The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-09-02

tOO, tuC lCbtCI SAUL dS GuOuGu d pdlllC
was imminent.
Unconsciously he sighed deeply. In
a moment May had sprung from her
chair, and was by his side.
''What is it, Dick?" she asked.
Nothing, darling" he answered,
cheerily.
The lovely lips pouted.
''Show me the letter." she said, and
outstretched her hand.
He shock his head.
ut is business, DEAR" he explained.
"But it troubles you, Dick?"
"Your imagination, May"
She said no more, and the man was
too absorbed BY thought to note the
look of almost anger in her eyes,. I'M
mediately after breakfast was ended, he
ordered the dog-cart to drive him to the
station. They were spending the sum-
mer at his beautiful country residence.
All day long the young wife was left
alone, and at evening, when Dick re-
turned from the city, a worn tired look,
quite new in it, was on his face; but
May asked him no more concerning it.
The next morning. the single letter
which the mailbag held was addressed
to her. She glanced up from its peru
sal with flushed cheeks.
"Will Crosby has a six weeks fur
loughP" she said, eagerly. "He writes
that he is coming to spend part of it
with us. You remember we invited him
when we were married.
"Ah, l remember" assented her hus-
baud-he had almost forgotten his old
suspicion during these happy months
81 am glad, dear, that his visit is timed
just now, for though l had intended to
take a long summer holiday, business,
1 find, will demand my attention in the
city,"
lis any thing wrong, Dickp"
"WrongP Nonsense, child! Don't
get such ideas in your pretty little head.
What could be wrongP"
And rising, and kissing her, as he
passed, he went out of the room.
A few days later the expected guest
arrived. When Arnold returned n
evening from the city, the two were
standing together upon the lawn, and,
as in a flash of lightning, his memory
recalled to him the first time he had
looked upon a similar picture. A new
brightness, a new gladness, was in
Mays face, too, as she came eagerly
forward to greet him. A sudden sense
of pain and loneliness crept about his
heart. The day in town had been al
usually perplexing one A crisis was
pending in the near business future-a
crisis which babe fair to be a commercial
whirlwind-but he could disclose his
anxieties to none, and least of all must
his child-wife suspect it. Yet, the effort
to conceal them causNl a strange con
straint in all that he said or did. He no
longer sought to be alone with Nav,
until one day it came upon him like an
inspiration that she, too, no longer
sought him.
Lieutenant Crosby had been three
weeks their guest, when the threatening
| storm burst. Around about him, on
| every side, Mr.. Arnold saw the houses,
which he had deemed solid as his own,
totter and fall. Each fall bore with it a
| portion of his own fair edifice. How
long might he hope to withstand such
| shocks. 1t needed but more blow,
and on one August day the blow fell.
Unless by the next morning, before
noon, he could command a certain sum,
he, too, would be swept away with the
tide-a bankrupt. just the amount
needed represented his wife's private
fortune, but to touch that never entered
his mind.
At least May was secured from future
want and he must leave her to build up
his shattered fortunes in a new land.
She had never loved him! He was sure
of that; and latterly-latterly, he had
begun to realize that he had had nc
right to tie her young life to his. Worn
and weary with these many thoughts,
he returned to his home. May greeted
him almost inditferently, only the next
moment to tur to young Crosby with
her most radiant smile.
Arnold's face paled. Yet what right
had he to murmurp he told himself
Had he not sworn to possess her at any
costp And was he not a ruined man!
Crosby, the p~enniless subaltern, as ht
had called him, would have done better
for her than that. When dinner wa.
! ended, he went to his library and closed
the door. For a time lie sat wrapped il
thought. Perhaps an hour had passed
when solitude grew unbearable.
He would rejoin his wife and theil
guest, he determined. Tomorrow
night-only tomorrow highland Ma,
his life he felt himself a coward! Blu
" was NSI LILO. 4hcl
neither knew nor suspected the truth
He rose and passed out into the draw
ing-room, whose windows opened or
the porch. His footsteps made n,
sound on the carpeted floor, and he hat
like a sob arrested his steps.
MAY, l must speak," said a voice h
recognized as belonging to his guest
..IN~ ro,, tlirly II hove boon thrao ,uoa1y
under this roof without discovering you
secret? You are not happy. You
laughter, your gaiety, is forced. VIVA
is wrong? Do you fear to confide il
me?"
| ..Wrong?" she answers, with tears i
: her vo ce. "An is wrong, Will. Wha
am l to my husband but a spoiled, pei
ted child? Look at him! Do you fai
. to see the change these last few week
have wrought him? Yet, each time
have striven to gain his confidence, h
has shut me out from it and his hear
He has sent me from him as he woul
a send a child to her dolls. He shower
gifts upon me, and fancies thus he buy
my happiness. Am l, indeed, so littl
a oma that thus he satisfies m,
woman's humor, my woman's heart
: And l love him so madly, Will, that t
know ! have no part or portion in h
r real life is killing me! Always h
has been my ideal, my hero! Do yo
y think l could have sympathized in yor
Y trouble, viii, if | had none of my own
l Often-often l have wished that all tn
$ splendor in which | live might be wipe
away, and that Dick and l shared
cottage, that [ might prove to him
was not a child, with new toys eve
2 needed to comfort me-"
Arnold waited to heal no more. tt
: scales had fallen from his eyes. Coz
. science-stricken, he crept back to h
n library, while only two words bur
t from his lips. They were at nee
n thanksgiving and a prayer.