LITERATURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 788, 3 April 1905, Page 4

LITERATURE.

A SUPERSTITIOUS WIFE* Before Maud and I were married, ■ ■'i her ■jab/chant tor horse-shoes ami four-leaved clovers di'd not impress ma as AD indication of anything (nore serious than the harmtaes romanticism of innocent maidenhood. I did not then realise what it was to h&va superstition in the family. Even later, whuo Ac hnplor«l me to w«ar my left sock wrong side out for luck, 1 regarded it only as a ■gn of affectionate solicitude for my welfare, which would evaporate 'jf after life honeymoon- 1 noticed that ■if -we w«is very particular about these tilingsShe thought that it was flying in " Um face of l*rovidence to leave a room by a different door from that by wMcft she had entered. was a very uncomfortable superstition in our flat, because the rooms were strung along in a lin'e, so that it <w»9 "prtStfically impossible to pass from our drawing-room to the din-ing-room without going through a v- oouplo of bedrooms. Maud' was in « fearful dilemma about this at tot.'. 'X. Suggested ,that she should ■let herself' out 6f the front window ( by a-. rope, walk round the house, v i and climb into the back window on tha fire-escape. She seemed to be pained by the levity of this advice, , Mid I left her in tears. Whwn I returned she was radiant with hope. ' : ! If you go out of the second door v -' backwards it reverses the charm and gives you good luclV she said, and she stuck to it oven after she had " fallen over a door-mat and ■driven a hairpin into the back of her head in ber efforts to propitiate the Fates. Icouldn't see muoh luck in that, but she called my attention to the fact tfl - ■ that, if she had gone out in the us?S »• i' ual"Way she might have driven the <■ hairpin into her nose, which .would

■have been mach worse. At first she was the only victim lo her vagaries,, but later they be- ;" |<i> to get to work on me- She sat " ■ up tete one night to put.a genuine, hand-painted,' four-leaved clover near- > ly two feet in diaftieter on the back of my coat); and she was so nervous - - altout it that she painted it on the i i outeda instead mt on the lining. It . took a quart of benzine to restore peace to our household. One day I came home and .found Br Salted . behind her sewing table, : wfeich was covered with cards, As a soon as she saw me she spuing to , get' feet with a countenance full c|i iysUria. Sho pointed her finger at mo Vith a gesture of despair. . •" Howard, you have been followed fey a dark womanv Who is she ? Do not attempt to deceive me ? " : * My dear,, I can conceal nothing from you," I' replied. " She is tfco * woman who attends to our laundry, f She' met me afe the door with a doj.. mand of six pounds, and I -told her ;■<*: ' to call again in the summer." j I never saw anynjody so relieved as ' Maud was, : j - I knew the cards couldn'fe be jrrong," sEe said. I'v e just got a book that tells all about than. Now I'm going to tell yonr fortune." . . She made me cut the pack and she then began to deal out the cards. - " A black knave; that's you," shfe ■•id. ■J " Thanks awfully," said; I. !"•' That only means a young man . .who is of dark complexion," she explained. " There's a light queen fol- ' lowing him." That's 1, of course. >; Isn't it nice ? The ace of spad.'S is the next" one ! Oh, Howard, then i . I'm going to die," and she began to - • -cy.. •

, -»Turn over the aaxt ono and see : about the inkiest," I said, trying to : pass the thing off with a joke< ; - ■"!■• U» ten of hearts," she bobbed. •' '* That means a laugh and a merry .time, Ofi, Howard, to think that youf Bhbt\Jd go off and enjoy j ourself after I'm dead ■! N You horrid, horrid thing ! " " But my dear, I should cry my eyes out. There must be a misdeal here somewhere ; it can't be .wise."v "No," sfte moaned, "and the very aent card is the nine of data, which means that whatever you're told is ' . suie to come true. I annas good as ' dead, ani you will be happy." i-M " light of my existence " ' " Don't speak to met. Would you = „ .. Boceive a woman who has only a .. . few days to live ? " In desperation I turned the next 4 .! card.T It was tlje-two of diamonds. **. MaSd wa« looking: over the top of her handkerchief. I saw her face 1 fcrigMen. K That's the best money card in the , > peck. .We're going to be rich before I die." " Then cheer up, my 'dctir < You j must make up your Hiind to stay 1? ' by me till I'm rich." ' After this there were no more ' tears for a while. I did no£ trans- ' gress the rules of Fate again that ' evening except by pickling up a ptn ' the wroiig end first. Maud was much

r " frightened at the vospeot of bad luck, but I explain® that I had, picked upthe pin oil the bedroom ; carpet with the bottom of my bare foot', «nS thSf under the circumstances it is nearly impossible to get ' ail anything but the business end of - pin< ~~ Day by 'day Maud grew worse, until fioaJly I decided to have some doctors «omc to see whether some of her numerous superstitions had not h < cost a shadow over her once brilliant intellect. Of course, I didn't let '•> her know about it. I said that •ojnc friends would call, and she r must entertain them, 'i'fic experts ar- , rived about three o'clock one afternoon. X did not get there till 4.30. When I came in a curious scene met "" m.v gaze. Maud was standing behind the taMe telling fortunes, and the old medical fosoils were so interested • that they had forgotten what they came for, and' did not even notice - ■ 1 - entrance. I caught a confused sound of .voices. " Did you say I ;was going to be pursued by a blonde ? "• ''Gracious me ! Unim-tte, .Thank Heaven ! That bars my wife i . on." > - WMen they saw me there was con- . fusion, and tho doctors hurriedly dc- . parted. Maud burst out laughing. "The old sillies ! " she said. "I made them believe that all the girls in tfie town * Were " running after them. They swallowed it all. 1 never realised before 'how absurd cards were." . " Ao& you'll give up telling for- > tunes ? " 1 gaspej. " Yes, X don't believe in Caixls any more. These men have cured ■■me." 0 r>\ " Good ! I murmured under my breath', " they've broken their professional record*. ' ' . " *** you won't be superstitious **t man 1 a I saia aloud. e ' a ß®' n >" she' promised* •" I t<Hda J r " Goodness, no i3 8 FridA y-