The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1894-07-12

more than that for him--she did not let
him see that she made allowances More
over, sie recognized amidst all his rough.
ness q certain kind of sympathy which she
could not resent because 1t was not aggress-
i've, for to some natures the expression
of sympathy Is an irritation--to be sym
pathized with means to be piticd, and to
be pitied means to- be looked down upon.
She was sorry for him, but she would not
have told hial SO for worlds He would
have shtunk from pity as much as she did.
And yet the sympathy which she thought
she did not want for herself she was silent
ly giving to those around her like herself
thwa:ted, each in different way perhaps,
still thwarted all the same.
She found more than once that she was
lea-ning to measure people by a standard
different from her former one-not by
what they had done or been, but by what
they had suffered. But such change AS
this does not come suddenly, though, in a
place like Petershof it comes quickly, al
most unconsciously.
She became immensely interested in
some of the guests, and there were curl
Gus types in the Kurhaus. The foreigners
attracted her chiefly. A little Partisan
danseuse none too quiet in her manner,
won Bcrnardinc's fancy.
Il so want to get better, cherie 4" she
said to Bernardine. Life is SO bright.
Dcath-ah, how the very thought makes
one shiver! That horrid doctor says / must
not skate. 1t Is not wise. When was
wiser Wise people don't enjoy themselves.
And have enjoyed myself and will still. F"
How can you go about with that little
danseuse?" the Disagrccable Man said to
Bernardinc one day. do you know who
she is?''
Yes" said Bernardine. ''She is the
lady who thinks you must be a very i'll
bred person because you stalk into meals
with your hands in your pockets. She
wondered how / could bring myself to
speak to you.
Il dare say many people wonder at
that" said Robert Allitsen rather peevish-
ly.
''Oh, no." replied Bcrnardine. 'Thcy
wonder that you talk to me. They think
i must either be very clever or else very
disagreeable.
II should not call you clever" said Rob
ert Allitsen grimly.
NO" answered Rcrnardine pcnsively.
But l always did think myself clever un-
til came here. Now ! am beginning to
know better But it is rather shock,
isn't it?''
~ have never experienced the shock -
he said.
"Then you still think you are clever?"
she asked
There is Only one man my intellectual
equal in Petershof and he is not here any
MORE he said gravely. Now 1 come to
remember he died. That is the worst of
making friendships hcre-people die"
Still, it is something to be left king of
the intellectual world,' said Bernarline.
Il never thought of you in that light.
There was "a sly smile about her lips as
she spoke, and there was the ghost of
smile on the Disagreeable Mans face.
why do you talk with that horrid
Swede3' he said suddenly. HE is a
wretched low foreigner. Have you heard
some of his views2"
Some OF Them, answered Bernardine
checrfully. lone of his views is really
amusing-that it is very rude of you to
read the newspaper during mealtime and
he asks if it is an English custom. l tell
him it depends entirely on the Englishman
and the Englishman's $ neighborr'
So she, too, had her raps at him. but al
ways in the kindest way.
He had il curious effect on her. His very
bitterness seemed to check in its growth
her own bitterness. The clD of poison of
which he himself had drunk deep he
passed on to her. She drank of it, and it
did not poison her. She was morbid, and
she needed cheerful companionship. His
dismal compunionship and his hard way
of looking ut life ought by rights to have
oppressed her, instead of which she be-
came less sorrOwful.
Was the Disagrecablc Man perhaps a
reader of character? Did he know how to
help her in his own grim, gruff way? He
himself had suffered so much. Perhaps he
did know.