The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-09-05
hotel. Not a usual intimacy. An idea Of
wrong doing had never crossed Mrs. Chap

the wit of the man with a confidence That
is sometimes safe guard, and sometimes
help to destruction
Ihelr conversation may be interesting;
here is a sample of it; the lacy speaking:
1 do not see what life is worth If one
is TO vegetate in a single place, with sin
gle set OF companions forever Ihere
ought to be happiness for everybody; but
there is none for me in the existence l am
now leading"
Mr.. Hydes eyes glistened in the half
darkness. He replied easily and calmly.
1T is you say, Mrs. Chapman, there
is nothing worth having in a life without
variety. Women don't get fair share of
it, l must confess. They bound down
by rules, by Mrs. Grundy, and l don't
know what besides. / am going to take
trip to the sea shore in few days. l don't
need an escort or a chaperone; the idea of
my proposing such thing would be ex-
tremely funny. / will go to Long Branch,
to Atlantic City, and wherever l like. l
will stop at strange hotels and meet strange
people There is harm in it, but
woman couldn't do that
No said Mrs. Chapman, energeticaly,
'She could not and that is what l object
to. You and l. for instance, couldn't make
the trip together, no matter how proper we
were. 1t would make scandal. Why
should it be so. Why shouldn't l be your
comrade on a journey, just as properly, as
II | were MANI"
Il am sure" said the man. that ! would
be glad to chance the scandal for the sake
of the pleasure it would give to have
such an agreeable companion"
Mrs. Chapman faced him, and for mo-
ment he thought he had made a false move
but he did not know the woman we'll. There
was much scorn in her answer.
you would risk the scandal? You? You
would give one of your ears to have such
a scandal and you know it. Risk? What
do you risk? 1t would help your reputa-
tion-such a thing While am in danger
sitting here calmly, in a public place, and
talking to you, though I might really be
teaching you your prayers. 1t would be
choice morsel of gossip even to
sitting here
Mr.. Hyde took courage from this and
went another step.
You despise the gossips, I know. You
take against them. Why not a
week or so of pure fun? Why not go with
me on the trip? l pledge you my honor"
The lady interrupted: Never mind
your honor, and your oaths based thereon
l do care for the gossips 1 am compelled
to. They will be my death some day. They
will tell my husband a story that he will
believe; and there may be murder come
from it, while all the while l am simply
trying to find some amusement-Some re-
lief from the treadmill grind of life
Mr.. Hyde leaned toward her, and at
tempted to take her hand, lying idly in her
without emotion, saying bitterly:
Honor! 1t isn't part of you. 1t has
no place in your make up, and 1 verify be-
lieve no man possesses it. 1 have been a
chum with you for weeks. Have been
meeting you and going to places with YOU
My husband is away most of the time. /
was foolish enough to think that you would
be a good fellow, and treat me as a good
fellow. But, pah-you are like the rest of
that sensual, selfish mass, called men,
The last word. delivered with especial
scorn and with the most contemptuous
emphasis.
You must not feel that you are called upon
to make an excuse or an apology. l do not
feel indignant toward you, especially. l
feel like woman who has found a dia-
mond; has carried it around, elated at be-
ing it's possessor; has glOated over it in
secret; has thought herself rich with fam
Gus jewel and at last found that her
Wanted treasure was cheap, cheap, value
less paste"
why. Mrs. Chapman, I beg that you will
him.
What I think, or what I do not think
will cut no figure with you. You will not
care, and 1 shall not care that you do not
care. You imagined, perhaps, that l was
in love with you. You are mistaken. 1
have had a theory that I could be a
companion and friend. I had illusion.
You have dispeled it, that is ALL Come,
it is getting late, let us get the next car
down town.
Mr. Hyde, crushed and crestfallen, fol-
lowed her majestic lead:
What does she mean? This woman" he
thought.
The character Of the man is plain. The
motive of his companionship with the hand
some wife of an absent husband does not
need elucdat ton.
The character of the woman seems not SO
easy to read. Why should she have had
clandestine meetings with this half strang-
er? She admitted to herself that gossip
might have resulted from her actions, and
that worse than gossip might have finally
befallen Why did she take these chances?
This human comedy is in daily representa-
tion On a thousand stages are the actors
strutting, only that the last scene is a
little different, generally. At least as
men count, and women write down. The
number of women who halt, and face
about having been unconventional, i'm
prudent, foolish, whatever word you choose
to use to describe such actions before
they fall over the precipice, are not counted
This woman had not entered upon a
Irritation. Her innocence and her honesty
had never been in any balance. She had
no motion of bartering them or exchanging
them for anything. The desires of her
heart were not the things which are counted
morally evil, but they were for the for
hidden fruit which society permits not to
be plucked, except under conditions which
she had violated.
Why could she not do the things which
men do? Why could she not, gayly and in
nocently, go with the companionship of a
true man. not her husband, to Long Beach
or elsewhere? Why should she be bound
to wheel of conventionally which for
babe her, an equal partner with her hus-
band in a matrimonial venture. to do the
things which that partner husband might
do with impunity?
She would like to go away for a time
She would like to leave husband and hotel
and long tongued prurient gossips in the
rear, and go flying forward to see a corner
or two of the strange world. Trousers
would not hamper her to do this. whv
should petticoats?
Mr.. Hyde she believed to be the true
man. His lying tongue had deceived her.
his desire to please her had been coupled
with signs and courtesies of respect He
had worn a mask to her. 1t was part Of
the game he was playing; but in a mo-
ment, which from his long experience in
the game he had thought opportune a
had betrayed him. He had intended that
it should betray him, for he thought that
the time to uncover had arrived. But he
did not know the woman, and none of his
experiences with other women gave him
anything for comparison. Mrs. Chapman
was not near falling into any such coarse
ly made, lily conceived and openly ar
ranged trap. Nor in fact, into any trap
She had been blind to see that one was
being laid, 1t is true, but her womanly
instincts informed her that there was a
snare, instantly it was completely set.
They returned to the hotel together. Mr.
Hyde soon after retired to his rooms up
town to tell his room mate, without men,
tioning any names, that he had met the