Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-11-06
VII.
VII
"There is an end of grief and mirth,
There is an end of all things born"
"And what is writ, is writ.
Would it were worthieri"

"Inere is an enc OF gr1e1 ana m1rtn,
There is an end of all things born"
'And what is writ, is writ.
Would it were worthieri"
Lord wyvis and Rhoda continued their
conversation In their secluded spot unmind
full of the passing time. Lord W wis haG
consented to go away.
"Where is it you are going then?" asks
abe, an1iously.
"How can that matter? What really
matters is that this is the last time you shall
see me. The last time"-slowly-"tha
shall see you"
''The last time" She is horribly ashamed
of herself, but cannot disguise the fact that
her heart is uplifted at this news Now
now she will be able to defy caiumny-defy
her husband! Oh! sad thought that this
must be.
eyes / shall make arrangements
He is staring at her. He is probably
reading her thoughts correctly. At all
events he is very pale.
'sFor a wear 1 shall leave England; for q
longer period perhsps-for SO long at all
events Society forgets people in II months
SIT is very good of you," says Rhoda; it
seems a very commonplace little answer,
vet it is all she can think of. Somewhat of
the strain has relaxed and now her eyes fill
with tears. and the hand he is holding
grows kinder and presses his in return.
Obi if he is really going away all will be
we'll She will be able to fight her battle
bravely.
fIs it?" He pauses. "what is there 1
would not do for you?" He checks him.
self
'PGood night 20 says he, abruptly.
'iGood night % saws Rhoda. She would
have released her hand, but he still holds
It. His eyes search hers His fingers
issen over her slender ones.
MAY II" he asks, in q tone almost in
sudible.
She smiles tremulously After all how
kind he has been; how good he is going to
bel And it is such little thing, such
small reward.
wyvis takes that smile as it is meant,
and stopping over her slender hand presses
on it long, lingering, passionate kiss, full
OF farewell and longing, and wild with all
regret"
"Do not forget me quite, murmurs he
brokenly.
In another moment he is gone.
Rhoda, standing motionless, her eyes
upon the tesselated pavement at her feet
listening to his departing footsteps, scarce
ly draws her breath until she assures her.
self that indeed he is gone, that it is all
over. l0lS one IrOuDle, at all events, is
out of her lifei She raises her hand to her
BOSOM and sighs heavily, a sigh of relief
Her lovely face lightens-she lifts it
To see her husband watching her with
malignant smile upon his face.
"Hearkening to the last football of the
dear departed?" says he, advancing leis-
urely toward her "As you stood jus. now
you should have been painted; was quite
charmed with your pose; so effective.
L.. Ias1
might have been called Regret or, per-
haps, Loves Slave All! yes, that would
be best 1t would suit you. You should
be painted as Loves Slave 'Wyvis'
Slave"
All the color deserts her face. She opens
her lips as if to speak, but words fail her
The terrible throbbing anger at her heart is
sitting her. At last, as it dies away some
what, she speaks.
with hatred. "How should you be
painted?'' The most bitter contempt be.
trays itself in look and tone.
As The Spy returns he, smiling. He
IS G<irely -dlahashed. He even looks
amused II do not |seruple to admit to you
that have been watching you with more
or less admiration for the past 10 minutes
Really your treatment of Wyvis is admir-
Rble-admirable."
"1ou-dellberately watched me!
Deliberately and carefully, and had my
reward. That farewell of his was thing
well worth seeing; that last fond kiss"
She starts.
"What are you saying?"
''On the hand-the hand only, of course.
Is this a place for a dearer demonstration?
No, 1 give you credit for perfect common
sense. That hand kiss was innocence itself
md meant only as q toretaste OF keener joys
to come"
Rhoda's face undergoes a change. She
moves nearer to him, slowly, unwillingly.
At this moment, could she by wish have
smitten him to death at her feet, she would
have done so.
''You must be going mad, SAYS she. The
sound of her own voice rouses her from her
dreadful thoughts, and with a shudder she
draws back again to the lounge where she
had been sitting.
81 am not indeed" says he, lifting his
brows, and shaking his head with all the
Sir Of. one idly anxious to convince someone
on a point OF utter unimportance. Never
did 1 feel more sane. Ii is you, perhaps,
nv dear Rhoda, who might be accused of
madness. Would sane woman deliberately
seek to escape happy lite with me?" He
laughs aloud and looks into her eyes. and
finds pleasure in the grief, and rage and
torture that lies in them. wv ould sane
woman openly and wiltully imperil her
good name and risk public censure for the
sake Of one like Wyvis?'
''He is a better man than you, says she,
generously, but very toolishly.
pan Defend him, cries be. "Defend
s Nm, nv dear wife, as loudly as you can
d tends to the one termination Naturally
you would defend him. He is perfection
itself, no doubt; the very essence OF all the
Virtues"
b"You can twist and turn my words as you
will 10 your own purposes, but
Nothing will come OF it?" He ends her
sentence with curious promptltude. Are
you SO sure OF that7 Am 1 to be patient
always? When you leave open the gate for
divorce. am not then to enter 1t? L should
indeed be as insane as you pretend to thlnk
me, If l hesitsted."
"At last-you speak plainly" says she. |
She raises her hand to her throat as If suffo- |
eating The silence round them is per ect. I
\ OF a sound comes iron the room beyond J
or the balcony outside. If she had not
been so lost in her passion OF anger and re-
gret at this clear determination to destroy 1
Impossible her young. sweet life, she might |
have noticed the strange stiffness that relgns
around her Where are the other guests!
Where the music?
do l?' saws Werner his EVIL, handsome /
face unmoved save by hateful smile,
Zone must speak plainly sometimes, when
aople are so dull as not to see how the
yes of the world are regarding them. 1t
night reasonably be e. Iou