The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1888-08-10

. with Greta in It.
She was silent nIl the way home. Sh
sought her room at once, and bnde Greta u
leave her alone. She sat before her miro
: and regarded the reflection of rfaee therein
. IL was q beautiful face, 81 pure woman face
And that other woman had as much rs salt
!, she was not fit to be the wife of her soni
. The man she loved did NOT care for her
and she had promised another man to be hi
wifel She had been used to depict grief ans
agony on the stage; now she called the sui
ferings of art trivial, when she thought o
those of nature. She felt thoroughly alone
n homeless, friendless c~reature, whose vii
had raised her to where she was, and whose
love told her that she had toiled in vain. She
contemplated her life, its p~rivations, its
struggles, until there had come into it great
light and warmth-her love for the Ameri
can. And the light and warmth had been as
false to her as any represented on the stage
And she must be as worthless, az far beyond
the pale of worthy society as that woman
has let her feel that she was, when she could
accept the good and true Baron Volrath for
her unloved husband. Pride, wounded ten.
derness, had urged her to make IA victim of u
g~uiltless man. What had her life done foI
her when it had all ended in this disma'
failure? She had befriended many, the poor
blessed her, she was a rising artist, a woman
with ripening intellect; and yet at this hour
she was the meanest, most Inundated crea
ture she could imagine. Illuminated! She
started and turned CHASTITY; she had been
SALES.--FUTURE was q further humiliation fol-
her-she must set at rest the troubled minc
of the man who loved her not. Yet why
should she?-why should she not let him
have his share of suffering?
so, God" she thought, but | love him.
Dare | tell him that | hungered for a sight OF
him? that | passed by his place of business
in last evenings dusk and saw him in there1
that, insane as | am at this moment / en-.
4a.AI III H. s-aA g.. - .An. l--I,
at him? that once inside | realized my posi-.
ton, and calling my art into requisitionl be-
came an old woman before him and asked for
u drug; that it was to me he gave the poi
son which has caused him so much anxiety?
| might tell him this tonight; | shall ba
away before he knows it; the glamour | have
thrown over him will have paled, and he will
know that | am nothing to him. But he
must not say | caused n possible death"
She t1ercely rang the bell on her dressing
table.
"Greta," she said, "the e~arriage?"
at is waiting, fraulein, to take us to the
station"
First | must write q letter. You shall post
it while | put on my hat.
She sat down and wrote the note to Clark
which should relieve his mind of all anxiety
over his mistake of the evening before. But
she did not tell him of the feeling which aetu-
ated her going into his shop, she could not
tell him that she loved the man who was on
ly infatuated with her as an artistic, the man
whom she had in her 'toils."
She stamped the letter and gave 1T to her
maid to post.
Then Fraulein Lilli put on the gown she
had worn last evening when she had gone out
in the dusk. Slipping her hand in the pocket
she came upon the small package Clark had
given her when she asked for the bismuth.
She went over to the fireplace, and unfolding
the paper looked down on the little heap OF
white dust, preparatory to throwing it into
the flame.
Ali the tender days when she had thought
that she was loved as she loved!-the days
when she deemed she had found u heart that
throbbed responsive to hers, and looked into
aman's eyes seeing more there than tiattery
and ~misknowledge of the cravings of her
hungry soul. She was called a coquette; the
~1attery of the world forced her to assume the
character it assigned to her. But had she
coquetted with this man? No, no, % thou
sand times no. And yet his mother as much
as told her that he regarded her only as the
rest did. There arose before her possibilities
of a future will him, of a future without him,
till she felt that she grew wild.
How long shestoOd thus sLedid not know.
Suddenly she heard q mans voice in the
adjoining drawing room. Almost with u
shrek she recOgniZedIt-the Baron EOlrath's;
he must have started to find her as soon as
he had received her letter. And-what! An
other voice in the drawing roOm-a second
mans voice-the voice of the man she lOvedl
FOr Clark had been overwhelmed by her
letter, telling him of her acceptance of the
baron; all that his mother had said concern
ing her was proved true. And he had seen in
her love for himself if ever IL woman let aman
see her love for him! 1t had all been simula-
ton, art, then.
He took theletter to his mother. Forgive
me-" he said. You will understand when
.yon have read this"
She could say not a word; she could only
carry the letter into the privacy of her own
room and have heragOny beyond the sight Oh
humanity.
Clark was well nigh crazed that day, ha.
was jeered at for the excitement he. had
raised i'll the city, and people were doubtful
if there had been an elderly woman who
wanted a small quantity of bismuth and
instead, received a deadly poison. He
got through the day, busy with the author.
tiles and the crowds around his shop. And
all the day there was but one absorbing
thOught-Lilli. When the night came hs
thought of her in the theater, her last ap
a triumph. When it was about
time for the performance to be over he left for
the house. False as she might be, he loved
her-he must look upon her just once more
before she left him forever. But the theateI
dark when he got there; he could not sec
go to her carriage surrounded by the
youth of Munich.
AA~A u - aiI' LAAA- III Gun ~ ~ Y
house, upbraid her for all her falsity TO him.
He tore along the street in which was her
residence. Greta was coming down the
steps.
Herr Clark" she cried, al was about to
post this letter for you"
A letter, He snatched it from the girl. tore
it open and read it in the light from the hall.
Lilli had not written why she had not come
to his shop, but he was Il lover. and he read
between the lines-he read all that she had
thought and had not put down in her com
TO him.. She loved him,
He rushed up the stairs to the drawing
room.
"Lilli, Lilli," he cried, rapturously, "Lini,
A gentleman confronted him. "You are
speaking of my betrothed wife, sir he said.
lark with clenched fist locke at him.
You lie" he Numbered The baron strobe
Up to him. At this moment the door of the
lressing room opened and the actress with "A
like marble stood on the Threshold.
"Lilli, my loved one" said the baron, and
vent to her and saluted her.
For a moment Clark gazed stupidity at the
oair, and then without having said a word
o her went from the room, from the house,
ceiling like q drunken man.
Gomez said LiIli. We shall be late for
he train. Gomez
But that MANI queriad the baron.
"The American druggist who has made
lunich laugh to-day" answered she. II
lave frequently met him; he came presum-
Ibly to bid me adieul'
Il am glad" soberly returned the baron,
that public life viii soon be over fo- you
Come she said.
In the train she shiyered as though from
old. The baron wrapped a rug around her.
Then she was drOwsy.
Lean thy head upon my shoulder" he
aid.
She would have refused 10 DO so, but he
ROW bar pra-tv head dTu-D RI his .rr
You have worked to hard. he said lean
ag tenderly over her. But now you VIII
con be at home aad at rest
Yes" she returned, and closed her eyes,