New Ulm review., 1913-11-05
THE
HUSBANDS
OF EDITH
GEORGE BARR
n'CUTCHEON
cosJnoht b. Dodd. ssssd e Co
-tooNTINuEp.l

mr. O0eN-CarDey Was q mlddle agel
Englishman Of the extremely unini
tiadve type. he was tall and narrow
and distant. far beyond what is com
monty accepted as blase. Indeed. b,
was especially slow of speech. even fol
an Englishman. quite as II it were NJ
everlasting question with him whether
it. was worth while to speak at all
One had the feeling when listening tt
Mr.. Odell-Carney that he was being
favored beyond words. 1t took him sc
long to say anything that If one were
but moderately bright he could finish
the sentence mentally some little time
in advance Of the speaker and thus be
prepared to properly appreciate that
which otherwise might have puzzled
him considerably. 1t could not be said.
however. that Mr. Odell. Carney was
p0nder0us He was merely the effec-
tual result of delay. Perhaps it is safe
to agree with those who knew him
best: they maintained that Odell-Car-
ney was pose. nothing more.
His wife was quite the opposite in
nearly every particular except height
and angularity. She was bony and
red faced and opinionated. A few
sall0w years. with a rapid. pronlgate
,nobleman had brought her, In widow
hood. to fine sense Of appreciation Of
the slow going though tiresomely un-
practical men of the Odell- Carney
type 1t mattered little that he made
poor investment Of the money she had
sequestered from his lordship. he had
kept her in the foreground by associat-
ing himself with every big venture that
interested the financial smart set Not
withstanding the fact that he never
was known to have any money, he was
looked upon as fnancier of the high
est order. which is saying great deal
in tne,.: unfeeling days of pounds and
shiilings.
OF course Mrs. Odell-Carney was
dressed as all rangy. long limbed Eng
Ishwomen are prone to dress-after a
model peculiarly not her own. She
looked ridiculously ungraceful along
side the smart. chic American women.
and yet not one Of them but would
have given her boots to be able to array
herself as one Of these There was no
denying the fact that Mrs. Odell-Car
ney was regular tiptopper." as Mr..
Rodney was only too eager to say.
She had the air of born leader-that
10 to say. she could be gracious when
occasion demanded. without being pat
ronizing.
In due course of time the Medcrofts
and Miss Fowler were presented to the
distinguished couple. This function
was necessarily delayed until Odell-
Carney had time to 60 into the details
of particularly annoying episode of
the afternoon. He was telling the sto-
ry to bis friend Rodney. and Of course
everything was at standstill until he
got through
1t seems that Mr. OdellCarney felt
the need Of a nap at O'Clock. he
gave strict injunctions that there was
to be no noise in the halls while he
slept and then went into his room and
stretched out Any one who has STOP
ped at the Hotel Four Seasons will
have no difficulty in recalling the elec-
tric hall bells which serve to attract
the chambermaids to given spots. If
one needs the chambermaid he press
es the button in his room and lit
tie bell in the hall tinkles furiously
until she responds and shuts 1t on
In that way one is sure that she has
heard and is coming. a most admirable.
bit Of German ingenuity. If she hap
pens to be taking her lunch at the
time. the bell goes on ringing until she
returns. 1t is a faithful bell. Coming
back to Odell- Carney. the maid on his
door was making up room in close
proximity when most annoying thing
happened to her. A porter who had
reason to dislike her came along and
turned her key from the outside. lock-
ing her in the room. She couldn't get
out, and she had been warned against
making sound that might disturb
the English guest With rare intelli-
gence, she did not scream or make an
outcry. but wisely proceeded to press
the button for chambermaid. Then
she evidently sat down to wait. TO
make the story short, she rang her
own call bell for two hours. no other
maid condescending to notice the call.
which speaks volumes for the almost
martial system Of the hotel. The bell
was opposite the narrator's door. Is
II, therefore. surprising that he re-
Qutred great deal of time to tell all
that he felt? 1t was not 50 much Of
what he did that he spoke at such
great length, but of what he felt
"'Pon me SOUL" he exploded in the
end. twisting his musN&.he with ner-
vous energy. 1T was the demdest nap
1 ever had. l didn't close my eyes.
c'nfend me If did