Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1895-05-09
A BROKEN LETTER.

Parklns, OF has he already begun" cried
Lady Evesham, rushing like a whirl-
wind in riding habit into the great,
cool, pillared hall Of Evesham house
one fair May morning.
His lordship is not yet down, my
lady, but Leon has been with him three
quarters Of an hour, answered Parkins.
Then serve breakfast His lordship
won't be long" And Lady Evesham
betook herself to the sunlit, flower deck
ed snuggery where she and her husband
always had their first meeting of the
day. From there she turned to the
breakfast table and ran through her
mornings correspondence.
"What dull post wonder if John
has got anything better?'
Her white fingers wandered among
the pile Of letters by her husband s
plate.
From the steward; from jerks, the
trainer; from the lawyers. Three with
the city postmark, five from clubs. That
one is from Lady Janet Stepney, know
begging, OF course, for her orphans or
curates or INDECENT mothers; that's from
BERTHE Stanhope-what niggle he
WITHSTAND, oh, this must be what they
call typewriter thing"
Lady Evesham picked from the scat
tered pile common square envelope
bearing an east end postmark and ad-
dressed in type to ''The Viscount Eve
sham, Evesham House, Park Lane"
''How queer it seems that machine
should write all that SO straight and
neat! I had no idea it looked so tidy
and businesslike. I think I'll make
John buy me one to write to my dress
maker with. Typewriting looks SO
awfully fierce" She scrutinized the let
ters still closer 'This one isn't quite
faultless, though. There's something
wrong with the capital E. It's got a
white spot. All, John, at lastP'
She dropped the letters among the
others and ran to greet her husband,
who stopped from his superior height
and kissed her lovingly.
A year ago society had called John,
Viscount Evesham, aged 45, fool to
saddle his wealth and his freedom with
mere girl as wife, but his bride had
been SO sweet, so gracious, so innocent
ly pleased with her new surroundings
and so unaffected that at the beginning
Of this her second season the most Gym
ical had voted the marriage success
and the young viscountess an acquisi-
ton.
Lord Evesham adored his wife, yet
with that tentative worship, that love
tinged with doubt, which must always
be where the adorer is speeding swiftly
down life's hill and the object of adora-
ton is every day growing more lovely
and more desirable.
His first few months of married life,
when, bride, Lady Eyesham had won
widespread and open admiration, had
been torture to him. Even now his self
depreciatory doubts were only lulled to
slumber by the perfectly blameless con-
duct Of his wife.
''I'm sorry to have kept you waiting,
my dear, he began, with old fashioned
courtesy, but the morning was SO fine
I made sure you would prolong your
ride. -
$50 I might have done, for Mr..
Leighton-he has constituted himself
my oavaliere servante in the Row-was
most amusing, but Kittie Hamer joined
us, and itshorrid riding three abreast
--one has to shout so. I left them at the
top Of the Row and"-
"Leighton rides with you, does he?"
queried Lord Evesham, looking over the
top Of his letters.
+ Eyes, dear, almost always" And
then an utterly unaccountable blush
came over her until her throat, ears and
cheeks were alike bathed in the crimson
tide.
s. "Hum!" said his lordship, while
Lady Evesham, furious with herself at
the trick her unruly self consciousness
had played with her, took refuge in her
breakfast. Silence reigned, broken only
by the faint tinkle of the silver and
china and by the rustic of Lord Eve
sham's letters.
Suddenly he started, grew pale, then
red, looked from his wife to slip Of
paper in his hand and back again.
What strange coincidencel
{ Watch your wife, in typewriter
characters, stared from the paper before
him. Opposite was the downoast face
Of his wife--the face which had been
but moment back dyed with guilty
blush at the chance mention Of the
name Of mere acquaintance.
The next moment he gathered up his
letters and left the room. Lady Eve
sham, too, sprang from her chair.
"Why was I such fool?" she cried
to herself in tall mirror. "What made
me do such a hateful, stupid, underlined
thing as to blush like a gawky school
girl-and at Rupert Leighton's name,
too!-a man who - She did not speak
the words that rose to her lips. Only
the faint, coquettish smile-the smile
Of a woman who is beautiful, who is
flattered, who is beloved-dawned again
in the misty depths Of her eyes.
Before Lord Evesham's eyes and in
his ears were ever the words, Watch
your wife" A younger man, one surer
Of his hold upon woman's heart,
would have shown her the shameful
thing. But he was afraid. He tried to
keep the burden Of doubt and disbelief
to himself, yet Beatrix Evesham guessed
at its existence. though she knew neither
it's origin nor reason. Only she felt that
there was no love behind his courtesy,
no warmth in his kindness, no faith In
his generosity.
watch your wifer' Lord Evesham
watched, and Lady Evesham knew 1t.
One night, at Nottingham, her wound
ed pride found vent. Rupert Leighton,
a. ever, was by her side as she strolled
tn Tho riva,.'a edge sand with the natu