The herald., 1894-07-04
BY MERE CHANCE.

With gesture of annoyance, he flung
his pen upon the table.
SIT is useless! I shall never succeed
in describing this scene until l have ac-
Tually experienced it" he said to him
belf.
An ordinary, common or garden writ
or of short stories would never have
taken the matter so to heart. But he,
Paulus Frank, the apostle of realism,
could never allow story with descrip-
tion in it that was not true to life go
into the ruthless hands of the critics
The plot of his novel was certainly
simple enough. Two jealous, spiteful
women had entered into a plot against
the noble, innocent heroine of the tale
By every possible means they sought
to destroy her position in the eyes of
her husband and those of the world
They finally agreed upon the plan of
sending an anonymous letter to her hus-
{ band, wherein they accused the wife Of
1aithlessness.
Paulus Frank cultivated close rela-
lions with man whom he had selected
rs the model for this hero and often in
vited him for that reason to his house.
He had just reached the point where
he had to describe how this man, who
was naturally cold blooded, stands be-
fore his wife with deadly pallor on
his face and confronts her with the let
ter, threatening to shoot her unless she
makes frank confession of the whole
transaction.
And it was just this scene that Paulus
Frank felt himself powerless to describe.
Would the wife defend herself with
vigor and spirit against such an attack,
OR would she merely allow herself a
contemptuous little laugh when brought
face to face with the calumny?
Would her insulted and innocent
heart rise in indignant protest against
such gross accusation, or would she
merely let the matter drift ON and make
no further explanation than quiet
denial? p
What expression would her face wear?
Would she turn deadly pale or wear the
flush of shame? Would her hands pluck
nervously at her little lace handkerchief,
or would she stand motionless and erect
before him as if turned into stone under
his very eyes?
And the answer to all these questions
he did not find readily in his mind In
SEPARATION had left him in the lurch
Twenty times and more he strove to put
on the paper the powerful scene which
was to be the climax of his story.
But it was in vain, for success did not
shine upon him, and he became more
and more certain that he would only be
able to portray the scene with justice
and power when he had actually been
through it himself and felt every phase
of emotion recorded in lines of fire on
his heart.
Once this peculiar thought had taken
possession of him he was unable to rest
until he saw it realized.
1t came to him one morning with
such force that he let his fist fall upon
the table with bang that almost shat
tered the glasses.
''Have you gone crazy?" cried his
pretty young wife, raising her clear blue
eye to his face. "What's the matter?
Ever since you began that wretohed
novel of yours you seem to be quite a
different man."
And as he only stared at her and made
no answer she went on to reproaoh him
soundly for his conduct.
sit cannot continue like this she
concluded ''It must stop before long,"
and then buried herself again in her
work.
flxA Il
Yeared on the scene with the announce
ment that the apothecary was at the
door,
A young man entered and greeted the
husband and wife with the familiarity
of an old acquaintance. Frank returned
his greeting, then looked vacantly be-
fore him and appeared to interest him
self deeply in the pattern of the table,
eloth.
The young man looked at him inquir-
ingly for few minutes, and then, ap-
preaching the young wife, pressed her
hand and asked her in low voice what
was so occupying her husbands mind.
each, how do know" she replied,
with gesture Of impatience 81 only
know that for a whole week he has not
been fit to live with"
A deep drawn breath, shrug Of her
shoulders, and Mrs. Frank went with
her guest on the veranda to look out
into the street.
Meanwhile Frank had gone to his
study with pleasure written all over his
face At length he seemed to have
found way out Of his difficulty. He
wavered, however, undecided for lit
tie while. But why not? What harm
was there?
/, Besides it was not possible in any
other way. He would be obliged to
write plain, accusatory letter to his
I>.,-- -~---,~------ ----~-.,---
wife, but then he would confess it all
afterward and ask her forgiveness.
! Thus there could be no further harm
attaching to his plan, and he would be
freed of all difficulty and be able to de-
scribe the scene with powerful realism.
He could not understand why the idea
had not occurred to him sooner. It was
-.