SHER LITTLE BOOMERANG.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume I, Issue 41, 24 September 1892, Page 10

SHER LITTLE BOOMERANG.

——— -~" . i * A Warning to Tailor-made Wives. Mrs Smith was a fashionable, pretty woman who would have named her children Eleue or Myrtle, or -Mont-,, morenci, if she had had any. I know' ■ of no clearer way to describe her. '-She* ■ was addicted to tailor-made gownsand •■ > quiet musings ou the beach. A married, -j woman who is given to musing on the- 11 beach is in danger of hell-fire, according f,* to the creed of the Youug WonjenV' Christian Aesociation; but Mrs S.'did- • not belong to theY.W.C.A, and <Jier - entire creed was failot-made. To those. ''■ desirous of a nice, quiet place for a' con*- -' fortable 'murder, or a proposal, or BOrne <" snch ,rash 'action, permit me to recotti—y '- mend the beach at Sandringham, Wio. '; That is where Mrs Smith was aeons-i " tomed to muse, and that 'is 'where'she-* was musing on a 'recent ' -sonny-L-------morning. She had expressed - 'her >A belief that the wicked eye of man could not reach her there/by having'seated 11L1 herself in a careless position which'tip- '" j tilted the hem of her tailor-made skirt, >• >' and exposed more old-gold stocking „ > than fashionable ladies usually divulge \ ; —by about half-a-yard. ; .This m ' woman's most comfortable attitudei - c In the midst of her musings,' Mra> - Smith casually looked up, and then suddenly and dexterously lowered aV' tailor-made veil over the hosiery, de- v paitment, and snugged her ankles away . beck in the shelter of her petticoats. Which signified that she had seen a man. Then, serenely virtuous and . satisfied that she was .revealing nothing calculated to bring a blush to the cheek'> of the most conscious woman in the, , world, she began to speculate. First came the uncomforting reflection that, ■ he might have a telescope —she had.,, heaid that men at the seaside OGci i-imi{Ul\ caoied such things, and a - telescope in the hands of a strange i man —or almost any man, for that, matter —who mi ht have been watching her for half an hour, was an embarrassing point to consider. Then she v thought it might be her husband —and was inclined to prefer the telescope. Finally, '-he concluded that if the worst came to the worst she could tell him she was married. She could also have ( got away home before he came near < her, but apparently that way out of the, , difficulty did not occur to her. As he came closer her woman's .'heart went eight beats to the bar, for she saw, I' that he was young and impudently (1 v good-looking. Then "Virtue came to,, her head once more and reminded her that she was a wife, so she put her. wedding-ring in her pocket. Some women there are who delight to .flaunt the holy ties of matrimony in t the face t _ of the world, bnt Mrs Smifh was too j^ yonng and tailor-made to care to take,. $uch unladylike liberties with so,secret :j a subject. And that she was a lady even ,' her husb.vnd hsd very rarely attempted ■ ro dispute. There are many obvious waya by which a woman can make a man under- „ stand that his acquaintance is 'Undesirable, but Mr Smith disdained them all. IShe resolved to face the occasion and the stranger with the confidence v , born of stem rectitude and some little j experience in the wily ways of the , opposite sex. Therefore, she waited, with eyes modestly gazing upon, the ;. sand, wondering what he would say , fir?t, and hoping he would say- it, , f politely She consideied that he , should Irive been up wiih her by that , time, but the minutes lagged and she/ tried to feel glad at the thought that-, , he had probably turned back, and ihad •, no intention of accosting her. Then. f - she looked up and found that he had, quietly passed her, and Avas slowly - •.vanishing in the distance,- and with her gladness hot -upon her—as the old writer hath it—she stared, at the retrta-ing figure till something seemed to catch iv her throat, and she flung herself against the sandhill and cried , for every virtue —I suppose She had' been sobbing on her bishop, sleeves fox a little while, when she felt a toucK-*ftnd a distinctly masculine ,

vtouch at that—on her shoulder, animmediately and furtively.began to dr her eyes. As this operation required some little time, she murmured, " Please, ? go way!" in just that tone which wou.d compel him to remain, and then, sitting .bolt upright, raised .her eyes and looked directly, bat shyly and virtuously, .into the eyes of —her husband.

Llt is easy for a guilty woman to,look -;innocent if she .is guilty enough; but .for a carefully-virtuous lady like Mrs .Smith, there is always some .room for .uneasiness. So that when thus unexpectedly she. faced her husband, she ifelt decidedly uncomfortable, and looked it. .He.appeared to be as.nearly angry ;B.s a gentlemanly man .with a flaxen beard caii look,and dragged her up to ■-<a standing position with that lack =of .ceremony..which in a bachelor is brutul —rbut in a husband is"merely domestic! "So you thought, he had come back, . did you ?" he said, in that sneering stone so much iavogue.with the.London .Journal villain,.who always has '"an ..indescrible something in his face;" ' ♦M. don't understand you/ she re- \ plied, falling back on woman's most ifeeble,weapon—her dignity. •♦I know you w«U enough to know that you do understand me, and that is r^ty y°'u .^y^-P-u don't, " he saidsavagely. l''il see it a 1.1," he went on, melodramatically^ "that ftllow (pointing down * to the beach) has quanelled with you, . and you have.been,crying because he has left you." - : : She.jlushed up—really with anger, Unit apparently with embarrassment; < then, seeing her revenge, took—being .a woman. "Alec, she said sweetly, do you c think I would cry because a man left «m&?" "Yes," he replied unwarily, "for * that reason alone." "And-yef," said she,.'still gently, "" you have .never known me shed a * tear when you have left me, have you;?" :It was not. much to'say, but the devil « came out of that slouching-mouth and tsafc in-the flaxen beard as |the man .flinched, and lifted his hand to reply s^with an, impressive repartee after the maiiner of his kind. But the hand «came down again, lit was broad daylight, and there might be people about. < Otherwise he would have struckfher to i tbe ground. A dark man would have - done it and .considered the consequence aftoward^; but a flaxen beard is snaky and cautious, and rarely dangerous in * the light of day. Boarding-school girls will do well to pin that little item in > their bonnets. After provoking 'that little outburst, ■ Mrs Smith turned to go; but he 4 brought, her up sharp with a round turn,.and'said.: - 'iUnless you are entirely graceless you will tell me who that man is." ''TJnless you w«re entirely de.,graded," she retorted, *' you would .not ask your wife such a question." "Damn your fencing!" he exclaimed. UJ>6 you deny that he is your lover ?" " I do deny it." ' " And yet you .were crying over rhim?" '•"Yes—l—suppose "I was." " And you ask me to believe that ,he is not your lover?" he said, incredulously. "I do not ask you. Ido not care what you believe when you have been . asked to believe it," she retorted. t His eyes had been looking anywhere "but into her face, and suddenly, with a great curse, he shouted—there .is" no -other term so apt: '• He is not your lover, eh ? Then, is your -wedding ring?" and held iup her left hand in derisive triumoh. That startled'her as it would have •startled' any wife in such a position. -A rapid reflection showed her her -danger, Tbe man in tbe distance, the tear-traces on her cheeks.; her apparrent equivocation, and that ringtess third finger, all conspired against her with euch damning force th.nl; " decree -nisi 1' seemed to be written all over thf sand at her feet, and she began ■ er--1 vously to wonder whether Bhe would - ,be able to keep the matter out of the < '-papers,, > In fact, her predicament had jap'confused her, that when her JjuA'l

band reiterated, "Where is your wedding-ring?" ehe involuntarily re-^ plied. " I—l always take it off when lam alone," — which was simply idiotic under the circumstances. " That.remark was all the evidence.he needed. It was so utterly unbelievable and so apparently wanton that the .flaxen beard wagged viciously once* again, and.the man had hard work to restrain, his right hand from doing that which it fairly itched to do. JfcJut he merely said: "You haVeCome to the end of your tether,.my lady, so you may as,well tell me theiellow's name." " Ak>c.," she /had ,come to pleading now, v will yon believe that ,1 don?t know that man from Adam;?" " But you were crying about... him,' he said, with stinging irony. ".Yes, but—oh, Alec, I can't explain that —only a.woman would understand it^-bui"-- '" --■".Ok, don?t -agitate yourself,",he imterrupted, "J have no doubt if you have timefenough you will be able to explain anything.'' . - - . "Don't condemn me «> iar&hly, -Alec," she was getting ' m^Q tumble: every minute. "Jf you ,w ill f°li°w tiiat man and ask.him, he, will tell,you that .1 have never spoken one word to 'hiDa' in my'life." , . -t s It seemed her last, chance, bu<; the case was hopeless. Alec, simply said : J "I have no doubt he will be quite willing to support you," and turned ,away to jfiave her. v >" Support you!" What a brutiil double entendre. / i?he made another attempt, sayiog, with teats in her voice: " Dou't go ..away like thaf, Alec ; Jet's go home, andil will explain everything." ''You have no homey" he said, mercilessly, «and'turned away again. She crushed back a. great sob, and ■hysterically gasped : "Alec ! Alec.;! you. can'tmean that.; you dofst mean it— isqty you don't'.'* " Why is your wedding-ring'off?" • "I meant no harm, Alec." •■" -Why were you cvying over him?" "I rwas only tboiightiißss, Alec. Can't, oh, c&n't you believe me P" " What is his name ?" f "»I don't know — on ijny 'honour, I don't." . For the third time he turned away, and for the third time she followed him,' and placing a trembling hand on his shoulder, said; "Alec, forgive, and let me go home with you. Before God, J am innocent/ Aud then the flaxen" beard fairly glowed in its wrath,,and the right' hand felled her with hard, cruel blow on the.cheek. /When she could stagger. to her feet she looked hazily about hei'i Along the beach shecould see the stranger lazily smoking. Through the ti-tree her husband was walking homewards. She made one step in his direction, and then, putting her hand to her stinging cheek, turned resolutely and walked slowly down the beach. ' Walter" L f Estrange, Melbourne. —In the " Bulletin."