had
married her"
At this studied insult Mrs. Fenton
lifted her head under the sheet. Mary
only saw it and stifed a cry.
81 say, Mary" said George. you are
a nice looking girl. and l know you
are tidy and a good cook. Now, what
do you say to taking the old hens
place. I've had my eye upon you for a
long time"
There was another subdued commo-
ton under the sheet.
"Just as soon as she is planted, for
it would be an awful bother to break
up housekeeping. and you could have
all her clothes, her sealskin c~oat-and-
ah-her table linen. (This last was
Annie's joy and pride) oh. say, I'll
have her cremated! l suppose there1l
be a coroner's inquest and an autopsy.
Yes, I'll have the autopsy. for she
swallowed a gold dollar once. And,