The Iuka vidette. (Iuka, Miss.) 1894-1912, 1894-08-30

Men, as we all know have the monopo
ly of just and generous Judgment
well, Eva's soft blue eyes and
bright little ways wrought dire de-
struction in the ranks of the stronger
sex, but she appeared quite uncon-
scious of her power, or indifferent to
1t. To all intents and purposes, she
was completely wrapped up in the man
she had promised to marry. His will
was her law, and to please him the
chief object of her life. In short, his
Her total submission delighted him,
and he took every advantage of it. 1t
was not in him to show generosity to
a woman, or, indeed, to anything that
he thought weaker than himself. He
was the sort of man who is brutal to
his dogs and Aorses, and overbearing to
his servants, WHO, in short, tyrannizes
whenever he can do so without fear of
retaliation. His nature asserted itself
in his dealings with the woman he
loved, and he took the leenest possible
pleasure in trading on her forbearance,
taxing her endurance to the utmost and
showing off her plant will and ODE
dent temper to the world at large. 1t
was all part of the system that could
not fail.
Ninety-nine women out of a hundred
would have torn the system to shreds
| and scattered it to the four winds of
heaven. Eva Darlington was the hun
dredth woman. She submitted to
everything with the most remarkable
patience, and no word or complaint or
reproach ever passed her lips.
! But after time she grew quieter,
and her bright spirits seemed to flag.
Her merry, girlish laughter was not
nearly so ready as it had been six
months ago, and the corners of her
pretty mouth began to droop with a
wistful expression that was pathetic
enough to touch the hardest of mascu-
line hearts.
Charities friends all noticed the
change and commented upon it among
themselves, and applied to him a
varied selection of opprobrious cpl
thets. Lord Dolly EASTWOOD displayed
surprising amount of fluency on the
subject. ''Beastly cad. No idea how
to treat a woman Ought to be horse
|
to cut him, by Jove, Wouldn't take a
flyer from him now if he offered it.
Can't stand this sort of thing, you
know. Beyond a joke"
Thus his lordship, and good deal
more that would not look well on pa
per.
Charley went on giving his petty ar
rogaDce full play, until, as was only
to be reasonably expected, things came
| to crisis. The wonder was they had
not done so long before.
On the occasion of Lady Brown
Jones ball he went the length of for
bidding his fancee to dance round
dances with anyone but himself, and,
though she received his commands with
out murmur, her soul rose in pas
sionate revolt against his tyranny.
This last test that he had devised
seemed to her the worst of all. As a
matter of fact, she had submitted pa
tiently to far harder ones; but we all
know the feminine capacity for swal-
| lowing camel and straining at a gnat,
and Eva was no less inconsequent than
the rest of her sex. The gnat stuck in
be dislodged There always must be
last straw, and this was it.
When the ball was half over Lord
Dolly put in an appearance, and at
that moment Eva happened to b. sit
ting quite alone. Charlie had left her
for minute or two to speak to a
friend, and she was looking wistfully
at the maze of couples that revolved
before her. Lord Dolly made straight
for her
Not dancing, Miss Darlington!
Luck for me, by Joye! Ripping waltz,
this. Have a turn?'
He stuck out his elbow invitingly
but Eva turned away, biting her lip.
mo, thank youl" she answered, in a
low tone, 81 can't dance with you, Lord
Dolly"
"Can't?" echoed his lordship.
"How's that? What's up? Not i'll,
are your Not cross with me-eh?"
Eva shook her head.
NO, am not i'll or cross, but-but
have promised Charlie only to waltz
with him. He doesn't like to see me
Waiting with other men,"
Lord Dolly choked down a forcible,
but inelegant remark, cleared his
throat violently, and ran his fingers
through his hair The two latter pro-
ceedings were signs of severe mental
disturbance.
There was slight pause.
"And he dances so awfully badly"
Eva went on, with queer little catch
in her breath. lie can't waltz bit
not little wee bit. He-he holds you
all wrong"
Her voice quivered and broke on the
last word, and she looked up at the
man by her side with great fearful
eyes, like forget-me-nots drowned in
dew.
That look finished it, Lord Dolly
was only man.
"Beastly shame!" he said, burriedly.
Come with me. Nice and quiet out
on the veranda. fellow can talk
there, don't you know? Come along.''
And Eva went
| Charlie Nelthorpe was bristling with