Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1891-06-17
STRANDED"


Glove me2 Oh, no, Jack! If you did
you wouldn't oppose what is for my highest
interest. You wouldn't want me to waste
the best years Of my life drudging among
which can lift me to som ething better. No,
Jack, you don't love me; for love is unsslfish,
and you think only of yourself
Jack Clavering-a strong limbed, Saxon
haired young fellow-turned to the window,
and for little while gazed in silence upon
the summer world outside.
But he saw neither the blne sky nor the
green earth. He did not hear the south
wind whispering among the budding lilacs,
| nor the robins singing in the apple trees
pink with bloom.
Those honest blue eyes were blind with
tears wrung from the bitterness Of his spoil
ed and cheated young manhood.
The words of his needless, ambitious
young wife had stabbed him to the heart.
"You think only of yourself?o
She-his adored Kate-could say that
when he would have laid down his life for
her sake!
He turned presently.
Hero as he was, he had concealed every
sign Of what was warning within him.
81 will not oppose you, Kate, if you are
really in earnest about the matter. But it
will make great changein our rlives! Have
you thought of thatr he asked her.
ST have thought of everything" she an
swered eagerly. OF course we must sell
this odious little house and lot, and you can
transfer your business to the city while I
am studying. And afterward. when shall
be established on the stage, you will go with
me wherever l go.''
"The life wouldn't suit me, he said. sIf
you are determined upon a career as an &C
tress yoa must get along without me al O.
gether. You will go the way you have
chosen, my Kate, and I will go mine"
For moment she looked grisved and
reluctant.
But the new ambition was stronger than
the other love, and such separation did
not seem so terrible after all.
She went to him and put her arms around
his neck.
''But the parting will be without anger,
and it will not be for always?" she asked
him.
"We part without anger, certainly" was
his reply.
And 90 it was settled.
And in a few weeks Kate had begun her
new life in the city and Jack was journey
ing westward, whittier he scarcely knew
and hardly cared.
The curtain had rolled down for the last
time. The play was over.
There had been no applause, no recalls.
The company had played that night to a
nearly empty house.
1t had been the same might after night,
in town after town, and city after city.
In rose satin and filr lace, glitter Of
jewels, the worth of VIII would not have
purchased her nights odging, the star
swept her shining court train across the
stage On her way to her dressing room.
One of her companions met her in the
wings. The girl was crying Historically.
ooh, Kate" she sobbed. 'that wretch
has gone! He has disposed of everything
he could, and he has gone and lefs us to
shirk for ourselves"
"You don't mean the manager?" said
Kate, aghast.
81 just do mean the manager, the heart-
less scamp! He has borrowed money on
the stage properties-just enough to take
the instant he could get the receipts in his
hands tonight. And here we are in this
horrid place without SO much as dollar
among US ell."
It was all too true. Their manager had
forsaken them, leaving the unfortunate
company stranded in that remote little
western town.
While leaving the theater, in the excite
ment Kate happened somehow to become
separated from her companions.
She walked on, thinking some of them
would oyertake her. And presently she
stopped on a bridge spanning a narrow
stream which flowed in sluggish current
through the rambling little city.
She had stood there long time waiting,
gazing down into the dark rolling water
and absorbed with her despondent thoughts,
before it occurred to her that the other must
have preceded her from the theater build
iEg.
And there was little probability that any
of them would come back to search for her.
But what did it matter?
1t was calamity in which each one must
help berself or himself.
And doubtless they had ali by nov settled
themselves somewhere for the night, at
least.
They bad all OF them, even the little
sou5iette who had sobbed so dsconsolately,
been members of the profession longer than
she.
shifts and eypederte. And most of then,
had experienced exactly the same predica.
ment before.
Now, in her distress and perplexities,
Kate concluded that they had forgotten ali
about her.
"1here isn't one of them who cares
enough for me- to miss me, to wonder what
I will do, or what will become of me-" she
| thought, as she stood the.e on the bridge
alone in the night gloom. "And this Is the
| career | once fancied so full of pleasure
This is the end of my dazzling hopes, my
lofty anbitions2 Well, to night is but the
emblem of it all! In love, in e7ervthiue
which makes ones life sweet and blessed. |
am indeed-stranded.'
Perhaps it was only natural in such a
time that she should recall her olden home
How pretty it was, bow dear, that simple
little cottage in the quiet village!
The old apple trees where tbs robins useG
to sing 50 rotously must now be pink with
bloom.
| Aud the peach tree!-how beautiful it wat
in blossom when the petals used to fall il
showers against her tiny bay windowl
Had the new owners driven the Swallows
away from the eaves?-the wren from her
nest in the moldAring stem of the dead and
branchless locust?
Perhaps they had pulled down the dear
little hooss altogsther and erecsed some
grandsr structure in lis stesds
suduenly she stretched out ber arms
yeatnIngiy. She lifted her sad face to thf
cold, unansweriug stars
But, oh!'' she murmured, 'sif could
only rest my tired head beneath that dear
old roof tonight think | could die con
tent" es'
a listless, uncertain tread upon the
planks of the bridge at that moment dis.
tracted her thoughts and aroused her to the
imprudence of her position.
| She must NOT remain fhoro Ch. -. q,