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Show 1 SHORT STORY OF THE DAY V t ; s that ages ago. X thought that you were going te announce a funeral somewhere, Marion." The fifteen maids turned their atten- tlon to the radiant Claire, who had brought Into sight the hidden solitaire. There .waa a babel of girlish voices. No one paid any attention to the luncheon. Suddenly one of the five matrons arose, and. going over to Claire, kissed her solemnly as if it were an ancient rite of which she were the priestess. . The other four followed her example. Mrs. Lansing had slipped away from the table and no one missed her until " one of the fifteen discovered that the entire Ave had deserted them. - They started a search for the deserters. desert-ers. They found them scattered over . different parts of the house and every single one of them waa weeping quietly, with the exception of Mrs. Lansing, who sobbed hysterically. They braced up. however, at being found out and returned with the crowd. "Well, of all the discouraging congratulations." con-gratulations." said the saucy maiden. . "It makes me feel anything but cour- -ageous.- confided Claire, but the laughed as she said It "Oh. no. said the pert one. every en- gaged girl la brave." CLAIES'S ENGAGEMENT, r v ' . - ' The fifteen maids and the five matrons ma-trons who had been Invited . to the luncheon which Mrs. Lansing was giving giv-ing wondered very much what connection connec-tion the entertainment, had with the destinies of Miss Claire Benson.. Mrs. Lansing's dearest friend. There had been rumors for a long time that Claire was engaged, but no one had affirmed It, and Claire herself bad Indignantly denied It. v Somehow, the tongue of the prospective prospec-tive guests grew busy over the report, this one more persistent than Us predecessors, pre-decessors, that Mrs. Lansing was going to say something about It at the affair. af-fair. They were on tiptoe with anticipation antici-pation when then gathered together In vthe dining-room. Claire was. calm and unperturbed. There was n tell-tale solitaire upon her finger, no signaling blushes on her cheek. It was noticed, however, that Mrs. Lansing was more excited than was her usual wont. They might have attributed It to the anxiety she would naturally feel concerning the success of her luncheon, were It not for the nervous ner-vous glancing that she bestowed upon Claire. Just after they were all seated at the table Mrs. Lansing arose. "I have the pleasure I have the honorI hon-orI mean that I guess that you all know about It already I hardly think that any of you' will be surprised." Then her voice broke. The guests remained silent. There really waa nothing for them to say, but Mrs. Lansing had hoped that some one would venture to break the awful silence. si-lence. As no one did, and as Claire was watching her breathlessly, she be-, gan again: "I know that you will Join with me In wishing all the happiness In the world to them." Again, as she looked down at the half-amused, half-amused, half-puxtled. apparently un-sympathlc un-sympathlc faces, she gasped. . "Oh. don't you know," she exclaimed, "that Claire and Jtm are engaged?" "Was all that fuss about that?" de-manded de-manded a saucy maiden. "We guessed |