San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-10-08

summer breeze HAD seaffefed some OF her
papers about the floor. AS Mr. Coilingwood
soooped to gather up the flying sheets his
eve was caught by a closely written page Of
kG.lleen's pretty writing. All things were
common property now, and his eye rested on
the page, at first just for the pleasure of see
ing her hand again, then in awakened curl
osity, then in utter bewilderment.
The letter was without formal commence
ment, and ran thus:
1T would be wiser and better not to write
this at all, but cannot any longer bear the
pain of knowing that the news Of my mar
riage will find you wholly unprepared.
Max, you will say can never have loved
you; and, if it will spare one useless pang of
regret, it is well you should think so. Yet /
did speak the truth when | told you no
other could ever be to me what you were.
| know spoke truth by the very difficulty
Of forgetting now that it is sin to remember.
But was friendless and penniless, and long
years must have gone by before we could
even have dreamed Of marriage. You con-
fesSed it yourself How was to live through
these yearsi Some women, no doubt, would
have b9en strong enough to fight the world
alone and wait; but it was not in me. was
weak and frightened; and when good, gen.
erous man offered me his hand and home
resolved to forget the past and the foolish
promises | had given. Blame me as little as
you can, Max, or, still better, forget me alto
gether. am not altogether unhappy. Ny
husband is very kind and good to me, and
by and by hope to love him as he deserves.
Good-by, Max! May you one day win the
love of better woman than can ever be-"
The letter fell from Mr.. Collingwood's I'M
nerved hand, fluttering quietly away again
beneath the table as he left the room, and
slowly, in half dazed fashion, made his way
to quiet nook in the garden, where kath-
leen and he had spent many happy hour
together.
The discovery was terrible blow to him.
Like many men who had married rather late
in life he had found special charm in the
idea that the very first emotions of his young
wife's heart had been awakened by his own
wooing. A hundred times he had exultingly
said to himself, as his eyes rested on her fair
girlish facs-'She Is all my own! No man
before RE could boast Of ons Nniest corner OF
her heart! Never has she even dreamed of
any other love than miner And he had
been so certain, too, that she stood on a Pc
destal of unworldliness which raised her far
above the possibility Of mercenary thought
or motive! 1t was very bitter to awake
from his sweet dream to find that, after all,
he had been married for home; and for a
little while his wrath ran high against the
woman who had deceived him. Thoughts of
his sisters repeated warnings crowded upon
his mind IN unwelcome number. Why had
he not needed them morel
DIT i,,b -, hnla 70 hoe hn ,tra
been able to keep his wrath at boiling point
through two consecutive hours, and before
the last Of the cigars in his case had gone
the way Of all tobacco, he was hard at work
trying to frame excuses for Kathleen So
young, so lovely, so gentle-was it any won
der she had shrunk from life of toll and
dependence which lay before her through the
years Of waitingl This MAX" too, who was
he after all, that she should sacrifice herself
for his sakel Some staggering, beer quatf-
ing German student, who' had sung senti-
mental "Standchen" under her window by
night and filled her school girl head with
romantic rubbish-rubbiSh which, however,
even now stood in the way of her returning
the love Of an honest man. How willingly
would he have taught that fellow what
sound British horse whipping meant!
When Kathleen at length returned from
her walk, the squire had thought out his
future plan of action to his own entire salts
faction, and was prepared to meet his wife
with calmness, if not with cheerfulness.
On sunny afternoon, some six wee"s later
in the year, Mr.. Collingwood was lying on
his back under tree in the chestnut forest
which clothes the lower slopes of the Dent de
Morcles. Below, on the right, lay the little
town Of Rux, and in the distance beyond
that the cleaning waters of Lake Leman.
To the left stretched the broad valley Of the
Rhone, rich in vineyards and orchards, with
the Glacier du TRENT rising into the sky for
a background. The turbid waters of the
Rhone hurried along their channel almost at
his feet, ald on the other side of the valley
rose the cleaning peaks and pinnacles of the
Dent du Midi.
All this Mr.. Colliugwood might have seen
from ono Of the forest clearings only
few hundreds yards from where he lay. But
he seemed to care for none of these things.
He lay on the close, soft turf, peculiar TO the
chestnut woods, gazing up into the great tree
overhead with troubled cloud on his honest
face.
After all, what else could l have doneg'
he muttered half alond at last, as though in
hopes that his perple1ing thoughts might
grow clearer by giving them utterance. ITO
a woman who had just written another man
such a letter as that, any great demonstra-
ton of affection. even from husband, could
be nothing but annoyance. | could see it
bored her-why else did she grow so quiet
and odd at Murren? At first, no doubt, the
very novelty of the thing carried her along
all right, but as that wore off she began to
feel the chain drag a bit So | thought I'd
keep more in the background for time