The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-12-29
WHY SHE WAS GLAD.

lSh, Agnes. WhaUi jealous OF mere chllu
like Kate"
The speaker was man between So and
40. Handsome he certainly was, kind
hearted and generous all could testify who
knew him.
The person addressed was in the full
maturity of womanhood, with thought
full and earnest look in her face that show
ed that she had felt and suffered beyond
the majority of her sex.
"Kate is not child, but a woman, Ar
thur" she replied, "a very pretty woman,
as no one knows better than you"
Arthur Reeves looked sharply at his
companion.
Agnes understood that look and said
steadily:
81 saw you beneath the elm last even
ing. had heard many things before, but
could not credit them. The evidence of
my own senses must believe"
"Go on" he said, with forced GOODNESS.
az suppose may as well take my lecture
now as any time"
81 am not going to lecture you, Arthur,
nor even reproach you. The time for that
has passed. 1 simply wish to convince
you that you have been mistaken in the
feelings that you have professed to cherish
for me-that we have both been mistak.
en-"
81 love you, Agnes. You know that"
"And yet l am not sufficient for you.
Your eyes, if not your lips, have said the
same to Kate Norton as well as others"
"This is the sheerest folly, Agnes My
feelings for Kate are as those cherish for
nv little sister Elem
"If you think SO you deceive yourself.
, And whether it be so or not it is evident
that the feelings aroused in her heart are
of a far different nature"
''You do Kate great injustice, Agnes;
she is as innocent hearted as a child. "
"You must have a strange idea of the
innocence of childhood. Kate Norton had
little reputation to lose before she met
you. She has less now. A girl that can
openly boast thRt there is not married
lady Of her acquaintance but what is jeal-
GUS of her has as little principle as deli
cacy."
81 tell you again, Agnes, that do not
care for Kate. have paid her some atten-
ton, it is true, but it is because l know
she has few pleasures, and wanted to
make her stay as pleasant as possible"
"And yet, when, after months of close
confinement in the schoolroom, sought
brief respite from many cares, the change
of scene and air / so sorely needed, you
did not think it necessary to devote your
self so assiduously to me, who, If half your
assurances are to be believed, have claim
upon you more sacred than any other.
You could even leave me alone for days
not on account of business-but in pursuit
of pleasures in which had no share"
Arthur Reeves WINGED at these words.
"You are jealous Agnes, and jealous
woman can never see things as they are"
The two had been walking along a
wooded path. They had now reached the
brow of hill, from which diverged two
paths-one leading TO Agnes home, the
other to the village, whose glittering
spires could be seen in the distance.
"Our paths lie separate here Arthur"
"And our life paths as well? Is that
what you wish to say, AgnesW
"Our life paths IS we'll"
No one knew all it cost her to utter
those calmly spoken words-certainly not
the man who, winning that loving heart,
had held it so tightly.
Motionless, with arms folded tightly
across his chest, he watched her retreating
form. Perhaps there was faint hope in
his heart that she would pause or turn her
head, but Agnes was not the woman to
falter or look back in the path she had
chosen.
She kept steadily on, not even turning
when she reached the door, which, closing
upon her, shut him out as completely from
her heart and life as if he had never been.
Then he felt as he never had before, if
not all that she had been, all that she
might have been to him.
1t was Arthur Reeves misfortune that
be could not resist the voice of fattery,
especially from the lips of pretty woman.
Did such smile upon him or hang upon
his accents with delight, partly real, part
ly feigned, for the time being she swayed
and seemed to fill his heart wholly.
He wooed Agnes Irwin eagerly and per
sistently-for she was not a woman to be
won unsought-never resting until he
knew that her whole heart was his.
1t was not that he did not know how
rich was the treasure he had won to be
loved so entirely and exclusively would
have been gratifying to any man, but he
was one of those with whom love once
won has lost its charm.
Arthur made no attempt to change a
purpose that he well knew was unchange-
able. He married few months after, and
no one prayed more fervently for his hap
piness than did she from whose life he had
taken much of its bloom and brightness.
Some years after, when what we have
recorded was looked upon as a troubled
dream, in taking up a paper her attention
was arrested by the following paragraph:
"Arthur Reeves, well known merchant
in -, has eloped with a gay young
widow. The guilty pair left for Europe on
the last steamer. The scoundrel leaves
behind him a wife, whose conduct has
been irreproachable, and three children.
Mrs. Reeves returned yesterday to her
fathers house, which she left six years
ago as happy bride"
When the shock that this gave her had
subsidized, what grateful emotions swelled
her heart that hers were not those worse
than fatherless children; that she was not
that more than widowed wife, returning
in shame and sorrow to her fathers housed
Boston Globe.