San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-11-18
CHAPTER LII.

Paul Waldron had won the girl he loved;
for few weeks he was perfectly happy,
and then clouds, light as the breath of the
summer wind, came over his sky.
He thought his forest home so beautiful.
He was so content with it that he won
dered his wife was not the same She was
always asking him about the great world,
longing to be in the midst of it, and he
could not understand her.
81 have no desire for life, Ismay, outside
my own home. Why are you ever wishing
for change.
He was too earnest even to understand
her lighter nature; her wonderful beauty
had so completely charmed him that he
could not see her deficiencies of character.
Her discomfort troubled him: it seemed to
him want of love-and yet she must, she
did love him.
They had been married year when
their little child was born, and Paul
thought Ismay would grow more content
then. She loved the child very dearly, but
not with the passionate devotion some
mothers give to their children. She was
not a heroine, she would never have been
martyr; but she was wondrously lovely,
gifted with marvellous grace, and Paul
Waldron loved her.
lsmay Waldron was far from faultless.
She was vain of her own loneliness.
She longed with the whole strength OF
her soul for wealth. She envied those who
were rich and powerful. She was worldly
in her way, ambitious, and always craving
for one thing-riches. Yet she was anna
BILE and gentle, with a sweet caressing
charming.
She was vain of her own beauty She
would look at her face in the mirror and
say to herself;
Mrs. Schotield is not one half so fair,
yet she is The wife of rich squire, and
wears Jewels and satinS They tell ms
some of the greatest ladies in the land are
plain of face. Yet beauty is a power. II
won PauPs love for me-what would 1t
not win for me If went into the world
where men pay such homage to it?"
The little cottage that Paul had taken
such pains to make beautiful and pleasant
seemed so Insignificant in her eyes. She
disliked the daily duties that should have
been so welcome to her.
II do wish, Paul, that had servant to
do this for me-" she would say
And then Paul, against his better judg-
ment, found servant to relieve her of the
greatest part of her work. Perhaps that
was one of the most unfortunate things he
could have done. No one can be really
unhappy or discontinued who is constant
ly employed. Ismay had ample time now
for her dreams and fancies.
Yet, despite all, she loved Paul, and she
valued his love. She appreciated his en-
tire devotion. "If l were to ask him to
give me his life," she said to herself, with
a complacent smile, "he would do it."
She mad yet to learn that men of Paul
Waldron's stamp held many things dearer
than life
Their child grew and throVe. The beau
tiful summer came round; the world was
all fair and bright, the flowers were in
bloom, and the birds singing gayly in the
trees. There were times when the young
man forgot the light shadow on his home,
forgot that his beautiful wife was vain and
forgot everything except the
heaven of beauty around him, and the
heaven that shone in her face; and then
he wOnde ed at his own happiness, and
was lost when he tried to thank Heaven
for it.
One night he came home, looking so I'M
usually pleased that Ismay asked him the ,
cause.