Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1886-04-03
Have You LEFT your


that moor could not be endured"
tsAIy sister is mistaken" said Ken !
meth; 81 left for other reasons and did /
not particularly like coming away from
my solitude"
ave viii teach You the pleasures Of
society" Mrs. Vernay cried Solitude
is horrible. Man was not made to i've
alone" III
not tell.
Then Grace came, asking Mrs. Yer
nay to write In her birthday book. ana
the beauty inscribed ''Lilly Vernay' IN
q clear beautiful writing, matchiess as
herself.
Kenneth read it over Gracie's shoulder.
"Your name is Lilith," he said to Mrs.
WHO told you thatg' she asked, and
he replied:
PLANTATION.
"Lilithl horridr' murmurod Grace, as,
with Frank, Mrs. Vernay moved toward
the piano.
II think It's pretty; why hOrridf''
Maria asked.
aDo Won know about Iiith p herfEend
replied. "She was Adams first wife,
and for transgression was turned out Of
Paradise. She Is the enemy OF all little
children. and when Jewish babies are
born the nurses write, 'Liith, avauntP
against the wall, lest she should come
| and kill the child. And tradition says
/ that she still haunts the world as a beau
| tifuI woman, who entices men to marry
/ her, and then strangles them IN her
golden hair"
"a tradition" said I, something ike
/ the legends Of the Greek LAMA"
'sHow do you know that there Is not
/ truth in traditions and folly in rejecting
them?" Kenneth asked
Meanwhile Mrs. Venay was singing
song after song, and with every note
stealing away bit OF Franks heart.
/ And her music won Kenneth to her side,
| for he took his bIother's place at the
piano, and stood there turning over her
pages-I believe in all the wrong places,
| for he looked more In her face than at
the music.
I confess that in those days I was
vexed with Kenneth, for he seemed to
| have taken a sudden and ineXpicable
| plunge into the society which a few
months previously he had abjured for
ever. There seemed only one explana-
tiOn-his ileal life had proved dull and
irksome. Everywhere met him, chiefly
with Mrs. Vernay; often Frank was with
them, a -begone, undesired third par
| ty. And the girls declared that it was a
shame Kenneth. who rallied against mar
rage, should come and steal her away
/ from his brother.
A few women there were who dishked
Mrs. Vernay. Ny wife was one OF them,
and well enough we all knew the reason.
For when, with maternal pride, she one
/ day showed of the children to the pretty
widow, Mrs. Vernay turned from them
with a cold look Of disgust, saying, 81
| detest children" An insult no mother
/ could forgive. THAT unnatural woman, F"
my wife henceforth called her.
How lovely she looked at the Christ
mas ball, when, radiant with delight, she
| crossed the room to say to me: Look at
| the progress Of nay conversion. Here is
| Hermit Kenneth in this frivolous scene -
II wish was at the chapel Kenneth
himself remarked; and certainly no man
looked 80 unsuited to a ball room. He
had grown pale and thin during his soil
tary life, and wore a thoughtful air
never before had noticed IN him.
''Why on earth don't you go back ?''
said I. Nothing has surprised me more
than your appearance here"
81 knew it would be So" he answered.
al had to come"
Then in that ineOngruous place he be-
gan telling me his experiences in that
wild solitude.
al began to think my life there useless
a mere indulgence Of my own tastes.
read and thought, but the mysteries Of
life seemed as unfathOmable as ever
One evening I felt myself no longer
alone. 1 saw nothing, I heard nothing
yet I absorbed this command into my
] being: Go into the world, for there is q
life you must save, a demon you must
J vanquish, and the life you have led
] has given you power to fight am
conquer. The world viii mock and YOul
J friends misunderstood you, but heed
them not. By this token know both
destroyer and destroyed Then across
the door Of my room glided a glittering
snake, unlike anything we see upon En-
, glish mOors. And I, Obeying the CON-
mand, came here to find the destroyer"
At that moment he trembled, touched
, my arm, and bid me look across the room
There stood Frank and Mrs. Vernay-
she with the jeweled snake twisted In he1
+ hair, he with another, a bracelet Of hers
clasped around his wrists; some Joke had
passed between them, and she had slipped
} it ON.
"AIy dear Kenneth, these are fancies
nothing but fancies," I said; for his man
} ner alarmed me. "You can't think that
anything more dangerous than a boyish
love affair can result from Franks friend
ship with Mrs. Venay.".
iLihthr' was all he said.
''Ten me how did you guess her
} nameY'
at came to me as that command came,
when I saw her write, he replied. Then
crossing the room he asked the beauty
to dance, taking her away from Frank
I believe bets passed between the men
at the Touemouth Clubs as to which OF
the brothers would marry beautiful Mrs.
Vemay. L confess I wondered myself
whether Kenneth would relinquish his
noble schemes and marry ike any other
ordinary mortal I rarely saw him with
ont Mrs. Venay. He rode with her,
drove with her, spent long hours IN her
pretty drawing room, and walked with
her on the esplanade. I asked him what
was coming from all this, and had for re-
ply: 'If 1 don't marry her Frank WHIP
an answer which at the first time
struck me as strange.
And one day Frank came to my wife
to pour into her sympathetic ears wild,
fierce rawlings against his brother. Why
had Kenneth talked all that nonsense
|rH -ne L.