Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-08-20
CHAPTER TX.

external merely, but such as 10 is IL Is
marked. John is grave and undemon-
stratlve, but rot lugubrious, and there
isa gentleneSs IN his demeanor that
seems strange 10 him. he drinks
scarcely at all and appears TO have Iost
his taste even for smoking. He Is hard
hit. fear, but be is bearing IL Ike a
gentleman. / think / can perceive
that be avoids being alOue with Sinnre.
And his bearing toward her, when i
see them together, is friendly, but alb
stracted. tie has made up his mind
that she Is lost 20 him, and the con-
victiop has ouelled his stout spirit
whether temporarily or permanently
time will show. ! am sorry for him,
but Is better so than II he had mar
ried her. You might as we'll harness
an English drag horse under the same
woke With the winged steed Pegasus.
Henry, on the other hand, wears an
aspect OF coutented Indifference which
cannot but be assumed. His manner
TO Slafre has an undertone Of easy gal
lantry which is far from being offensive
or even pointed aud would be natural
enough as the attitude Of man OF the
world toward a pretty girl, but IS extra
ordinary Go a lover toward a former
mistress whom he had abandoned and
whom he intends probably 70 en-
snare again. What inducement be can
hold out 10 her 20 condOne his conduct
and return 20 him can only be cOnject-
ured. is it possible that, knowing or
suspecting the uncertain tenure OF
Johns life, he counts upon becoming
himself the heir Of CedarcitTe? IL Is q
repulsive idea, and / mention IL as a
solution of the riddle not likely, but
barely conceivable. Henry is so i'm
DenetrabIe in bis apparent fraukneSs
that one cannot help being provoked 90
speculati0ns which a less subtle char
acter would never suggest.
As for Sin6re, I know not what TO say
lbout her II she were az unimpOrt-
ant to me as / once thought she was,
might imagine that she felt as she
appears 10 feel-happy, thOughtless
aud high spirited. But OF course
know better. She is passing through a
crisis ia her life. She Is on tho brink
OF doing or fOrebearing 20 do some
thing momentOus and irreyOcable. /
wish could advise or help her, but 10
Is impossible under the circumstances
either for her TO ask or for me to vol
unteer such help. When she has de-
cided, then my opportunity may come
not till then.
She Is more than ever a superb object
10 contemplate. She Is full OF excite
ment and restless energy, says brilliant
things and laughs often, but her laugh,
thongh musical as peal OF bells, has
no mirth In 10. II is defiant mocking
nd cold. Deeply as 1 sympathize
with her cannot say ] understand her,
nor do I understand myself What do
/ wish t0-do?
Sometimes I am sure that she cares
for me;at other times L doubt it. But
say she does, am 1 willing 20 take 10 my
self a woman Of whom l know nothing
but that she has beauty and a great
soul-a woman who it is PROBABLE Is
sailing under false cOlOrs and who has
been WrOnRed, either morally or ma
terially, by another man? As regards
the last, however, 1 cannot look az her
and believe that she has ever lost what
women hold most dear. She Is too
proud, too inaccessible for that. And
yet / must confront that possibility too.
Well. then, IL IL were so, could l eI-
guse it?
1 have always held myself superior
70 the cOnventiOnaIities OF life. Even
when / outwardly conform 10 them it is
but 70 avoid remark aud reserying the
freedom OF my own thoughts. 1t has
always been my belief that
civilization is unjust 20
woman. Whatever is the best in human
nature Is theirs, and il is by taking ad-
gantage OF those better qualities that
mem Cypress and degrade them. 1t will
never be well with the world until wO-
nan rules it-not with the strong hand,
out with love. Love Is the basis of her
nature. and il IS by giving all 20 love
hat she falls; but, were men true lovers,
AN she never would. It is by her
generosity and his seIhshnesS that she
iuGers.
Nevertheless, once fallen, she is capa-
Die ot becoming more dangerous and
wicked than man himself. But this is
because she knows by the long and Bit
Ter experience Of her sex that the world
Is thenceiorth against her. We call
her sinner, but how wide is the differ
ence between her sin and the crimes OF
menl Her sin, az the worst, is sin
against herself, and she Is the sufferer.
Man sins against his fellow men for the
sake OF bis own gain. Yet the thief
and the murderer Sre not punished
more remorSelcssiY than is she, for death
itself Is light penalty compared wish
the lingering tOrtures Of life of shame.
III she were made the object Of compass
sion aud protection instead OF scOrn,
she would still remain good and pure
res, pure, for impurity begins only az
ter love has been prOianed and Ob,lter-
Ated.
Sinfre's fault has surely been gen.
erous one, but though she may have
made a tragical mistake all Is not yet
lost for her. Love has led her astray.
MAY not love redeem her also? She
Stands now az the point Of peril. One
step more and 10 is too late! II can
win her now, should l cherish her or
reverence her less than il she came 10
me fresh and unbreathed on from her
mothers boSom2 The world may
doubt it, Siutre herself might hesitate,
but in my own mind there is no doubt
a. all. II she loves me, then that love
condOnes all. And should anyone sneer,
let him beware.
Who am indeed that I should judge
her?" There is no crime said
Goethe, "that might not have COM
mitted." 1 90 further and say that l
do not hold criminal many of the things
that men in the speCiOuS interests Of so.
sietv have arbitrarily sdjudged 20 be
INCH. Actions should be estimated not
10 themselves, but according 20 their
. motives and consequences. A lie may
n :. ,.,-orv but nor that lie that saves 3