Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-04-10

| in D said of her that she was quite toe prim and puritanic to suit thetr taste | at all.
 But here they were indeed wrong. | Adela was merely shy and reserved.
 "I sometimes think" her husband | would say to her, that you are never just your real self except when you're with me-" Then Adcla's blue eyes would kindle, | and perhaps she would remain mean ingly silent, perhaps she would gently | answer: 50 long as that is true, Frank, I've no reason for complaint" Still it ncttled Frank little to think that people should imagine his wife | dull and uncompanionable. He was | himself the soul of vivacity and liveli- | ness; a young, athletic fellow, with a | short, dark curling beard, eyes that | were black stars and smile that could | somehow warm your heart before you | heard his voice. He used to say of him self that he was by instinct q loafer but | by profession a Wall street stock broker though it was reported of him | that his proceedings among the purlieus | of hazard implied anything rather than. | lazincss. During the first few months | after their marriage they had lived in | New York, for though Franks means | were variable, they were still in no sense meagcr. But at the end of | summer sojourn in D. Adcla had | begged her husband to stay on in their | pretty cottage throughout the winter. She had had her secret reasons for putting forward this plea, and Frank | more than vaguely realized them. Ger tain things had happened during that | town life of theirs which had bitten in | dclibly into poor Adela's memory. | There had been evenings-there had also been a few midnights-whcn | Frank had come home as he would not have cared to sec himself could he have | done so with a sober gaze. To Adela these episodes had been fraught with an almost dclirious horror. In vain | Frank had told her that what had hap | pcncd to him happened to hundreds of | other men. He might as well have tried to convince her that if a thunder bolt had plunged through the roof of their cozy little Lexington avenue house the catastrophe would have been only a triflc-
 He dearly loved her, and at length made her a solemn vow that he would never touch wine again; fop, although days of perfect sclf-control would enter | by protractcd periods into his life, he | would be sure sooner or later to cross that boundary which divides contin- cncc from excess. But even this prom | isc, after awhile, lost it's poten- cy. One day, feeling rather jaded and l ill, he took sti:nulant, just as q medi- tinc," and that which had now become the unusualncss of the draught pro- volled sudden and strong craving for moro. Adcla suffered anguish once | again, and Frank made no concealment of his bitter repentance.
 At tEc same time he told his wife that | complete abstinence would not, in his
 'aSe, by any means prove possible. He | ... hosts of business and club friends | who were forever tempting him; there | were certain times, in fact, when for him to drink nothing would amount to an unciNil act; he had thought the whole matter carefully over, and there was only one thing for him to do.
 Trcmulously Adcla asked him what that one thing was. She had thrill ing dread lest he might be about to mention an asylum for incbriatcs; she remembered having heard that there arc such melancholy and mysterious places in existence.
 | But Frank had meant nothing of this gloomy sort. "I'm convinced, Adela," he now declared, that shall have to go on, with my glass or two of claret at din- ncr and my one or two 'nightcapS' aft onward, just as l did few weeks ago. Two often heard, darling, that swear ing-otf is the worst thing a man can do, and now l clearly understand why. So tomorrow or next duy-aS soon as can get over this hateful, 'seedy feeling I-Ill rccOmmcncc the old life"
 He did, and at first with signal sue cess. But one night, at Dclmonico
 dinner, he wholly lost his head, and
 thus it happened that Adcla saw him still again i'll a state which it dealt her acutcst torture to look upon.
 She conceived the idea that if they should pass the winter at D. Frank would be moro filled with n duteOus do
 nestle sense on the one hand, and less visited, on the other, by those allure
 ments which were constantly calling to
 him while in town. His friends would
 rccollect that he lived in the country
 and so leave him out of their banquets
 and other merry -makings.
 All through those long and rather
 lonely months Adcla had no cause to
 regret her new plan. A certain train
 brought Frank up from New York
 every evening, and except for an occa.
 sional whist party at the house of one
 or two of the ncighbors, he would
 keep indoors from then until bedtime
 Last summer he had not behaved hal1
 so well. The spacious hotel rose only
 about quarter of a mile distant, and
 while that was open and in full flare ot
 summer gaycty he was dangerously
 fond of lettering about it's huge piazza
 whence the journey to its barroor
 would mean but few facile steps
 More than once Adela had wcpt hot
 tears over what happened in the care
 less company of Franks hotel friends
 Now, when another spring camt