The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1914-08-14

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table
Sorry to leave you. ob man." he
| said. you'll excuse me. won't you?
In will take good care OF you. I'll
| try 10 get In before 10. Don't go till
| come back"
] was left tete-a-tete with a pretty
woman. and Billy had taken care to
have bottle OF good wine on the
| table. so that had not been sensible
OF the danger Of the situation l should
have rejoiced. I was somGThat reas-
sured by a twinkle In Mrs. Nryce's eve
when she kissed her husband goodby.
for | began to think, after all, they
had conspired to get rid Of my belief
that Bllly's marriage would be a
deprivation to me-
Whatever was their design, fell into
It. did not fear for Mrs. Bryce, but
did fear for myself. She showed no
disposition to so back on Billy by deed,
word or look. 1t was l who In my
heart envied my friend his wife.
Billy did not return at 10 o'clock or
at II. At half past II tore myself
away after having passed delightful
evening.
During the next week Billy and his
wife were constantly telephoning for
me. found myself becoming infatuat-
ed with her and tried to keep away,
but they wouldn't let me do so. Billy
was as persistent as his wife and she
as persistent as Billy.
A guilty conscience needs no ac-
cuser, and 1t seemed to me that Billy
must notice my embarrassment my
shamefacedness. But he didn't. At any
rate, he was as cordial, as jovial, as af-
fectionate as he had ever been. And, as
for being jealous of me, such an idea
appeared never to enter his head. In
deed, he seemed to be constantly con-
irving to leave me alone with his wife.
l had not been introduced to Mrs.
Bryce week before Billy announced
that he was called away on business
and would be absent for about ten
days.
"Whatr' exclaimed. Leave your
wife so soon after your wedding"
What can l do? Business won't
wait while a man is spooning with a
new wife. Besides, Lu won't go with
me-"
Indeed. WON'T" said Lu. II detest
travelling. Besides, how would amuse
myself, shut up in a hotel, while Billy
was attending to business? No. thank
you. I'm comfortable here"
There" said Billy. "You see what
marriage is. They're very sweet on you
till they get you: then you discover
that it's all put on"
His wife reproached him, but seemed
to have difficulty in REFRESHING smile
Truly they were taking a great deal Of
trouble to make me feel that had been
a gamer instead Of loser by Billy's
marriage.
spent every evening at Billy's house
during his absence. I made one sickly
effort to miss an evening. but Mrs.
Bryce asked me what In the world she
would do alone. I asked her II the rel.
alive Billy had mentioned as being
with her would not be companion for
her. but she said that person had gone
the same day as Billy.
BY the time the ten days Of Billy's
absence had gone-and they seemed but
half a week-I had 80 far given my
heart to his wife that dared not meet
him. asked Mrs. Bryce when she ex-
pected him. and she said not for q cou.
pie Of days. But when dining with her
l heard a key in the latch Of the front
door and knew that my bosom friend
now my bosom enemy-had returned
He ushered In lady who noticed re-
sembled his wife. She came up to me
smiling and put out her hand.
II am Mrs Bryce" she said. I'VE
have all been playing a game. Billy
thought 1t would be good joke to in
troduce you to my sister, Edith, as
his wife. He said he thought 1t would
break the Formally of your coming
under the new conditions. kept out
Of the way till Billy concluded to be
absent for awhile; then 1 went with
him"
And yOu are the relative to whom
dinner was carried upstairsr
81 am"
10 tell the truth, OLD man., Billy
broke in, "yOu were getting SO devoted
to my wife that thought I'd better
"'William" protested she who had
played the part OF his wife.
This was a great bouleversement both
for me and Edith. SO long as she had
been the leading lady in play she
had not scrupled at anything. but now
that she must be herself again she be-
gan to show signs Of embarrassment
was too stupid to see that this plot
had been intended to take proper care
Of me In the loss of my friend by CIV
ing me a wife. | confess was at a
loss to understand why they had
thought proper to play such joke on
me, but I did not refer it to its true
source
We had q merry dinner together.
which was only marred by Billy, who
could not resist the temptation to guy
me for my devotion to one whom l
had supposed to be his wife. His
taunts were only appreciated by him
self. His wife tried to frown him
down. his sister-in-law looked daggers
ut him, while looked silly. However,
the dinner at last ended. Billy and
his wife went upstairs ostensibly to
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