The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-04-12

iii"nS StA"S nAcSp Iohi uioiitH 10
month";
but, my darling" cried Jack, ''sure-
ly an income Of eight hundred year
would not be penury, If we lived quiet
ly."
There, there! interrupted the girl,
passionately. ''If we lived quietly!
Don't know what that means? And
then one day our expenses will in
| crease and we shall have to live more
quietly. And don't l know what it
would end ina big house in dowdy
part of dull watering place, con-
slant struggle to keep up appearances
without deceiving anybody; and then,
worst of all, children sent out in the
world to find living as best they can,
and to sink lower inevitably in the
hustle for existence. Haven't gone
through it myself-and what is the re-
suit? That | sit here weighing the
man love against comfort, luxury and
the money which will bring them to
me- Would you wish your children to
sink to that?"
But surely money alone will not
bring you happiness. Look at the
many rich unloved and unloving wom-
en- whom we see around us. Do they
find that diamonds bring them any
consolation for want of love? Isn't it
better to live on smaller income with
the one you love than starve for want
of love with riches all around you?
Love must be better than money"
| Eyes, jack" replied the girl, half
tenderly, but still with bitterness, ''if
love were all. Or if we lived in the
Garden of Eden, where costumes might
be had for the picking and house rent
was thing unknown But as it is, it
is easier to live with money alone in a
big house than with love alone in a
small one. All that talk about love in
a cottage is really nonsense, you know.
Love will not stay in small house.
He is cramped and frozen by his en-
| vironment, and the result is jars, and
a! last rows. And then one day love
flies out of the window and does not
return"
''Do people never quarrel in big
houses?" inquired Jack, in low voice
which was shaken with emotion.
Eyes. But there is plenty of space
and they have their own rooms and
| need not meet until the clouds hav
passed away But in small house
they must meet, or leave it, and-Jack,
can two human beings sit together
without saying word, and If both
think that they have a grievance, can
| they keep their tongue off it?"
"All this is too modern for me-" re-
| Piled Jack modify. 81 can't analyze
and predict what would happen if we
quarreled. l only know that should
be perfectly happy in small house
with the woman l love, and l think
that two people who love one another
truly ought to be able to live happily
on eight hundred year without quar-
reling because it is not eight thou
sand"
Certainly Jack Holford was not all
modern or else he would have under
stood that to girl like Maud Seymour,
who had known poverty in its most
trying form all the days of her life, the
chance of catching a millionaire like
Cecil Higgins was an almost irresisti-
| BILE temptation. If Mr.. Higgins had
not appeared on the scene, or IT he had
not openly shown his admiration for
her and pointedly expressed it to their
hostess, Lady Sciva, who, OF course,
| had passed it on to Maud I'm con-
| fidence." matters would have been diff
| ferent. Then she would have been
content to give her hand where she
| had bestowed her heart, and happiness
might have followed the marriage.
But now her mental equilibrium had
been upset. She dreamt of jewels in
| heaps and gold in streams-she who
had been obliged to sell her one brace
let of any real value in order to pro-
vide herself with some ready money
for her visit, and whose ornaments
were in consequence quite modest in
their simplicity. She knew that by q
single word she could cover herself
from head to foot with priceless dia-
monds. Had not Mr.. Higgins talked
hourly-and not perhaps with over
good taste-of a certain riviere OF dla'
monds which he had bought at a fab
ulous sum at the sale of some Russian
princess. and which he intended as his
first present to his future bride, when
he had found her? And had not every
one except Jack Holford at once looked
| at Maud Seymour as much as to say;
"Thou art the woman?" 1t was
enough to turn the head of any girl
and SO it is not surprising that Maud
| Seymour's brain had not proved SUI
= .
| perior to the intoxicating influence &c
which she was exposed.
| All that she had to do was to say
"no- to Jack at the right moment, and
| then Eyes" to Mr.. Higgins. Could any
thing be more easy? A little firmpess