Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1884-06-07
What MY Love Forgave.


days that even now the old sick, desper-
ate feeling comes over me for an instant
as / look back upon them-only for an
instant, think Cod
Some women are so happy natured
that where they love they give faith abb
solute and unshadowed which only
.sternest proof can shake, and when con-
WINGED of its unworthincss can withdraw
the love with the faith, and after little
90 on their way rejoicing that they have
been undeccivcd while it was yet time to
escape. ! am not such a woman. All
my life have loved few people, but of
those few have been jealous with ten
der and passionate jealousy in proportion
as | loved them. As child ! was
punished and reasoned with about it; as
girl was half pitied, half teased by
those whe guessed the weakness of which
| had grown terribly ashamed think
the evil originated or drew its chief Bit
terness from my being left an orphan
heiress in my babyhood, and having had
it taught me as one of my earliest lessons,
by a well meaning but sadly mistaken
aunt, that great deal of the praise and
caresses ! seemed to win so easily were,
and always would be, due to my fortune.
Jealous as knew myself to be, had not
the faintest conception of my capacity
for it until | loved Max Enroll. Iloved
Max from the first time saw him.
He knew it, too, for my wooing was a
very brief one, and he took possession of
me when we were engaged with a gay
and tender masterfuness which CON
WINGED me that he was sure of my love
IL I. -
people more utterly unlike than he and
mot in appearance, for there was a
certain general resemblance in height
and coloring between us, which it was
one of my foolish happinesses to hear
people remark, but in every trait of
temper and character light
frank, unny-tempered, liking the pleas
ant things of this life, and with an i'm
partial admiration for everything beauti-
full, from fine sunset to pretty woman,
yet with force of pride and determine
ton underlying this surface easiness; /,
Jealous, reserved, and passionate, to
whom life was a serious business, in
terested only in what concerned myself
and those / loved. Perhaps it was
natural that our love-making should be
stormy from the first but it seemed very
terrible TO me, and worried him more
than his pride would allow him to admit,
and so left me the belief that quarrels,
which made me wretched until we had
forgiven each other, were the veriest
trifes to him. We had first known
each other in Switzerland in the sum-
mer, and we were spending the winter
in Paris, where my aunt and / occu-
pied pretty little entresol in the
Champs Elysees, and where Max and |
were to be married in the spring before
returning to America. We went out a
great deal, for it was one of the last win
tiers of the empire, and very gay. This
gayety was one of the first sources of my
troubles, for Max enjoyed himself so evil
IDENTITY at dinners and balls when was
much more bored than amused, though
to please him | tried to like them, and
lowing TO my heiress-ship, used to tell
myself bitterly was quite enough adj
mired TO make me feel that if / were Max
| should DC uncomfortable; but he only
laughed when limited as much to him,
smoothed my hair lightly with his strong
white hand. and told me that | was a
vain little child, who could not shake
his faith in me try as hard as | might /;
and pulled down that dear hand and
kissed it, thinking how much nobler was
his trust than my jealousy, and so was
happy until, when he had gone. my ia
miliar demon whiSssered to me that it was
easy not to be any.oas about the safety of
a treasure whose loss would bring no In
durable regret.
Now Max knew of my jealousy of the
slightest admiration which he showed
for other women, and he treated it as a
stiffness which, if he yielded to it, might
darken our future lives. So after telling
me that he could only love one woman,
and that he had given me the best of
proofs who that woman was, he would
continue his gay and pleasant friendships
with whoever among our acquaintances
was prettieSt and wittiest He never
guessed the real root of my misery, for
some instinct told me that unless | did
indeed wish to end everything between
US, he must never know how often / be-
lieved that he had wooed me for my for
tune, and not my love. Soon after
Christmas there arrived in Paris Mrs
Wharton, about whom every one was
raving as the most beautiful woman who
had dazzlcd our American colony for
many day. She was a widow, young
and wealthy, and it was of her Max had
told me, months before, that In his col
lege days she had been his first love-a
hopeless love, he had said, laughing, for
she was even then engaged to Mr.. Whar-
ton. But that Max could love any
woman without hope seemed impossible
IN r.1& 1ofE