Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-08-18
/ M AD CAP;
% R.
THE STORY OF A SIN.
BY HELEN B. HATHERS-

but it has been yours" said Mad
cap, as for moment the woman chung
to her as one to whom such clinging is
new and sweet. Nothing en- take
thai joy from yol; it has lain in YOUR
arr it has loved you; you have loved
L did love it," said the woman. al
most in whisper; sits little WAYS laid
fast hold on my heart though did nos
know 1t; as janet said, they came back
on me afterWard like a tul2 Of music.
that you don't heed much at the time,
put just drops into your mind bit by bit
afterward. but [ was proud. and
wouldn't let her see that | loved 1t. I'd
send her away for hours together that |
might take care of it myself; and it got
to know me, and would smile up in my
face just as if | was IS good as any
other mother; but when Janet asked It
she might take it to her home for bit,
let it CO."
She paused a moment, shuddered
away from Madcap, then went on again:
Il wrote to her that very night to come
back; but the days passed and she didn't
come, and | was too proud to go after
her TO fetch it, especially when any day
or hour now [ might hear Janet'S step
on the path, and one night at dark |
heard it and ran out
INK OI IL. SIZE CIlcu. llGI eyes
seeking Madcap's with despairing
hunger in their depths. "One moment
to have your child III your mind alice, as
you have always known it; for your
heart to leap up as at the sound Of its
coming-tO feel it but hands breadth
away, to run to it, and to be met with
empty arms and one little word-dedd!
Nothing warm, living, real, that you
could clasp to your breast, but name,
nOthing--a word behind which his
living body is hid-d2udi She took me
to grave and said it was his; dead
dead-but never went there again; it
was my living child that / remembered
that | Wanted-nOt my dead One!"
She covered her face with her hands
as at that moment a bird overhead COM
menCed to sing-and there are moments
when a snatch Of song viii paint to
poor wretch her misery in such cOlOrs
as neither feeling nor thought have ever
had power to paint it for her yet.
And was there no one to be kind to
your" cried Madcap, the mother-heart
in her thrObbng in passionate response
to this bereft Woman's misery. your
husband, even if he did not love it
some men do not love Children-COuld
not he comfort you?"
MY husband" repeated Hester,
spreading her pale face 4 thought
you knew have no husband" A
hard look Oyerspread her features, and
the shame i'm her eyes seemed to draw
a mOmenCary veil between the two
hearts That pity had 50 closely drawn
together.
A mOmant-nO mOre-and MadCap,
remembering only that here was one
who had been a mother and was child
less, leaned forward. and. stealing
gentle arm round that bowed neck, kiss
ed the poor lost woman on the cheek
with Il kiss Us Warn-a5 real, as though
in blood, heart, and life they had been
sisters indeed.
For a moment Hester did not speak;
then, selzng Maicap'S hand, she bowed
her head upon it, and burst into the
first tears she had shed for yearS-such
tears as spring from that fountain
''whOse home and source is the bosom
of cod"
Are there many in the world like
YOU" she said, looking up. ''If so, it
is no wonder men leave women like
me-
Try to tell me, : sad Madcap gently;
s'you have suffered so much. God will
forgive YOU"
Il loved him, said Hesterin awhis-
per; "he didn't deceive me;he never said
that he would marry me-"
She pressed her hand against the
throat, whose workings for awhile pre-
vented speech, then cried out as one
from whose crushed hearta spark Of re-
belliOn is painfully struck
''GOd sells us love at the price of cruel
tortures; men, the world, chance, ma
ture-all are against us, and for each
happy hour we pay with anguiSh-and
was happy-Id sin and suffer it all
over again to be as happy as was then;
though did not even know if the name
/ called him by was his own, or where
he went when he left me alone, as he
often did. Sometimes it would come
to me, like the grip of cold hand on
my heart, that one day he would kiss
me for the last time, and | not know it
till after. He'd been gone from me a
month, the longest time he'd ever
stopped away, and I'd just made up my
mind to tell him something I'd known
q long time, but feared to tell him, for
he hated anything that interfered with
my love for him, when [ heard his step,
and my heart dried up in my bosom, for
something told me that he'd come to
say Just one wOrd-GOOd-by. And he
said it; standing before me with a look
that went past me, for he saw only the
other woman beyOnd-he spoke of the
money he had settled on me-all as if |
We're miles away. | who had been so
near to him as it might be yesterday.
And however honest she might be, she
could be no more honest than | was
when he met me tirSt-the world might
count me bad, but he knew better than
that. and she could love him no more
faithfully than | did. | think the one
poor kiss thai coveted, but was too
proud to beg for, wouldn't have harmed
her if she had been as good a woman as
you are, and my baby was born upon
his fathers wedding day"
And did he know" cried Madcap,
her heart on fire with pity for the wo-
man. with condemnation for the man.
"Who was to tell him?" said Hester
''My father never knew with whom
had fed, nor did Janet, my foster. sis
ter. To her-When she came at my
summons | told nothing, fearing that
her wild love for me would impel her tC
some lawless deed of vengeance upon
him, and it did, only the punishment
fell upon me.
And 50 he never knew" said Mad
cap, looking straight before her; land
perhaps she believes him to be good, anC
loves him.
Men like him are always loved,
said Hester. Il heard of her once. She
was young-httle more than child.
think she must be something like you
and her hair had sunbeamS in it, they
said"
You are better than am" criel
Madcap. her hands clasped tightly to
geJher, her gray eyes flashing. .
should hate her; think / should wisl