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Newspaper Page Text
H 8 GOODWIN'S WEEKLY Hi THE WIDOW AND THE UMBRELLA By Paul Marguerite. l Dumaresq came sauntering into my apartment. 8 He i3 a big, well-built fellow, who takes up more : room than his just share in a public conveyance, 1 and who jostles fellow-pedestrians off the side- M. walk. He is absolutely self-possessed under all V circumstances, never gives you his hand, only i1 lends it to you, and does not grasp youvd as he H takes it it is too much U'ouble. His consuming H egotism is really rather amusing at times. B "My clear boy, I have come to tell you some- Hi thing," he began; "an incident rather peculiar ft and out of the way" he assumed an air of inane 1 Importance "one at the same time foolish and pathetic, as adventures in which women play a H part are apt to be." K "Give me your hat," said I. H, He preferred to put it away carefully himself H in a corner where no one would be likely to sit on H- it. Then he seated himself in an armchair in an H attitude that was comfortable and yet not calcu- H lated to produce disfiguring wrinkles in his gar- H ments. H "You know Madame Solaciel, the wife of our H poor friend. Although less Intimate with him H than I was, you have dined there several times H' and on Wednesday you were at Solaciel's funeral. H Perhaps you remarked that on that occasion I H' had an umbrella." H "It was raining," I answered. "Everybody had H. an umbrella, therefore, why should the fact of H your having one impress me?" H "Yes," he rejoined; "I expected you would say Hi that. "Well, if you had happened to notice that I. H had one you would have seen that it was far more H elegant than the one I usually carry. It was thin H and light, of English make, of pure silk, with a H handle of elaborately carved ivory and a gold H knob. It was, in short, a swagger umbrella, quite H! nice enough for a lady's use. Hj "Now you are no doubt wondering how I came H! to be using such an umbrella as this. In leav v ing my house to go to Solaciel's funeral, I thought H to myself, 'It seems to be clearing up; what is the H use of taking an umbrella? It only wears it out 1 to carry it needlessly, and there is always tho H' risk of forgetting it In a friend's house or losing it H some place when a downpour sets in. As it hap K pened, I was just near my friend Pradt's apart J ment, and I went in, climbed to his door, and i asked him to lend me an umbrella. 'Oh, cer K tainly, certainly,' he answered, with his agreeable W smile, and brought out two umbrellas for me to H take my .choice. One was the umbrella I have R just described, the other a common, thick, gloria m' affair with a wooden handle. M " 'If it's the same to you, I prefer this one,' V said I, taking hold of the silk one. 'You see, it K Is to carry at a funeral, and I must have a good M one.' 'Of course,' declared Pradt, but I thought B he looked rather vexed. No doubt ho had imag es' ined I should choose the cheap gloria concern. I M thanked him and hurried on to my destination. M When I got there 1 just had time to speak to Ma M dame Solaciel before the hearse left the door. M She was weeping copiously, and I merely mur 1 mured some conventionalities of condolence and B was turning away scenes of this nature are very m repugnant to me and get on my nerves when M she called me back and said: 'Ferdinand was m very fond of you. You will come back, will you m not, after the' here she was interrupted by a M burst of sobs 'I am so lonely, and I should like m to consult you about several things.' Q "'Phaw!' said I to myself. 'Here I am in for H more of this!' However, I bowed my assent and I went to take the place assigned me in the cor tege, next to the immediate relatives. How the rain poured down! I put uu my umbrella and h proceeded to plod along w' the rest as far as H the church, thinking about 11 manner of things, H but as little as possible about Solaciel. Of course I felt sorry he was dead, but there is reason in all things, and the most sincere grief will not avail to bring back the departed spirit, so why sorrow unnecessarily? I shall not tell you anything about the journey to the cemetery or the burial; to be brief, at two o'clock I made my way back to Ma dame Solaciel's without having had my luncheon. She entertained me by intioducing me to all her family, and pouring forth eulogies on Solaciel, the whole interspersed with paroxysms of weeping. Not very enjoyable, this, but I stood it for over an hour, and it was past three before I had escaped and wended my way to a restaurant. Just as I was about to sit down to a table, I remembered that I had left my umbrella at Madame Solaciel's! "I struck a b'ow on the table that set all the glasses ringing and brought the garcon running to me. I ordered a stunning luncheon which had the effect of making me see things in a practical and common-sense light, reflecting that after all if the umbrella was lost, it was not mine, but Pradt's. Still, I decided that I had better make an effort to reclaim it, at all events. "For three days, dreading a repetition of the j scenes I had been a witness to, I refrained from going to Madame Solaciel's, but on the fourth, judging that her grief would by this time be les3 demonstrative, I ventured to go there. She opened the door herself. ' "Come in; I'm all alone. How nice of you to come!' " 'Madame, I explained, 'I do not wish to dis turb you, but I forgot my umbrella in the recep tion room the other day and I came today to ' I finished my sentence by glancing at the stand where the canes and umbrellas belonging to Sola ciel still stood in their places; but Pradt's um brella was not there. Madame Solaciel made me (Continued on page 17) if s&en). Xf - O w r " """ THE WALKING DELIGATE A gentleman whose activities are Very much in evidence at present and to whose efforts the greater portion of the labor unrest that is cropping out all over tho country is due. The evidence of his handiwork is still upon Salt Lake since a year or so ago, when, with a crew ' of his fellows, he prevailed on the local plumbers' union to strike and after getting the plumb- ers into a position where those in the union who lived in Salt Lake with their families and were I dependent on local work for a living were left without employment, said farewell to the town and . left the local men to get out of their trouble and get work as best they could. i The cartooilwas drawn in 1904 by Homer Davenport for "Polly Pry" at that time a weekly paper published in Denver. , I