Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1886-12-18
CHAPTER VI.

Harry Glens bosom as he turned away from
the door which Rachel Bond closed behind
her with decisive pfomptness that chorded
well with her resolute composure during the
interview
This blow fell much more heavily than any
that had preceded it, because it descended
from the towering height to which he had
raised his expectations of an ardent greeting
from loving girl, eagerly watching for his
return.
As was to be expected from one of his
nature, he forgot entirely his nominations
upon the ACCESSIBILITY of discarding her, and
the difficulty he experienced in devising a
plan whereby this could be done easily and
gracefully. He only thought of himself as
| the bameless victim of a womanS fickleness
| The bitter things he had read and heard of
the sex's Inconsistency rose in his mind, as
| acrid bile sometimes ascends in ones throat
Here, he said to himself, sis an instance
of feminine peyfidy equal to anything
| that Byron ever sneered at This girl,
who was so proud to receive my at
tentions little while ago, and who so
| gladly accepted me for her promised hus-
hand, now turns away at the slightest cloud
of disapproval falling upon me. And to
think, too, how | have given her all my
| heart, and lavished upon her q love as deep
| and true as ever a man gave a woman
| He stopped for moment and ga2cd at the
old apple tree, under which they had stood
| when
Their spirits rushed together at the meeting of
| their lips.
| But its raimeut of OdorouS blossoms was
| gone Instead, it bore load of shameless,
sour, uurpened fruit Instead of the freshly
| sprlnging grass at its foot was now a coarse
| s1Ghble. Instead of the delicately sweet
| breath OF violets and fruit blooms seeming
| the evening air came the heavy, persistent
| perfume of tube roses, and the mawkish scent
Of gaudy peoples.
| Bah, it smells like funeral" he said, and
| be turned away and walked slowly down the
| hill. And it is one MY heart and all my
| hopes lie buried at the foot Of that old apple
tree"
| II had been suggested that much OF the
| sympathy we lavish upon martyrs is wanton
waste, because to many minds, if not in fact
to all, there is positive pleasure in consider
| ones self a martyr, More absolute truth is
contained in this than appears at the first
| blush. There are very few who do not roll
| under their tongues as a sweet morsel the be
| lief that their superior goodness or geueros-
ity has brought them trouble and affection
| from envious and wicked interiors.
| So the honey that mingled with the gall
and hyssop of Harry Glen's humiliation was
the martyr feeling that his hottest affections
had been ruthlessIy trampled upon by cold
hearted woman. His desultory readings of
Byron furnished his Imagination with all the
woeluI suits and trappings necessary to trick
himself oct as a melancholy hero
On his way home he had to pass the prin
cipal hotel in the place. the front of which
on summer evenings, was the SardiS forum
for the discussion of national politics and
local gossip As he approached quietly along
the grassy walk, he overheard his own name
used. He stepped back into the shadow of q
large maple and listened.
Yes, seen him as he got off the train, =
said Nels Hathaway, big, fat, lazy, and the
| most inveterate male gossip in the village
And he is looking mighty well-yes, mighty
we'll | said to Tim Botkins, here, what
wonderful constitution Harry Glen has, to be
sure, TO stand the harllshipS of the field so
we'll"
The sarcasm was so evident that Har1-y's
blood secthed The Tim Botkins alluded TO
had been dubbed by Basil Wurmset. the
cynic and wit of the village, capt apprecia-
TONS artful aid" Red-haired, softeyed
moon-faced, round of belly and lymphatic of
temperament, his principal occupation in life
was to playa fiddle i'll the Sardis string band
and in the intervals of professional engage
ments at dances and picnics to fill one of the
large splint-bottomed chairs in front of the
hotel with his pulpy form, and receive the
smart or bitter sayings of the loungeis there
with laugh that began before any one else's
and lasted after the others had gotten through.
| His laugh alone was as good as that of all the
| rest Of the crowd. It was not q hearty. reso-
nant laugh, like that from the mouth of n
| strong-lunged, wholesome natured man, which
| has the mellow roundneSs Of solo on d
| French horn. 1t was slovenIy, greasy, con-
| victionless laugh, with uncertain tones and
| ill-detined edges Its effect was due to its
volume, readiness and long continuance
| Swelling up of the puffy form, and reddening
ripplas Of the broad face heralded it; it began
with contagious cGckle, 1t deepened into n
| tlabby guffaw, and after all the others round
| about had finished their cachinnatory tribute
| it wound up with what was between roar
and the lazy drone of bagpipe.
1t now rewarded Nels Hathaway's irony.
| and the rest of the loungers joined in En-
| Outraged, Nels continued. as its last echoes
died away:
| Yes, hes just as spry and peart as any,
body. He seems to have recovered entirely
from all his wounds: none of en- have dis
tiggered him any, and his nerves have got
over their terrible strain
Tim ran promptly through all the notes in
his diapason and the rest joined in on the
middle register.
I'D give six bits Hathaway said. "to
know how the meeting between him and
Rachel Bond passes off He's gone up to the
house. The boys seen him, all dressed up in
| his best. But his finery and his perfumed
handkerchief won't count anything with her,
can tell you. She comes of fighting stock.
| if ever a woman did. The Bonds and Har-
| ringtons-her mothers people-are game
breeds, both of EN-, and stand right on their
| record every time. She'll have precious lit
tie traffic with white feathered fellow. l
think she's been preparing for him the coolest
| shoulder any young Teller in Sardis has got
for many long day"
There was nothing very funny in this
speech, but good deal of risible matter had
accumulated in Tins diaphragm during its
delivery which he had to get rid of, and be
lid
Harry had heard enough While Tins
laugh vet resounded he walked away un-
noticed, and taking a roundabout course
gained his room. There he remained week.
hardly coming down to his meals. It was a
terrible week to him, for every waking hour
of it he walked through the valley of humil-
iation, and drank the bitter waters of shame
The joints of his hitherto impenetrable
| armor of self-conceit had been so pierced by
the fine rapier thrusts of Rachel's scorn that
it fell from him under the coarse pounding of
the village loungers and left him naked and
detenseless to their blows Every nerve and
sense ached with acute pain. He now felt all
Of his fathers humiliation, all his mothers
querulous sorrow, all his betrothed's an
guish and abasement.
Thoughts of suicide, and of flying to Some
part of the country where he was entirely
unknown, crowded up0n him necessarily.