A SHORT STORY.

Waikato Times, Volume 99, Issue 16626, 17 October 1925, Page 15 (Supplement)

A SHORT STORY.

PROVIDENCE AND SAM VERONY. (By W. H. Williamson.) Some men deceive you. Providence gels attached to them somehow. If they scramble ever so neatly out of a hole the merit is given to Providence. '"By the mercy of Providence." "Thanks to Providence," and so forth. I don't want to destroy the simple faith of these people, but I am notconvinced that Providence has any hand in many things in which its hand is so clearly seen by the commentators.

Verony is a. good instance. I mention him because Stone, who was on board with us at the time, dragged in Providence. Admit straightaway that Mrs Verony was a woman who required a deal of watching. Some men could have done it and some of them might hffiye- done it, but most would have failed. She was pretty in her way. had a neat figure, a heart that she could control pretty well (in my opinion), and a gift for flirting that was almost exceptional. The flirt runs dangers. The man can get desperately in earnest, and if she is not prepared to cut and run. so to speak, there may be the very devil to pay. And she may lose her head, too—ought one to write heart? There is that danger, of course. . Mrs Verony has hecome far too accustomed to her husband. Frankly, she soon tired. She demanded variety, j It may have been that all she wanted was multiplied and diverse attention, but, as one sees, flirtations may be dangerous. It was when Mrs Verony was flirting rather seriously with a Major Thickson that Stone hauled in the word Providence. "She looked to me a goner," he said, when we discussed her on the boat home, where she and her husband were also passengers. "I don't know about him. Couldn't make him out. He looked hard—as if he could flirt and flirt and . . .well, say 'Au revoir' and mean 'Good-bye.' I couldn't tell whether Thickson was really serious or not. Nor she for that matter. But it looked serious. The constant meetings had all the making of an infernally serious thing. The colonel was upset and was going to speak to Thickson about it when 10l Providence stepped in. Thickson was sent off at a few hours' notice to join some expedition on the frontier. No time for romantic plans, no time for farewells even. Thickson was packing and arranging from the time he got the notice tdl he went. And Mrs Verony had to make the best of it. It was a stroke of Providence for the three of them. It was because I knew what had happened that I refused to accept the Providential explanation. The fact was Verony, who looked as easy-going as a turtle, was far more alert than people thought. He didn't make fusses. He acted. In this instance he had quietly pulled the strings by getting a friend of his at headquarters to move Thickson on—and give him no time for philandering finalities. it was effective, and it was sceneless. A good method. ' We had talked of Mrs Verony because she was at it again on the boat. The Veronvs, Stone and myself were homeward bound. Boat flirtations are easy enough. Men and women get thrown together, and if he is willing ■ and she desirous (or vice versa) it is quite easy for both to arrive soon, at the critical stage. _ Vcronv was an easy-going chap. His hair was still crisply brown, as were his eyes, and he moved about with a genial ease that made everyone who came in contact with him like him He cave vou the impression that he wouldn't hurt a fly—unless it was a matter of duty. That was his weakness. He naa let his wife have too much of her own way If she wanted to do a thing he had been happy to let her do it. Naturally he had noticed her goings-on with'other men up to a certain point, hough he never knew all. Husbands never do. He trusted her. But somehow he seemed to feel when the moment came for action, and then it was that "Providence" seemed to inG Outsiders did not know this. Besides lovers, illicit and otherwise, laugh at watchers as well as prison tl Mrs Verony's new tame cat. or pursuer, or infatuated one (one boggles at the name "lover": it connotes too much) "as a Captain Brink. He was a nice Kay chap in bis way, well made, sunn? compleLned, a good dancer Sd capable of fancying himself in love and doing something desperate if the occasion called. Stone and I saw—so we thought-: more than Verony. But did we? After all Veronv shared her cabin. I think now Verony's way wasi as delusive a vvav as I have ever noticed. Be hcl not dance much; but he-Played bridge S deck games and never seemed worried-at least not much. Stone said one day } think he s rattled He v s noticed BnnK. ••I shall be interested to see what he'll do," I replied. > "Will he do anything . "He's no fool." , »Tt depends what you call a fool. , .„ S't necessarllv a fool because herself." „ i'wondered 0 I Was sorry foi• Vcr- ... w e all liked him. He was a good sort at all times, always a good fri rrinl- danced daily with Mrs Vcr-n-l thev botn seemed to dodge S corned and emerge from them fu some secret in their eyes soon 2?r we Sad gone through the canal. The hot weather is trying. we were not the only people to noHrc the philandering. It was d theme for all gossipers, male and femt few of us felt things were sen cn t Verony himself seemed a Uifle less casual and easy-going. But IK Sai mi l walyo d ungenough to ask Mrs V e on to boil with him and wait for , llc divorce. Stono and I aotua ly cti* cusid the question of warning Ve - on": Yoll ,„;,„■, like to see, a good, clean chap hit below the belt. Mrs Verony did not appear on deck two (lavs before we were to arrive at Marseilles. I said casually to \ erony, ''Mrs Verony all right?" He took my arm. "Awful business, he sai.l, and my heart thumped as he said the words, though there was something in the way he grabbed my arm that reassured me. "Is she ill'."' I asked. "No She isn't ill at all. Tell you' the truth, old man. I made an awful ass of myself last night—awful ass " He nodded his head and paused. 4.'l cot mi in the night with a throat lik,.' a lime-kiln, groped about the ],tossed cabin for a glass: something rattled in it. I opened the porthole and chucked the stuff out and then had a drink." He paused again. "When my wife got up this morning she said, 'Where are my teeth'.'' " He nodded. "Good Lord!" I looked at him and then roared. "Damn silly, wasn't it?" he said, trying to look serious.

'Tin sorry. 1 oughtn't to ha\ laughed. Mul .. . phew! . -^. 3 she daren't come out? I'm -"

He nodded. "Asinine, wasn't it?" I couldn't kee'p"tu"e~se"erct; I had" to tell Stone, who roared with me. - "Providence " he; began. But I wouldn't have that.*;;;/""'; ':

"Give'honour where honour is due." I said. . "Old Verony is not such an ass as he makes out." Brink's little love affair with Mrs Verony was ended. The beauty without teeth! . . .