New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-10-03


was IN for days because of IT. My friends said
+ was foolish to do what did. Ny friends are
always saying that am foolish to do what do by
friends mean the people who carp and rail at
one for nothing. have no friends. have only
one friend that Ht I mean myself. and she -
also quito often my enemy. But do you know
what didp went to see your husband. VS.
tied him in his CELL
sYou saw him p faltcrcd my mother.
aYcs felt Ike someone In novel by Bal
FAC II was so delightful TO feel nke soineone
In @ novel by Balzao I mean the greas french
man-our countyman-who wrote those superb
tales that seem to be alive while you read them
tho urinted lines arc TO me like little veins with
real blood running rcd through each OF them.
at do not understand my mother murmlircd'
Shc did not know OF Balzac, or at best he was a
nero name TO her.
Mrs Dorian gave light, soft laugh that had
no lar I'm lt pity alone seemed to dwell there.
know, know, my poor woman" she SAID laying
a hand on my mothers arm. "You do not under
stand. and you want to hear OF your husoaho,
who In turn wanted 20 kill you You need NOT
tell me that you still care for him. l knew IL
some minutes ago. think truly. that havo
known It for months. He Is q monster OF leal-
ousy he is also q mailman but he is wonder
the shape and face Of an old Morse god. die re-
ccived me with scowl, but it was such q mag
nihcent scowl There was strong li9ht 1t was
midday YOU know He saw plainly enough that
I WAS not YOU did not 20 into the cell Alone
of course But If had gone alone there would
have been no danger. lie simply did not WISH
me there and that was all. He would tell me
nothing he sat staring at the floor and he an
svered all my questions in mOnosyllabes. couid
get no satisfaction from him-none whatever lie
would not speak Of you he would not even
speak Of himself, He grumbled SORT
of apology to no for having wah'eo
10 murder me. 1t was immensely interesting 10
was what I should call a thrilling experience
and one gets so few thrilling experiences In
huge ovcrgrown Village like this New York, where
I am forced to live for horrid commercial reasons
that concern my poor dead husbands BUSINESS
But in spite Of his sury treatment went away
from him with kind of glow. / had been
brought face to face with raw. naked human nat
urc And insisted on forming nv own con-
clusions though people laughed at me IN thelr
superior wisdom. | insisted that his jealousy
which was like something fresh from the Mldale
Ages, with all the coarse, bloodthirsty color OF
that period-had for its object some true KIM
Httle woman who had loved him and never
49,
YOU and feel certain was light You Sea- 1 am
constantly Judging, concluding, from impulse ana
instinct Anyone who does that Is ALWAYS held
TO be more or less insane I not at all in
sane. and did it in this instance, and am con-
WINGED that formed correct opinion. You do
care for him still though he has treated you III
famously l can understand it have only 10
lock at YOU well in order 10 understand it L
have seen him, and it is all clear to me- English
women. American women. arc often clover, but
they have neither the depth nor breadth OF
clever Frenchwoman. We do not merely see
through things we possess Imagination, which IS
an enormous help TO reason
Mrs Dorian and my mother spoke on together
for a good hour. Or perhaps l should state that
ONLY Ms Dorian spoke, for the paIises were rare
in her buoyant, rafting monologue During these
she would listen, bu6 my mother had. after all.
little TO communicate. She had come but for
one purpose. and this had failed. she had hoped
TO find out more concerning my father his pres
cnt frame OF mind, lis health, even his balefu
grudgc against herself But Mrs. Dorian could
tell her nothing except that he had looked very
handsome and treated her with great sulenncss
Two women wore never more mentally unlike
than ny mother and this lady. Ono was all
gravity and stability the other all volatile Fight
rcss. Mrs Dorian was q kind of intellectual
Proteus. in fact-as l remember years afterward
calling her To meet her every day for month
was 10 discover that she had received at least
thirty distinct sets Of Impressions She afterward
would often make mo think OF her as of a person
who has como into our planet on an exploring eX-
pediton-who has been given just so much time
to look about and no moro. and who Is deter
mined 20 do as much Observing thinking and feel-
ing Is may be possible within the allotted So
tourn But though O wcather-vane OF change In
many ways, this woman had much dxity OF prtn-
ciplc, of conduct Of moral Ideal She enjoyed
life, on the other hand, because shc got great
deal out OF 1t what made her not enjoy IL thor
oughly was because sho could not get az much
cut OF It as she wanted to get. Her receptviU
was greater than the resources of her environment
She adored Paris where she had been born, and
undoubtedly its brilliance and It's activity would
at all times have made her most fitting world
She had read everything, and was constantly hav-
ing some new literary idol, whom she would soon
desert for one stin mower With the exception
of Balzac Whose muItlformity and versatility
seemed in letters a semDlance of what she herself
WAS in life she was always forgetting tho
worship OF today for that Of TO morrow The
great French novelist. romancer and poet held
secure nichc in her memory. her affection.
Others came and went; he stayed.
1t was natural enough that one Of such tenn
rcrament as this should confuse and weary my
supplemented mother But Mrs Dorian inter
ested me SHARPLY young aS | then was. though OF
course there was much of what she said that
failed wholly to understand. Indeed the words
which I have already put into her mouth must
not be taken as literal authentic. They arc
both only so far as my childish memory may be
trusted. and failure TO catch the sense Of more
than one brisk sentence as 1t then left her has
compelled its omission from among those which
maturer powers help me TO recall.
Her notice Of myself was like q sudden dis
covery. Her eyes lighted upon If by
chance and little followed. Sho hurried
toward ne and drew me back 10 where she had