A MASKED DINNER PARTY EPISODE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2361, 27 August 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

A MASKED DINNER PARTY EPISODE.

Masked dinner parties, which, happily, have not yet become fashionable in’ ,this country ( have’obtained a footing in Now York. It may bo necessary to explain that at those dinners the female guests are known only to the hostess. The men do not wear masks, but the personality of the women is not disclosed until they rise at dessert and unmask. At a recent masked dinner party in' Now York, a young man, a husband of some three years’ standing, came into the drawing-room about seven o’clock to find five women, all in mask, ami only to bo distinguished by a little ivory number hung by a hlueribbon to the slntuldor-slrap of their low-nockod gowns. Ho had made some vague excuse to his wife, who had asked him to stay at homo that evening, about having business down town, and bad dressed at the Club. The men bad numbers to match those of the women to choose from at random, and to his lot foil number four, whose companion bung to the shoulder of a tali and eplondid creature, whoso arms and shoulders were as white as the purest blonde though what could be seen of her hair was perfectly black. Before the fish was removed, he confided to hia partner that until that evening he had preferred blondes, but from that hour his,allegiance was transferred to their dark-hairedsisters —not pausing to consider base man ! that his wife’s eyes were blue and her hair like flux. His companion proved to be decidedly flirtatious in disposition, though she apparently never had seen him before, guessing wide of the mark whenever she hazarded any conjectures of his past, his tastes, or his temperament. Such a temptation was irresistible. Ho told her several exciting anecdotes in which he figured heroically, and poured strange revelations of himself into her willing and credulous ears. His companion ’seemed to be disposed to flaunt her conquest and —as his wife was not there to glance at him between tho candles—ho wore his flowery chains rather ostentatiously. "You are sure you like brunettes best ? ” she whispered tenderly, as the hostess gave the sign to rise and unmask. “ Never could bear blondes,” he replied gallantly, and then he gasped “ Nellie !” and sat down suddenly and limply. It was his wife in a black wig, and there was an uncanny gleam in her eyes.