The herald., 1893-10-10
MY FRIENDS WIFE.

questionably charming woman. She
made him happy, and--1 am afraid am
fool. | feel, however, as though
owed it almost to his memory, and some.
thing to her too. Yes, there is no doubt
| owe her something in that line-and
yet, good heavens, am not doing it on
That account. / love her desperately
down to the ground.
''Diciz," she said tome yesterday, look.
ing straight at me with her wonderful
blue eyes-"Dick, why do you ask me-
now?'
Better late than never" answered.
She began, Five, six years ago you''
and stopped.
81 know. was fool, Lucille. |
never once Thought Of it though. You
see, the idea was foreign to me. never
intended to marry
"And now?"
"With your kind assistance l do in
tend to-"
"Why?"
Her question almost bowled me over.
gazed at the carpet, wondering how |
could best put it TO her. Presently |
looked up, and as our eyes met l blurted
out, Because love you, Of course"
did not mean to say that just then.
The truth is that the idea of s'repara-
ton" had got sole possession of my brain,
and how to express it graveled me.
Lucille laughed lightly. "That, Dick,
is a second thought, and not bad one
for man who is Offering himself as u
husband. Still, want your first"
II was thinking that, love apart, you
have moral claim upon me-"
A great wave of color rose and fell,
leaving her beautiful face pale as mar
BILE. "a claim-really? A moral claim?
Why moral? Why not material? When
turn huclster, Dick, will traffic only
for gold"
saw what she meant. Loves gifts.
being no impoverishnent of love, entail
noindebtedness upon the recipient. Love
is paid for it's gift in the giving. This,
| thought, was counsel of perfection
and better suited to angels and angelic
loves than to men and women in an
earthly, highly conventional and British
society.
And that igawhy you wish to marry
me:" she added, y,
felt that was on thin ice. "No,
darling, it is not. l love you. There's
no harm in that, hopes"
"No, not bit. 1t is very good rea-
son. Genuine, Dick?"
"Quite, on my honor"
"1he honor of an English general
more, of an English gentleman-more
still, of well tried friend-that is good
enough for me. Here's my hand ON it,
Dick"
That was only yesterday. 1t seems 90
years ago Poor Robethon-he knew
little. do not think was to blame.
acted Loyalty enough by him. It was
like this, you see. Robethon and l were
pretty close friends. Ispent much of
my time atmy clubs, and at one or other
of them ] was always coming across
Robethon. The taste for chess was mu-
tual and was the ground of our first ac-
quaintance. We were about the same
age-heading fast for so. He was short
and stout; | was long and lean.
had been all over the world, while he
had never been outside of England.
Sometimes | fancied he had never been
outside of London. If he had, he was
careful to conceal the fact. We were
both bachelors. His chambers were close
to ST. James street. mine to Piccadilly
We never visited each other though. He
was partner in well known firm of
bankers, but had not entered their place
of business for 30 years. He had read
world beyond me and was gentle, sym
pathetic, clean souled gentleman.
wish | could say as much truthfully
of myself; no false modesty should keep
me from writing II down. Still Ro-
bethon cared for me, and am deuced
sure l cared for him. His reticence was
characteristic of the man; it was like a
suit of steel arlnor covering him from
head to foot. Sometimes | think it was,
fundamentally, shyness-not of the ordi-
nary kind, Of which there was not trace
about him, but deep spiritual shyness.
On the other hand, it might have been
due to an austere selectness of spirit,
sensitive, delicate pride of soul The
clubmen held him in great esteem, in a
manner were proud of him, considered
him an authority on disputed points of
honor and the like and accepted his
Judgment with docility and reverence.
One day met lady on Pail Mall
tall, fair, straight as a dart and with a
face that fell ON me like vision.
turned and watched her, and while so
doing she Slddenly halted, turned around
and came toward me. stood still. In
passing she gave me momentary glance.
Ha, she was very lovely!
A month or six weeks later there was
a reception at q certain foreign embassy,
and happened to be present. 1t was
not my kind of thing at all, but I CHANGED
to be an old acquaintance of the embas-
sador in question. There was big
crowd, and dancing was in full swing.
Passing by the ballroom, stood for a
moment to watch the dancers. The first
thing I saw was the lady of Pail Mall,
gloriously arrayed, waltzing with Ger
man.
"Who is she?" asked man l knew.
(Which eaes Oh h, that divine syE.s,- y
Dhony of colGr there, eh? That is Mrs.
Trenchard."
"And who is Mrs. Trenchard"