The San Antonio light. (San Antonio, Tex.) 1883-1886, 1885-06-05
Friend and Lover.
CONSTANCE RosLYEs CHOICE

the parlur from the dining-ruom. and
some uf them seated themselves near an
open window close to Constance, and
continued Tic. conycrsati9n thew had
II have looked out thcirnames on the
register, voice said. Mcpherson.
She is beautiful creature. IL She notp
! never saw u lOyrlicr But | suppose
there is no doubt he married her for her
money. for all that
81 cannot believe it,
"MrS. Cam ron told me all about IL.
She did her best to break of the en-
gagement. but the gri was infatuated.
OH | had it from at least u dozen pco-
pie. II was toWn's-talk. They say that
Mcpherson went up to the convent
where this girl graduated, In order TO
make an impression before she met any
other man. lie cuntrycd to make her
acquaintance through his cousin, Miss
Townsend, who went To the same
school
do not know what demon of doubt
and distrust possessed Constance Hs
these people tulkcd. She believed all
/ the silly things they said. She was cold
-shiycriug III with anger aud de-
| spair. They had all the names straight;
| ycs-it was true she had met Inn first
ut the convent Oh, horrible ~ this
u
Strange to SAY, she had never before
| realized that SHE had money. She had
! lived in "a world Of hcr own, since she
| had been her own mistress since her
/ mother had di,d-ui sentiment, of ru-
| nance. ol poetry. finally of love. II was
! a harsh aWak ming tu hear all mt once
| that the man ut her choice Ind married
| her for mrlccnary motives.
There are those who contend that
| there is no love without jealousy. There
are those again who claim that there
can be no jealousy In Il perfect love.
! Perhaps lOvc-the master PASSIONATE
fects diicrent natures differently. But
he this us it may, certainly now for the
first time since her marriage 1t occurred
| to Constance that the love she had he
lievCd to be- entirely her own held an
uncertain tenure. Before this she had
considered IL AS certain as that the sun
shone that Guy would 20 on loving her
| forever. The love stories that | tran
scribe are If exceptional cases, to my
! thinking at least. or should not take
the trouble to transcrbc them mt all;
therefore do not stop tn theori2e why
| II was that Constance was seized with
a passion Of jealousy ON hearing the
random gossip which have related. 1t
was unworthy of pure, true, higl-mind-
! ed affection; but She yielded Ia tho
| temptation. II seemed To- her that she
wasdoscrtcd, betrayed llrruuc thought
was to escape from Guy then and for
ever.
At thc moment that this resolution
Overcdme her she h"ul Guys voice in
the parlor. lie had ,ctuurd. and on
his way to find her had hnvu stopped,
detained by one OF the ausaping party
of Americans scattered through the
rooms. Constance heard his giy voice
his laur1ng rrlnindprs Ia their greet
ings. Would SHE have time to cscapeI
She rose hurvIrdlr. Tho balcony ran
across the brca'ih ct tho hotel. She
was beyond the first wn9Hw in i mo-
mrnt. within which sl' plainly diStin-
guished the tones of Guys voice. a
moment more, and she was safe In an
other room; and 50. up stairs. To their
own suite Of apartments. lovely rooms,
looking ON the water lloutcd now with
summer moonli- ht-tac look Of which
poor Constance never tr,t to her dy-
Ing day.
She hastily PIT u few urrcssdrics to-
gcthcr. counted ont Il li'tle money
enough to carry her To M,l u. As luck
or ill-luck. would hH, 70, she had a
friend there. vino had once been hei
music-tcdohcr. hut Wis., now, having
risen in the world. WIS tire director OF
an opera company. She s'rawlcd one
line under phutOLrdI. ot herself lying
on Guy 5 dIcsSlug-tIrlr;
Gone Pay do not follow me,
"CrN~TANCE.n
Then she made the brs, OF her way t.
the railway station, when fortune favor
ed her again. and she made the councc
ton forthwith for Milan.
Meanwhile Guy gussipgd with hi
chance American ncqudntnnc's unit
quite late hour. Luck or i'll
luck again. Not until eleven o'clocl
did he suddenly recall himself to th,
fact that Constance WAS waiting fO
him all this while. Then he hurried of
to look for Constance, aud-aS we know
without success. 1t WAS not unit
hours had elapsed that he even founC
her hastily-scrlwled note. That com
petcly confused him. Where shoult
he look for her?
He lost a good dead of time, brcaus,
the first thought that occurred to hin
was that she had gone home, in consc
quencc of which he hurried To the wron
station, where he made irutlpss in
quiries. Possessed, however, with tn
idea that she had planned TO meet til
next steamer for America, he made III
rangements to follow her. and in du
course of time was at llaVre. But ther
b, he found nncldc. Neither was any clu
r rs to her whereabouts elsewhere or a
= TO here motive in leaving linn in hi
e mind. His brain was reelng, lie VIII
had loved SO cXcusivrly-the price q
all which exclusive devotion was tina
he should be deserted now, 1t may hay
b been some palliation of his misery tia
Z he could find no explanation now f.
/, the cause of it, 1t was all horribl,
5 nightmareish mystery to him.
d Wandering up and down the quays {
+ IIayre, he met passenger by one OF Il
=, steamers Just arrived in port-a ma
whom he greeted warmly, because h
sole association with him was with h
: lost wife ulso-Allan Cameron. II
IS whole air was so wild and so distractC
that Allan's friendly instinct caugl
the alarm forthwith.
= GLOW is your wife? Is she hereY
II am most anxious to see her"
- 1t was very difficult matter to c
Il plain just how he was situated-th
W wherever she might be in all the wild
~ lonely world Guy could not tell whor
o. But in spite OF all difficulties he d
D. contriye to tell Mr. Cameron his tai
~ Allan listened gravely. In all his g
IN perience Of life he had never heard
~ ~ similar recital. remembered the has
- with which Constance had hurried h
marriage. lie remembered the pilfa
% and perils which await such ignorar
~ reckless young creatures in this wOI
~ of perils. And then he looked at Gil
NJ. AS young, as ignorant, MS iucOnsidI
W. ate as Constance was herself. lie hea
ed a deep sigh. Had there been sol
quarrel, had there been some jealous
from which Constance had taken refu