Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-06-20

the fair woman ne had loved. AS he gazed,
his doubts. his misery, overcame him. His
remorse il that weak moment mastering his
reason. he told himself that one plunge
should end it all.
But what was it that the current was
bearing toward him, like dead leaf rejected
by the torrent. Close to the bank it was
now, almost within his reach Even as it
appeared it began to disappear, sinking
again under the water on the bosom of
which it had just risen. The body of his
wife, He swan out a few strokes, caught
the inert figure as it sank, and with some
difficulty got ashore with his burden. Cold
as stone and still she lay. as he bent over
her, calling TO her.
A mans rough voice called out suddenly
close to his ear.
lis she done forl Let me see. Tain't the
first case of drownding or half-drowning as
I've seenI'
1t was waterman with lantern. He
had heard cries, and with an eye to business
had got into the private grounds which at
this point ran down to the river. He at
once set about trying to restore conscious
ness to the inanimate woman, at the same
time addressing to the anxious husband
such rough consolatio on as he deemed ap-
propriate.
faint pleasant death to die, though
they do say it's a easy one. A drowned
corpse never makes pretty corpse, TO my
mind"
Edward Moxon did not even hear him. As
he bent over his wife's body, the little
locket which hung with the tassel at the end
of her watch chain caught his eye. He
opened it with shaking fingers. The portrait
was his own.
In moment he understood the trick she
had played him; he himself was the mar
ried man" she had ''gone off with that very
day. She was innocent of any greater sin than
bitterness of heart at his desertion, which
proved conclusively that she still loved him.
He swore at that moment a solemn oath
that if she should be restored to him he
would cherish her, bear with her weakness
as he had never done before. Then, with
anxiety which blanched his lips and seemed
to gnaw his very heart, he waited. When
he had borne minutes of suspense, which he
took for hours, the waterman nodded at
him, and announced briefly:
''She's coming to-"
A few minutes more and Ida recognized
her husband. With weak, faltering arms
she chung to him, whispering:
Forgive me. 1t was all a trick. wanted
to punish you-for leaving me-so
coldly. And nearly drowned US both
Butt will be so good, so sweet; only
don't leave me again"
'Not if you make me walk over red hot
plowshares," whispered he, huskily.
AS they went back to town Ida explained
how she had plotted with Jimmy Constable
to play him this trick; how she had waited
at the hotel at Sunbury and borrowed Miss
Halliwelrs hat, to the intense amusement
of that frivolous young lady, who had done
her best to help the disguise, which, under
cover of the darkness and Edwards ABSORB
ton, had proved so effective.
When Jimmy Constable was taxed with
his share in the affair, his excuse was char
acteristic.
my dear boy" he said, ''ycu had grown
so Internally disagreeable that l thought
you deserved to have your wife back again"
But the misogynist had overreached him
self; for Edward Moxon and his wife had
learned lesson by which they proited to
the end of their lives.-Florence Warden,
in Chicago Inter Ocean.