Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1895-03-20

chair where she always sat at this hour;
there her workbasket or her book
should have been lying; there were the
plants perishing for water-how vexed
she would have been could she have
seen them! Mechanically he took up
the water caraffe and moistened the
dry soil in the pots just as she had been
wont to do; instantaneously it seemed
to him that to neglect them would be
a slight to the wishes of the dead.
He remembered that he must send
the announcement of her death to the
papers. 1t was horrible to write such
lines here where everything spoke her
name-''the dearly beloved wife OF
Paul Weguelin' had done it, and
every year he would send an IN me-
morlam notice-every year on the an
niversary of her loss.
The child was no comfort to him.
The baby seemed to the husbands grief
responsible fc.' what had happened. He
left it to the care Of the nurse, and
often, when he returned from the city,
and the little chap was asleep, he did
not go upstairs to look at him.
Yes, indeed, it had been a love-
match, and PauAs heart seemed buried
in Ethel's grave. For months he lived
the life of an automaton, performing
his duties mechanically, thinking of
nothing, caring for nothing, but the
past which could never be rekindled or
revived.
Once, when he came home, he found
that the play had been sent back by
the MANAGE as useless to him. He
scarcely noticed it. He glanced at the
reject: y. form indifferently, and tossed
the manuscript into a drawer among
the limbo of forgotten things.
One day was so like another, the
months so void of event, and it came
upon him with shock one night to
realize that Ethel would soon have
been dead year. Was it possible?-
twelve months ago! Yes, on the 22d,
and it was now the 21st. He went
heavily to his desk, just where he had
sat before. and wrote the in memoriam
notice he had vowed to write. 1.-The
dearly beloved wife of Paul Weguelin!"
The tears ran down his face. Every
year, sweetheart" he muttered, husk-
lily, every year till we meet each other
again!"
People commented on his faithful
ness to a memory-so few men are
faithful to the living In the Office he
was sometimes invited to spend an
evening at friends house or at the
alter. He invariably declined. He still
wore deep mourning. Acquaintance
began to call it affectation, but they
wronge! him. Ee had but one relaxa
ton, and that had come to him rather
than been sought. AS the boy grew
an affection that surprised himself
awolze in Paul Weguelin's breast, and
the only hours in which he regained
something of his former cheerfulness
were when he was I!aying with his
c:ild.
From one step to another. When
the youngstes was two years old Paul
came, by chance, upon the play he had
thrown aside in despair. He took it up
and reread it. 1t was good-good A
little of his old interest in it sprang
into being again. Surprising he were
to submit it somewhere else?
He forwarded it to theater the fol-
lowing day. 1t came back month
later, but he was in earnest again
now, and he sent it to another houls.
The latest management was long
time replying, but when an answer did
come, it was, to some extent, favora BILE.
a ssuming that certain alterations were
made in it, the drama might possibly
be put on.
He was not excited; he YVES dismayed
at himself in perceiving how dull and
inert the prospect left him. He con-
| trasted his absence of emotion with
what he would have felt at the time
when Ethel was with Eim-Ethel, who
had died crying that size would not live
! to see the play produced. Neverthe-
less he went to see the manager, and
had the suggested amendments defin-
| itely explained. They took several
weeks to effect, and when they were
completed, some changes in the man
ageriaI intentions left the fate of the
play doubtful still.
1t remained doubtful while summer
merged into autumn and autumn
| turned to winter SHOWS. And then at
last it was accepted absolutely. Paul
Weguelin's name began to creep into
the newspapers. The drama went into
rehearsal. The authors pulses beat a
shade more quickly and his fellow
clerks wrung his hand and asked for
ORDERS with establishment writ
|
''Great Scott, old fellow! You a
! dramatist! You did keep it close. Well,
1 congratulate you, I'm sure. I sup
pose you'll be chucking the city direct
ly and be heavy swell up west?''