Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1879-04-15


To the outward seeming she lived &
golden life in Paris of ease and luxury
and grandeur, stepped in all the extrava-
gance and display of the second empire
| Nor did she fail to carry out her inten.
tions toward her parents in America
She sent them, year by year, out of hel
superabundance, enough to keep the
wolf from the door. Nor was the dukes
| promise to Oscar forgotten. The boy
was established in well-known banking
house after year or so of additiona
schooling.
But there were times when, in spite
of all this, Hilda De Bonne Fortune asked
herself whether her grand marriage had
been worth whilei To be sure, she had
not been guilty of the baseness of marry
! ing for her own mere meat and raiment
| but all the same she had learned by a
wearisome experience how infinitely less
were these than the demands ofthe soul.
| 1t bored her to death to be a fine lady.
| 1t seemed to her that she was a very
ghost of her former self; that that had
died long ago, when she had closed the
door upon the real things of Ife-the
art she had surrendered, the mutual
love she might have worn like crown.
She grew quiet and pale, and her hus-
band noticed it, and reproached her for
it fretfully. Had he not married her
for her youth and freshness? She must
exert herself; she must go into the
world; she must dress in manner be-
fitting her station. He did not choose
his wife to be a dowdy. When he re-
preached her he dropped the mask of
his smooth gallantry He was as out
spoken and as rough and coarse as though
he had not been educated in the foremost
of modern civilizations.
The poor little duchess was in despair.
Whom was there to turn to? She
against the hard, cold world! There
was a church not far off. A fancy
seized her to go there She had seen her
mother come out of church sometimes
with wonderful look of peace on her
face. She might might find peace too.
She took her maid with her-since she
never more went quite free now-and
strayed into the great, quiet cathedral.
She dropped down on her knees. She
thought of storm, and of voice that
came in the storm, and of the calm that
followed. And presently there was a
calm with her.
A calm, and a strength that is only
born of calm. She went about her ways
serenely; she ruled her kingdom beauti-
fully. If she had made grave mistake,
she did not sit down with folded hands
in its shadow. Poor little SOUL she had
strayed into hades; but she became the
light, the tranquil moonlight, of the
place.
In day Of unfaith and Of materialism
and of mammon worship, she was true
to her own ideals of goodness and lowell
ness. She never lost her childlike ma
ture, her innocence, her simplicity
The worldly men and women about her
treated her with certain Multiplying
reverence.
So she made her peace with life, with
nature, as the pagans would have said,
and as we Christians still may phrase it,
with a devouter and more filial signifi-
cance. r
But in so making her reconciliation
she must also find her way back to her
old place in the heart of the bright-faced
little woman across the ocean who had
sent her forth so reluctantly to her mar
ried life She had written to her mother
cold and studied letters during the first
months of her married life; it was not
until she had conquered her disappoint-
ment and her loneliness that she could
write to her as she used to talk to her,
with the outpouring of her heart.
One evening at a crowded reception at
her hotel, a tall, fair man, with the
slightly stopped shoulders of the student,
made his way through the throng, and,
hesitating slightly, bowed presently over
her hand.
Twas by no means sure it was you,
Madame De. Bonne Fortune DR..
Douglass said. And in truth she was
sufficiently altered to have made recogni-
ton difficult She had lost her fresh
color; the mild rose bloom had given
place to the pallor of the lily. There
was an outlooking patience now in her
eyes, and there were shadows under them
that told of sleepless nights and restless
days. But if the luster of her youthful
beauty was dimmed, perhaps the splen-
dor of the setting suficed to make
amends. Her palace was very splendid /;
her toilette was triumph in its way ;
her fair head was diademed with dia-
monds. She looked the queen that she
was in the world of fashion.
q seem to be in dream" DIR. Doug
lass went on; or rather it seems to me
that it must have been in a dream that
we once took country rambles together
tOW IL outttly 1luCbs dA1O 8ebblClCd w III
flowers, and rowed about in boat, and
did various other rustic things. Part OF
the dream was that you wore a white
straw hat trimmed with scarlet poppies
Your dress is trimmed with scarlet pop
pies tonight, l see."
Peoples are said to be the flowers ol
dreams. As far as that goes, this scene
tonight is the dream for me. / am moi
accustomed to my grandeur yet; it is still
unreal Oh, DIR. Douglass dropping
her voice. how is my mother Wher
did you see her ?"
Poor little queen there were tears il
her eyes. Looking into her earnest face
and so into thesoul behind it, it did in
deed appear as though her fine clothe:
and her jewels were a mask, and az
though she were holding court in a veri
table place of shades. DIR. Douglass haC
thought hard things of her he had called
her mercenary wording. He took i
all back now he forgave her; he pitieC
| her.
After that, Hilda never rested unit
she had seen her mother face to face
Her conversation with DIR. Douglas
brought up the past SO vividly that sh
could not be satisfied without. So in tn
spring she crossed the Atlantic, with he
little retinue of man and maid, two year
after her marriage.
She knocked at the door of theshabb,
little house she used to call home, lat