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To-day's Short Story.

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To-day's Short Story. MRS. COLTER'S JEALOUSY. Mts. Colter was in a turmoil of jealous indignation. All bad been serene and smiling: as she went down to breakfast in one of her prettiest gowTis, æcorted by her han<i- sevme, g-enial husband. Then, with other- ladies, she had sanniered down to the -ittle pier to see hej; husband off on his fishing exert re-ion, with half a. dozen more brothers and fathers in his party, and, this done, the next thing: was t-o see that her room was i-ut into comfortable order. And just here her serenity departed, and the turmoil began in her poor little heart. Far there, on the first chair, flung down with ¡ true caaecuime careieesn-ess, lay her has band a flannel suit, discarded in. favour of the fish- ing: togs, and as she lifted the ooat to haa? it up there insidiously slipped froan the pocket a little twisted scrap of paper, vniich, with a smiling', Let's see what Rob has be:>n perpetra,ting now," ahe proceeded to inveeti- g'a.te. For Rob was bieseed with a. keen sense of humour, and was much given to jott-ins down bits 01 jokes, pane, aDd sage refloetic as on the dillereTht aspects of summer hotel life, which it was their e-ustom to laugh over together in the retirement of their own room. So it ar-as quite without suspicion that ilrs. Kcb untwisted the innocent-iookimr scrap, and ra confronted with—not her husband'3 bold scrawl, but a delicate feminine writing, to this effect:— Yes, moo ami. I don't know that I mind giving: up my afternoon siesta fortius once, and if I can evade the Tabbies I will sahp away about three o'clock. That is, if you will pledge yourself that both coolness and shade lurk on the further side of the big rock, and if you are sure that it io oat of window range. For it would never do iff we were to be seen there.—To are. J.L. Wednesday, a.IIl. As she took in the sense of these words, her placid smile was succeeded by a frown. "It's that horrid Mrs. Leeson, of jourbe. She has juet thrown herself at Robert's head ever since she came. Wednesday, chl That's to-day, and now we'll see about thia walk. I shan't mention this note, bet I think I can manage to deieat this plan. I wonder, though, if it would not be a good idea to&et up a little counter flirtation? There's that handsome youaj Dugaii just waitin? for a little encouragement, and. evidently. Bob i needs a Now all this was quite natural, but in her titdignation Mrs. Colter failed to give due iconsideration to circumstances. She and Robert were spending: a month en a small island in the Sound just off the Connecticut coast. L '.va-a such a little island, only about thirty acres in all—a delightful resting-- j place for Fermi-invalids, for lazy people who can bask in air and sunshine, and for book- worms and dreamers, but just a wee bit dull for a city man. Kobert Colter was the possessor of a sweet, intelligent wife who appreciated all the good tilings of life almcjft in equal dearree with himself, and, though they had been five years man and wife, ho never weaned o€ her Still, that did not prevent hit; en.jOyra^at of other women 'j? society, and in this (,niet. little, isolated resort he had found a certzizi pi<xnancy in exehajigring' Jig-ht itadira^e with someone etse's wife—of wbdcrK". Ami Millie was quite welcome to piay the sanue little §5x-rne if she choose—in moderation. be it understood. Foreseeing his dull moments would be apt to increase mtfc (.ac1 coming day, n was not with total Lndiilerence he had wita?secd a new arrival the week previous.. The said new arrival was a very flirtatious widow. She was s.05 a person of much reftnemicjii, bocit she had a readj- toatrue, an uafaair;? flow of e.pirit £ ?, and J. bis, b.j gob. vo,ce. had aieo an inea4.ia.bfc> appetite for admiration, ao!¡J wa-- neysr ccratented without oome man. dangling after her. \a Mr. Cotton was quite her opposite in apspeaa-aace, vjhe at CDCG selected him ao her cavalier. Mi.sfcreae Millie had folt quite easy on the subject, pimply because every tiujj-s1 so entirely c.n the surface, and it was oauy the iblding l of Mrs. Leeeon's ^isohievous Little fctav. I which had made her bebev.:i tliat Eoberfc cooLd deceive her: And now what phoald she do?' Not being: by an-7 means of tie G-rx-ekla :.yi>> of woman, one of her first thoughts was to retaliate. Henee her resolution to bottle up her indignation, and Quietly outgeneral the WJdvw by keeping an eye on Sobert until indignation and quietly outgeneral the •n alls. In due time the fishermen returned, and lunch being over, the usual afternoon dispersion began. rg. Iec-son stationed herself 0.1 the piazza with :t boolC end Willy J got together half-a-dozen pool-players a;:d carried Eobert and young Dtigal] off in her train. iiather to her surprise, Rou i-emed to enjoy the game, which was prolonged I almost to dinner-time. But, having become suspicions, Xilly imagined further duplicity, btit remained firm in her resolution to pay back in h own coin her recreant i bur-band, and was so charming to young Dusrall that his bead was quite turned. Di,mer over, Mr. Dugall proposed a etroll over the lon-sr pier to welcome back the paiiiDT party. And after that, what was more natnral than to wa-nder round by the bathire beach, where the waves were comins in with greater- force than usual before a rising wind. Theu back to the hotel for a eo*y tete-a-tete. Witlun an hour Mr. Dagall was eloquently pourtraying the delights of a ptil over to Watch Hill and dinner at one of the hotels. And "Would Mrs. Colter let aim escort her over to-morrow?" "Ob. but-these women, you know, how they wpuld talk!" I "Well, sorely, you don't mind. We'll just I start off quietly after breakfast, as if for an I hour's sail, and if they do gossip, we'll have a nice day, anyhow, and be home by dinner- time. And you know, it won't half cqu-al Mrs. Leeson's dvinga." "By the way, where is the widow this evening, Mr. Dugall?" why, don't you know? Sumner came over an hour ago with his catamaran, and invited your husband to try its speed around the island, and nothing would do but Mrs. Leeson and her sister should go along. And they haven't got back yet. Come. ??iow; won't this give the gossips enough to talk about to-morrow, so they won't be thinking of us? You'll go, Mrs. Colter?" Well. I won't promise, but if I come down in my boating suit you can see Tom about engaging thu Mermaid." Then her spirits seemed to flag. Flirting wasn't much fun, after all; and, oh, where was Rob all this time? After a quarter of an hour of wandering thoughts and increasing indignation against the whole sisterhood of widows, she felt that she must have solitude; so she ran upstairs and locked herself in her room for the inevitable goed cry. The better to indulge in this luxury she got into a wrapper and cuddled down on the bed in the dark. A3 yet her feelings of indignation and resentxn<^it were stronger than her anxiety, for Robert was a good sailor, and there was neither fog nor storm to--jight to make it dangerous on the water, and so she thought more of the comments which would be made on his increasing intimacy wuu we wiuuiv than any danger to the party. "I believe I will go over to Watch Hill to-morrow. I'm sure I won't pose as the neglected wife, and there's no knowing what folly that woman will try to lead him into, though I don't eappose he could help going to-night. Here her thought. grew indistinct, and the a-ext thing she knew she v.ae aroused from whr.t might have been a long and sound nap b and herself still alone. She struck a light. Past midnight, and all was quiet below stairs, but outside the wind was howling. It was a real gale now. and every little while the hotel would tremble ail through, in spite of the iron cables which chained it to the rocks. It was fearful to think that Eobert was somewhere out in the storm, ard that nothing could be done until daybreak, and not even then if the gaie continued, a3 the hotel's pleasure boats were not built to face such a wind. There would be no use in arousing anyone eise; she mu.~t just wait patiently until the household should be stirring, and she could advise with some of the gentlemen. But, oh, the loneliness of that vigil! To her dying day she never forgot it. To think how angry she had been only a few honN ago about that wretched note! To be sure, he hada t known it, but she felt -just as remorseful as if she had put her feelings into words and had scolded him well. v> hat if he had, for lack of other amuse- ments, drifted into an idle flirtation? Any- way, it didn't matter now. By-and-bye the darkness was all gone, and various noises told of the beginmng or another day 3 business. As soon as she thought the office would be open, Mrs. Colter was downstairs endeavouring to get some comfort from the clerk's assurance that a catamaran was never known to capsixe- Through the field-glass they could see that there v.as no catamaran lying at the docx on the nearest Connecticut shore, but it might have been driven across the five miles of water separating them from Fisher's Ifiland. The gale etili continued, so that it was not considered safe for anyone to leave the island in a sailboat. There was nothing to do but to sit patiently and watch from the piaaza for an approaching boat. Mr. Dagail had, with the other guests, tendered his sympathy, but had too mush tact to remind her of last even- ing's proj ect. Slowly the hours crept away until nearly noon, when, sud-lenly the temporary holder of the- g-t-a. aamounc-ed tha.t the Pig, a small Terry boat rucming between Fisher's Island and the Connecticut shore, was about starting oat from the island, and if the runaways had found a harbour there they would get the Pig's cap- tain to bring them over. Everyone he-1.me excited then, and the Pig's slD"; progress'was breathlessly v.at-ched. It was very rough, and several timea she seemed on the point of turning back. but, still, she struggled on, al,rt by-and-bye something like a woman's feather-crowned hat was discovered in the pilot house, the only spot sheltered from the wind. Yets, there wore two of them, and now there is baawikerchicf waving? No doubt about it now. The Pig was almost at the dock, and there was a ha.y exodus from the piazya of the age gnests. Bat Milly would not risk a gcenc in public. Sc. rarI away to her avfn room, where in a few minutes liobert came to her, and was cried over and petted as though he h-td heen absent year instead of a night. "Why, my dear," said be, "any one would suppose I wad a long-lost treasure, instead of a mere commonplace husband." "Oh, it's all very well for you to joke about it. I suppose while I was almost crazy with anxiety yon were having a good time flirting with the widow." "Then you were never more mistaken in your life, Milly. The widow woaldnt speak to me at all. You see. she gave me a note a.t breakfast time yesterday to deliver to Scunner, and I forgot all about it, and so cheated her out of an afternoon's walk, and almost made a quarrel between them. But it's all right now. I ma-de all apology, and Sumncr made a proposal, I believe, for they announced this ihornirig that they're engaged." "Yoa don't mean it. Eob? What a iokel" And to this day Mr. Colter doesn't know why Milly should have fallen upon him with a second shower of kisses on hearing of Mrs. T.<eeaon's engagement. For that sly little woman eaid to herself, "So that note wasn't for Roo at all. and I came near making a fool of myself for nothing. But he never shall know it." And she went down to Innch. and, woman- like, proceeded to snab Dugall for being the  t tho e-vening recipient of her encouragement tho evening before. Bnt she made a pretty little speech of congratulation to the widow, and thanked her stars that she had put the note back into Rob's pocket and held her tongue until he had had his L-ay.

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— — 1 I BARRY RAIL-;- ROBBERIES.I

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