The Penn's Grove record., 1895-06-28

she had given him, be produced one
of his Cuban cigarettes, opened it at Its
ends. unrolled 1t, rolled 1t up again and
lit 1t.
snow. the time has come for you to
tell me what l most want to know
she said.
"What Is that?"
why you went away"
"Ohp he murmured-
She waited q minute. Then, "Tel
me-" she urged.
$40 you remember Mary IsonaT' he
asked.
She glanced up at him suddenly rs u
startled.
MARY Isona7 Yes, of course"
swell, I was in love with her"
sYou were in love with Mary IsouaT'
Il was very much In love with her
{ have never got over 1t, I'm afraid
She gazed fxedly Mt the fire. Hcl
dps were compressed. She saw a
slender girl in a plain black frock, with
a sensitive, pale face, luminous, sad
dark eyes and a mass OF dark, waving
hair-Alary Isona, Of italian p%arcntage
a little music teacher, whose only rela.
ton to the world Theodore Vellan lived
in was professional. She came Into Il
for an hour or two at q time now and
hen, to play or to give a music lesson
eyes," be repeated, 1T was in love
with her. l have never been In love
with any other woman. 1t seems rldlcu'
lous for an old nan to say 1t, but I an
In love with her STILL An old man
Are we really old1 Our body grows
old, our skin wrinkles, u hair turns
white, but the mind, the spirit the
heart? Tho thing we call ~ Anyhow
not a day, not an hour passes, but
think of her, l long for her, I mourn fol
her. You knew her--you knew what
abe was. Do you remember her play
lng7 Her wonderful eyes? Her beau
tiful pale face? And how the hall
grew around the forehead? And bel
talk, her voice, her Intelligence! Hcl
taste, her instinct, In literature, In ar
1t was the finest I have eve mot"
"Yes, yes, yes" Mrs. Kempton said
slowly. "She was a rare woman
knew all the unha' circumstance
Of her life; her horn, vulgar mother
her poor, dreamy, inefficient father
their poverty; how hard she bad t.
work. You were In love with her. WHY
didn't you marry herr" -
"She wouldn't ~hayftnad me"
"Did you ask herN
"No. 1t was needless It went with
out saying"
"You were wrong not to ask her. One
never can be sure. Oh, why didn't yor
ask herr' His old friend spoke Wit
great feeling.
He looked at her surprised and eager
"Do you really think she might hav'
cared for met"
"Oh, you ought to have told her! Yol
might to have told herr she repeated.
"Well-now you know why l wen
away"
"Yes."
"When l heard Of her-her-death"-
he could not bring himself to say he
suicide-"there was nothing else for M
to do 1t was 50 hideous, so unutter
able. To go on with my old life, in tn
old place. among the old people, wa
quite impossible. I wanted to follow
her, to do what she had done. The oDl,
alternative was to fly as far from Eng
land. as far from myself, as I could"
Sometimes" Mrs Kempton confess
ed by-and-by, sometimes / wondereI
whether, possibly. your Disappearance
could have had any such connectlol
with Mary's death-it followed it so I'm
m~ediately. l wondered sometime
whether, perhaps, you had cared 70
her. But I couldn't believe lit wa
ouly because the two things happene'
one upon the other. oh, why didn't 20
tell her. 1t is dreadful, dreadful"
When he had left her she still SO
for a little while before the fire.
"Life is a chance to make mistake
n chance to make mistakes. Life is
chance to make mistakes"
1t was q phrase she had met In
book she was reading the other day
Then she had smiled at 1t; now
rang in her ears Ike the voice Of
knocking demon.
Yes, a chance to make mistakes,
she said, half aloud.
She rose and went to her desk, uA
locked a drawer, turned over its cor
tents. and took out a ~letter-an old lei
ter, for the paper was yellow and III
INK was faded. She came back to IN
hreside and unfolded the letter and rea
It It covered six pages Of note papeI
IN q small feminine hand. 1t was a lei
ter Mary 1sona had written to her, Maj
garet kempton, the night before sh
died, moro than thirty years ago, Gh
writer recounted the many harsh eli
eunistances of her life, but they woul
all have been bearable, she t.jd. saf
for n great and terrible secret, Sh
mad fallen In love with q man who wa
scarcely conscious OF her existence
sne, little obscure Italian music teacl
or. had fallen IN love with Theodor
Vellan. It was "a II she had fallen
.oyo with an inhabitant Of anothe
planet; tho worlds they respectively BE-
iongeu 10 were 80 far apart She love-
him--she loved klm-and she knew he
love was hopeless. and she could no
bear it oh, yes, she met him some
times. here and there, at houses sh
went to play, to give lessons He wa
civil to her; he was-more than civil
he was kind; he talked to her abou
literature and music.
u Is SO gentle, SO strong. SO wise
out ne has never thought 81 me as
woman-a woman who could love, VIII
could be loved. Why should he? l
~ moth falls In love with the stal
inc moth must suffer. al
cowardiy; / am weak I an what 20
wlii but ! have more than can beal
Lie Is too hard-too hard. Ton rroN
! shall be dead. You will be th' onl
person to know why I died and 20
VIII keep my secret
-on, the pity OF it-thekslty Of IL