Year: 1878

ONE syw YORK HUSBAND Asp VIE THAT pAssrp


4 HAPPr c91ls1NAs.


Jennie yune's Letter TO the Baltimore American ]


A somewhat romantic incident took
place within q stones throw from where
am sitting, the happy denouement of
which was due to a souvenir of this
kind. A party had assembled at Christ
mas dinner on Christmas day, when a
gentleman present noticed, with some
agitation OF manner, pendant display
ed by daughter of the house as one OF
her gifts, and inquired If it would be
deemed an impertinence to ask how
and from Whom she obtained it. Evi-
IDENTIFY it was an undesirable and some
what embarrassing question. However,
the gentleman WAS known to have been
deserted by his wife nearly a year
before under circumstances which left
no tsint upon her reputation, but rather
clonded his, and it was only in consid.
GRAFTON of long acquaintance and inti-
macy that he had consented TO join the
holiday throng. With some difficulty
be extracted the information that the
pendant was . gift from g gentleman
friend, and also gained his address, the
individual being out OF town for the
day. and therefore not present at the
gathering.


With this clue the gentleman started
on search. not so much for the recent
owner of the pendant as for his wife,
for the ornament had been hers, and he
had recognized it at once as birthday
present from himself. and knew. not
witbstanding her desertion, that only
the direst straits had induced her to
part with it. The gentleman when
found couli tell him nothing bu. that
he had purchased it of q second hand
dealer, fact he was very anxious to
keep from the lady to whom he present.
ed it; and to this dealer. q woman we'll
known and doing business on the upper
part Of Broadway, the distressed hus-
band went.


The pendant. it seemed, had only
been in her possession few days before
she cold it. She remembered perfectly
the ANAL, slender, closely veiled woman
from whom she purchased it; il fact,
she had bought it partly out Of sympa.
thy with her apparent distress, and had
promised that if it was not sold before
the original owner was able TO redeem
it. to let her have it back at a slight
advance on what she had paid her. Uf
where she lived or who she was she had
not the faiutest idea. Stsy-she had q
slip Of paper with name upon it given
her as a means of identifying the lady
il che ever came again.


This left no room to doubt the identi-
ty, for the writing was that of his wife
and the name portion of her own
before she was married. With redoub-
led zeal but almost in despair. he found
the policemen of the precinct, aud de-
scribing the personal appearance of the
runaway closely. begged to know il
they had seen any such person in
making their rounds.


After time one thought he had; he
remembered her very we'll; dark little
figure, closely veiled, going into q
grocer's i'll the vicinity, where she
bought small loaf of bread and q
herring! The husband groaned. Was
his delicate Nelly reduced to this. They
had only been married q year and n
half when she left him, aud the way of
it was this: He had been foolishly led
| into paying some attention to . pretty
but somewhat unscrupulous woman
one Of those who float on the surface of
society without any visible means OF
protection or support. On the evening
in question he had gone to the theatre
in party, of which she was one, but
unaccompanied by his wife. Afterwards
a little champagne supper was propos-
ed at an elegant restaurant. and then it
became his evident duty to see her
home. He did not arrive at his own
house until the early hours Of the
morning. and carefully concealed the
facts of his detention from his own wife.
whom he found sitting up, in great
anxiety, awaiting his return. Ignorance
IN this case would undoubtedly have
been bliss. but il was. not to continue.
A lady friend, one of the party. inform
ed her the next day Of the facts. COUP
ling the husbands name with that of
the vivacious Mrs.--and perhaps ex-
agerating little the champagne and
escort business.


Of course it was not in the nature OF
women to keep still. She taxed her
lord and master. He put on airs, and.
though he had secretly determined
never to. be caught in such scrape
again. Insisted on his right to do Is he
pleased, and pay attention to whom he
pleased. ending with taking his hat.
slammiDg the door, aud when he came
home. at II P. NJ, walking of to the
spare room.


The next morning his wife was gone,
She had taken but little Of her clothing
with her, and mono of the jewels that
he had given her. with the exception
of her wedding ring and this pendant;
and though he had searched daily from
that day down to Wednesday OF the
present week we had never succeeded
in finding her. He had put advertise
meuts in the personal columns of the
Heraii Informing ~ with the singu-
lar obtuseness of . man. that If she
should come homo all should be "for-
given and forgotten" But IN. didn't
seem TO have seen it in any sense, for no
reply had ever reached him. He had
given up their pretty house. gone to a
hotel to board, and spsnt his leisure in
walking up and down. staring through
the veil of every small, slender woman
no could meet. expecting to find his
wife. But he did not communicate all
these facts to the policemen. He simply
told them of his desire to find the lady
answering his description, and 1t was
while he was still talking with them