The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-02-10
MY FRIENDS STORY.
Beginning So brightly and End
ing SO Sadly.

Ing 30 SaQlV.
"It's . very strange story" he said,
"a very strange story-one l have dared
tell to very few persons, and yet if you
insist / will give it you.I
1 had insisted and besought by turns
for half an hour and this concession OF
his was the outcome of a series of stra-
tegic movements on my part that would
have lone honor to a Partisan detective.
"Well, then" l said, 81 insist. Go on
with your story, and if any pledge OF
secrecy is in order, just say SO and I'll
hold up my hands"
81 don't enjoin secrecy" he answered
slowly. 1.-THE story is not one you would
care o repeat"
"Oh, very well, very well,"I bentered,
with q mighty affectation of a fippancy
| did not feel. 81 can close my mouth
as tight as any one you know. But to
tho story. Your wife, you said, died q
year agoY'
81 said nothing of the kind" he re-
piled emphatically. 81 told you l lost
her a year ago." Then he rose and,
crossing the room, emptied the ashes
from his pipe into the fireplace and
helped himself to another round OF
tobacco. AS he stood for a moment sill.
houetted against the faring Goals in the
CRATE, silent, calm, serene, it burst upon
me suddenly that the silence and seren-
ity which in him l had long regarded as
most offensive and objectionable were
nothing other than the dignity of sor-
row, and | felt ashamed of myself; not
the first time, perhaps, that l have had
the same feeling, but never mind that
now. At last, having lighted the new
pipeful, he turned and said simply:
"You insist
By this time I realized that / was in
for it whatever it might be, and / an
swered promptly, Eyes"
And then, still leaning on the chimney.
piece, he began in a hesitating way:
GAS you already know, Gladys and ]
were married a trife oyer thirteen
months ago. l loved her madly, and
she, poor girl, was all a wife should be
or could be. We were very happy to-
gether; no clouds over darkened the
clear heaven of our mutual love, MOI
troubles for q moment disturbed ou1
peace and happiness. Previous to de.
parting on our wedding trip / had
leased a suite of oons in q large up
town fat-you know the place-and
when we returned after a short tou1
those rooms became our home and oul
paradise. So things ran on for nearly
two months, and then-then came the
end-the end"
Here he paused, and turning away
from me looked into the kissing, splut
tering little fire a moment. Somehow
did not feel like breaking the silence
realized that he was not thinking of me
then, and to speak would have been
obtrusion if not sacrilege. AT length
raising his head, he turned to me with
apparent effort and as he did SO I could
see there were tears in his eyes.
Zone evening" he went on, after
had begged him be seated and he had
taken the big cushioned chair by the
hearth, ''one evening last February my
wife and l spent with her mother and
returned at a late hour to apart
ments. The night was a bad one, and
Gladys, poor little girl, was weary ano
exhausted when we reached home. Hen
bright eyes had q dull, leaden look, she
was pale, complained of a headache and
said strange things as if her mind were
wandering for the moment, and recon
mended that she retire at once and sleep
off the i'll effects of her overexertion
She was very loath to take my advice
for some reason or other, and when J
had lighted my pipe and drawn my arm.
chair up to the table she came and kneli
beside me and took my hand in hers.
".John,' said she-ah, how well re
member her words, spoken IN hei
piquant, half ~reproachful way-'JOhn.
O don't mean to send me away from
you, do you?
eyes, my DEAR l replied, rather pet
ulantly. For your own sake I do. You
need sleep and rest. j am perfectly safe
here with my paper
"She rose and turned away, but hao
taken only a few steps when she re
turned and took my hand again.
"'You want me to leave you, JohnT
"'Yes, yes, my dear; go to sleep ano
get a nights rest; it will do you more
good than anything else under the sun.
Her caresses somehow made me fee
strangely cold and nervous, and | spoke
more harshly than should havedone hac
Istopped to think. She rose quickly anC
passed into our bed chamber beyond, anc
as the portieres closed behind her a feel
ing of unutterable loneliness overcams
me, my heart beat hard and fast and
breathed with difficulty. 1t was all alb