Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-10-24

- 1880
Esley gently took him by the arm
and would have drawn him away. but
suddenly Dock partly raised himself
with faint smile. and feebly laid his
thin hand on Turtles dishevelled
head.
1t wandered lower till it rested on
the boys neck and was joined there
by his other hand.
The two boys faces met in one long
kiss made sacred by the shadow of an
eternal parting. aud the glory of a love
stronger than death
gether out of a squalid block of build
ings representing the homes of a hun
dred Or so of her Majesty's subjects.
''Will you go to see him now?" said
Esley. gently.
Tears were rolling down the face of
the great actress. whose name was
figuring on all the boardings and
walls in London, whose career was the
object of so much adulation and pas
sionate envy to thousands.
'.How can ever forgive myself"
she murmured, brokenly. ITO think
of his suffering all these years. while /
to think-yes, let me go now, if it is
not too late.''
They took a cab and were driven rap
idly away from the noisome slums, in
to which they had penetrated for the
first time.
Joyce's history was sad enough. She
had run away from home in her early
girlhood and made marriage with an
actor. which broke her parents hearts.
Taking to the life of a strolling
player herself she found the baby soon
born to the young couple practical
difficulty. which could only be solved
one way: by parting from it as soon as
possible.
The little creature was accordingly
confided to the care of woman at
whose country lodgings Joyce and her
husband had stayed during one of their
provincial engagements with a touring
company of actors.
The actress, like many others in the
same position, stif1ed her mothers
love with the ambition which (unfor-
tunately for her, perhaps) met with
remarkable success.
She and her husband accepted an
Australian engagement for three years.
and left England.
A year later news arrived from the
baby's foster-mother reporting it's
death. A year later still found Joyce
a widow at twenty. alone in the world.
On her return to England she made
a marked success, and from that time
mounted steadily until she reached the
summit of her youthful ambition. Lon
don went mad over the beautiful
woman. who could move to tears or
laughter with such unerring power
and infinite charm.
Her marriage with well-knOwn
author, and her unsullied reputation,
gave her an entrance into the 'tgreat
world that talent only does not al
ways give. There were few women in
London, perhaps, whose lot seemed
more brilliantly enviable than hers
this day when the flaming posters an
nounced her s'benefit'' at the Eleusis
Theater in the part which was the
browning glory of all her repertory.
Yet. as she drove through the noisy
streets with Esley, the face that thou
sands loved was convulsed with re-
morseful pain for the sake of little
newspaper boy dying in the ward of a
hospital. in the savage wilderness
men proudly call 1.-THE great metrop-
oils.
A ragged boy brushed against Esley
and his companion as they assembled
the stone staircas of the hospital.
els that you, ladP"
It was Turtle, indeed, but he burst
away from the Colonel's hand, with
something between a sob and a curse.
heavy. uncertain steps
Dock was lying with his arms at his
sides, and his brown eyes shut.
What they see. no man can say, for
the ready tongue is silent and reveals
nothing, and the sweet mouth is
sealed past all conjuring into speech
or any answering smile.
The hands on the coverlet are SO
thin that if you held them up to the
sunlight you might almost see through
them; but for all. they are held
dSdluSG d WOulStu . DrSStSt, Gu0y TcIudlu
as cold as ice. and the warmth of pas
sionate love comes to them all too
late.
They and the busy little brain have
done their share of work in this
| world; their ceaseless toll and activi-
ty meet as deep reward of rest as ever
the careworn statesman under his
Abbey monument. His joys and fears
and hopes are over; love has said its
last word to the child that never knew
| a mothers kiss. till now it comes-too
late.
His world has been outside the ken
of the woman. who can only touch
what was a moment ago the habitation
of the spirit. once part of her own.
| now gone beyond her reach forever.
Nothing can touch him further. y
1t was the actress last night upon
| the stage-her triumph and her ever
| lasting farewell to all pos sible tri-
| umphs yet to come.
She never revealed the reason. II
| was a woman's expiration for long
wears of wrong