Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-12-27
and famous -eood-by without q thrill Of

and fsmous-eood-byw without q thrill Of
pain.
She put by all regrets and misgivings,
however, and wrote her manager abe
would double the sum of money she had
caused him to lose by breaking her en-
easement abruptly, and that she would
like to see MIN.
Then she informed her lawyer Ii at she
wished her money all put into gold and
sent out there, and peuned . note to one
or two actresses, friends; and BY that
time the shadows Of night had fallen,
and she began to wonder Kenneth did
not come back.
She grew restless as the darkness So Deep
have happened to him?
He had told her he would return to the
dinner he had dered. 1t was past the
hour, and still he did not come.
Nine o'clock came. Then some one
Knocked ON her door.
She opened it to see boy standing
there with a note.
She tore it apart eagerly. and read, as
she motioned the boy away:
MISS VfRlNA: Little Chris, I am
called home on important business. I
will see you when you come East. For
give abrupt departure. KENNETH"
dumbly.
She turned it over. and a wild look
came into the large blue eyes. Could it
be she had read Alright?
was there not one tiny word Of love, Of
regret that he was going?
Going? The horror deepened as she
thought what his going meant to her. All
the sweet dreams of love were broken;
all the bright fancies of her woman's
brain were shocked and killed.
Innocent trust and peace had taken
wing from her. She felt his selfishness,
his cruelty. his lack of love in not even
giving her the solace of farewell inter-
view, and she sank down cold and chilled
as she remembered, for her, there was no
one to love on earth.
of what use will it be to live when he
has gomez" muttered the white lips, for
she then, in this first moment, did not
delude herself with the belief that she
would meet him again.
She took the truth, cruel as it was, in
all its significance.
1t was only when hope. that insidious
f1atterer of the human race, lifted up her
voice that she thought he, perhaps. had
only gone before her, and that he would
soon seek her when she returned East.
Now, tho short cruel note did its in
tended work. It told her he had left her
because he did not love her. and did not
even will that she should believe he did.
The flower of Joy had withered in its
bud. The dream was over before she had
comprehended its intent
Poor little Chris!
But that night as he was returning
homeward, cursing his own selfshness
in JnoV inn hn rvtp hok s-hk 10 h.
condemned himself, she excused him.
He had sacrificed her. She almost re-
joiced in the thought.
Hers was nature TO be pleased to
suffer for the one she loved.
She told herself now she was glad he
had forsaken her, for what was she that
she should aspire to the high position of
his wife? She answered, nothing.
She had had no right to think he could
be happy with her, whatever she might
have been with him. And then hope
whispered:
Perhaps, after all, he may but have
gone for short time, and will soon be
back"
Pride questioned:
Should he not have written that?
Should he not have explained the cause
of his gong and have revealed his sorrow
at SO doing?"
But affection pat in an apology:
"He was SO hurried, it is selfish to criti-
else him, When excited one does not
reason as if calm"
By dawn she had fully forgiven him for
going. for winning her love, then tossing
it under foot as flower unworthy pick
ing. And she prayed that he might al
ways be happy, while the tears of sorrow
rolled down her pale. sad face.
She did not send her letter to the man
ager.
She burned it with the Others. 1t was
like funeral prye to her hopes. but she
resolutely buried thoughts of what might
have been.
Yet it was hard to return to the old lite
of jealousies, of strife, of temptation and
toll, when she had dreamed of one SO diff
ferent; hard to feel existence cold and
emotionless when it had been gloritied by
the transient rays of love.
She made no murmur, however. She
went back to the stage, sickened with a
longing for the return of her lover; sad
dened by her knowledge of the mysterious
Power that is the Governor of life. but
none knew her secret.
To all appearances she was just the
same sweet-faced, gentle little Chris she
had always been.
A few people did notice she had grown
pale during her absence from them. They
told her SO, of course. An Indian always
shoots his arrow if he sees game ahead.
The same instinct prevails in cultivated
minds.
But, as a rule, Chris had no cause to
complain.
She was generally too busy to be both
cred greatly with rudeness from men;
and they priced her society too much to
make themselves disagrecable when they
were with her.
AS for the women, they even saw her
indifference to their husbands, or lovers.
and jealousy and pique died; they
could really find she had SO many good
qualities.
So. if they did not try to make her hap
Ply. they did nothing to make her actually