The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-09-09


cent marital respect she might have
made an excellent wife; treated quite
the reverse of that, she had turned wife
hood into a travesty. The alirnent of
frivolity on which she fed had aug
mented her natural feebleness of char
acter. She was like a child foraging in
a box of sugar plums, which can be
taken from it only with tragic shrieks
and tears. Alonzo dreaded something
of this sort now. And yet the box of
sugar plums had to be taken away.
| There was no help for it.
81 always want to mean pleasant
things when / talk with you, Kitty"
her brother now replied. II only wish
that could always mean to say them"
''You don't always try" she pouted,
not at all comprehending him. Just
| look how other women behave. I'd
have you understand that l consider
myself the pink of discretion"
''You should liken yourself to lily,
my dear, and not pink. Like the
lilies of the field, you toll not, neither
do you spin. But I'm afraid, Kitty,
your-your vacation is over"
!
ing her brows, staring at him, for the
first time perceiving that his face was
colorless and that there were drawn
| lines near his lips. But still no real
suspicion of the truth came TO her. "Oh!
| dear" she exclaimed, you're going to
/ lecture mel You've heard something
| horrid about me and you've believed it. :"
Alonzo smiled sadly, and for mo
ment lowered his look. 1--WE heard
something horrid about both of u.s. he
said land I'm compelled to let you
| know what it is" Then, amid silence,
he lifted his eyes, and soon added: at
! concerns our money. There's been a
! great loss!''
"a great loss?" was her cry, as she
1 started up. when? Where? How?
Do you mean that any of my money has
| gomez
Yes and as she again reseated her
self. agitatcd and frowning. he pursued:
kitty, what will you do when you've
! heard the entire truth. since you deport
yourself like this on the mere threshold
of it?' He at once proceeded to tell her
the entire truth, and some time before
he had ended she was almost in straits
/ for breath
'Oh! Lonz." she at length gasped.
IL can't think of myself as poor! It's
too CHASTITY, Don't you believe there'll
be anything left?''
There's always something left in
these hideous affairs" Alonzo answered.
Its like shipwreck-some kind of
rubbish or another is sure to get washed
ashore. I'm sorry for you, Kitty
awfully SO. But the thing has got to be
borne"
Borne" she almost shouted. IL
can't bear it, and I won't! Poor! ugh.
l loathe poverty
Most people do
''Ohl that vile Chichester. 1 always
did detest himl He was commonness
itself. with his twang. and his diamonds,
and his negro coachman.
II quite agree with YOU
Gle should never have been allowed
/ in the firm. raved the sister of Alonzo
/ And then her hippancy broke through
/ her despair in ludicrous contrast to it.
/ He didn't only have a negro cOachman,
/ hut once met him at Saratoga in the
morning with a white evening necktie."
And he has ended criminally, as
might have been expected"
''Oh, you joke about it." moaned Mrs.
/ Van SantvOord, bursting into tempest
uous tears. you'd joke at the can
mons mouth
That would depend upon what the
cannon's mouth happened to be saying.
But. Kitty, look here: Phil
osophy in these cases can't but prove
the wisest course
philosophy! POOH" She had jumped
up from her chair and began an excited
promenade, pausing and turning every
few. seconds with a swish of her silllen
skirt philosophy can't pay ones
tradespeople for one! To be poor is to
be low and contemplate. Oh, you
needn't talk! l know the pettiness and
nastiness of an empty purse! See here,
Lonzr' and she suddenly shot up to his
side and seized a lapel of his coat with
trembling hand. Il shall so mad
know shall! don't mean that it will
break my heart, no doubt Hector did
that, long ago. and I've been living on
with the two pieces humping one
against another in my E-east and per-
haps making me the restless, feverish
creature am But if it doesn't break
my heart it will break my brain" She
snatched her hand away from him as he
| tried to take it, and then stopped her
head while pressing a palm against
either temple. At the same moment
she gave vent to shrill, hysteric laugh.
| Alonzo caught her in his arms and al
most carried her to a lounge. 1t was
not till a good hour later that he ac-
COMMANDED her home in his own car
riage.
Her exhibition of terrified weakness
had not, after all, struck him as strange.
/ 1t was just what might have been ex-
! pected of a woman to>whom the mere
materialism of life had grown its dear
est aim. its hardest fundament. Hero
ism. nerve, resignation, acceptance Of
unforeseen i'll. was not To be antici-
pated from such as she. And there
were so many, he reflected, exactly like
her. The very spinal cord of their femi-
| nine dignity and self-reliance was pride
| in the plethora of their pOclletbooks.
Thank God" he thought, while his
| sisters faint sobs broke above the rum
bling wheels of the chill, dark car
riage. my kathleen is made OF sterner
and better stuff
The Van Santvoords had lately gone
into a spacious house on Fifth avenue,
within almost a stone throw, of the
park. Kitty had grand ideas of the
way one should live now, when ones
! income permitted-and hers had certain
| " challenged extravaganza. But it was
| zrrt,-ara rrancn fe1nner..d hr- charming