The Yale expositor., 1894-09-28
MY 10, JOHN.
by HELEN Is. MATHERs.
CHAPTER I.

Ad'O o~Iu' w III YOU nave duObuCI
egg?"
Colonel Anderson jumped up from
the breakfast table as if gadhy had
stung him.
did you say separate?" he said
calmly, though his features worked
with emotion.
YES" said Mrs. Anderson, look
ing perfectly amiable, "but while we
are about it, why not divorce?"
"Why, indeed?" he said, with a
forlorn courage. "But unfortunately
the law does not grant divorce for
incompatibility of temper. and I'm
not aware that I've taken to beating
you--yet "
why don't you?" said Mrs. Ander-
son, coming insultingly close to him,
and lifting dimpled chin and
rounded cheek in invitation to a slap.
You needn't hit hard-and then |
can dive, ce you.'
Colonel Anderson looked at his
wife swiftly, his cheek coloring with
shame, as she stood there with
hands loosely clasped behind her
smart breakfast-gown, aud heart
beating wildly in her shoes.
$50 you are afraid" she said very
low, "yet men find courage to do
worse things every day of their
lives, than box their wives earsm
He turned abruptly away from her
to the window, through which the
air blew fresh and sweet, as it can
do even in Harley street. bringing
with it the scent of the flowers that
filled the boxes, and from where he
stood he could see the delicats
green of the trees in Cavendish
square. and he especially noted their
beauty, as he said to himself:
''Has she heard? Can she know
already?"
His silence made her desperate.
She sharpened her tongue--Oh! lit
tie rosy cause of much evil-like a
sword, and does not a woman's
tongue always wag the fiercer. and
cut the deeper, when it is met with
a serene and passive resistancep
And woman always forgets all the
bitter things she has said, and is as
tonished to find that man does not
forget them too.
"After ALL" she said, in voice
that trembled suspiciously. II don
know that / should care about a
divorce. OF course l should marry
again-and I'm so afraid of making
a second mistake"
John Anderson Strengthened him
self up suddenly, but made no an
swer. because probably in great
crises mans sense of humor is
usually in abeyance, while a woman's
remains in full force.
O! why did he not laugh, turn
round and box her ears, or kiss herP
A terrible feeling that he was slip.
ping away from her, from her voice,
her influence, her very life, came
over the poor woman, much as If she
were a ship wrecked mariner who
sees ship recede from the shore on
which he stands.
There must be some reason for
this" he said at last, and she knew
by his voice that he was angry, with
the unappeasable wrath of the sweet
tempered man when he is really
reused. al suppose-you know?
''Yes, / know" she said drearily.
looking at his back, land l think
that for both our sakes we had bot
ter separate"
$50 be it," he said, and his voice.
with a curious note of relief in it.
sank into her heart like a knell. II
will see my solicitors this morning,
and the sooner the deed is drawn up
the better"
Hadn't they better draw up one
of attachment at the same time
yourself to Lady BlancheP" said Mrs.
Anderson, with poignant sharpness.
BE kind enough to leave Lady
Blanche's name out OF this discus
sion," said Colonel Anderson, stern
ly. What! are you becoming a
slauderous woman as we'll as one
whom no man could dwell with on
terms Of peaceP
'How loud you talk" she cried
impatientiy and irrelevantly. 1--WE
have lived together for twenty years,
and yet you have not got the right
pitch of my ears yetw
"And you have lived with me
twenty years without understanding
me in the least at the end of tn EN-,
he cried gravely.
Mrs. Anderson blanched for mo
ment, and glanced at the tall, usual
ly slack figure. now knit-up ant
made erect by manly Indignation, a
the usually gentle face, now hard
ened by wounded pride and disap
pointment. and her heart fiuttered
while her temper remained obdurat'
as ever.
Lady Blanche's husband is evi
IDENTITY not cOvetous of the peaceful
charms Of her company" she said
untying and tying a ribbon TO hid
the trembling Of her hands. ''
wonder why other peoples husband
are so much more entertaining than
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