Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1895-02-15
CHAPTER XI1-Continued.

A week attcrWlru, coming D0ck from
meeting the postman, which he always
did, though few letters ever came, and
never those which, his wife could see. he
missed and looked for still. frederick
threw down before her Il heap of notes.
"lt never rains but it pours. Evidently.
as old Black says. the hale countric' has
fallen in love with young Mrs. Jardinc.
-Four invitations to dinner and one to IL
Understanding over three weeks. and
an area of fifteen square miles. To ac-
cept them would take half our quarterly
income. in carriage hire. etc. and to re-
fuse them. why, six Caleb Balderstones
could scarcely accomplish that feat"
She read md laid the notes aside. with
n rather sad face.
'You would like to go? Well, then. my
darling. shall We don our purple and fine
lincn-we have IL few rags of splcndor
lcft-and fare sumptuously at our neigh
bors' expense for four days! We can
starvc afterward for fourtccn; I'm will
ing if you are"
''Rodcrick!'
"Elsc-wc 1Must get up some excuse
you must have IL cough, and be unable to
g. out evenings"
"But 1 am ablc-thcy nay see me at
church every Sunday"
"Most literal of women! OF course it
is Il big lce'-as Black would call it. But
any lie will do; the bigger the better. since
we can not possibly tell the truth"
"Why metz"
The question was so direct md simple,
yet so perfectly natural, that it staggered
him. He laughed, though not very mirth-
fully, and made no reply.
''Why not tell the truth?" Silence re-
-.,tl .-z-11
Way. Why not say to everybody. what
everybody must know. or ",ll soon, that
we are not rich enough to keep 81 carriage
or give entertainments. but that we APP
prcciatc our ncighbors' kindness. and
WILDE glad to meet them whenever chance
allows. Shall l write and say this? No
body could be offended, for it is just the
simple truth. And surely the truth is bet
ter than even the whitcst of lies"
He had lived beside her and with her
for a whole year Eow-this woman, so diff
fcrent from all other women he had ever
known; and yet he seemed always to be
finding out something new in hcr-some
divine simplicity which made all his world
ly wisdom useless: some innocent courage
which put even his manlincss to shame.
But he was too truly manly not to own
this.
"My darling" he said. not laughing
now. II did not propose TO tell Il lie-not
seriously. But the truth must be hid
sometimes, when ii is an unpleasant and
humiliating truth. Come. then. shall we
make a great effort. and appear at all
these fine houses en- graEdc tenuc. and i'll
q carriage and pair ll;lack's. perhaps.
borrowed for the occasion). and make be-
licve.' as children say. that we are rich
pcoplc!'
Would not that he acting ~ lie. which
comes to the same thing as telling ii? Did
sot your father once say so: .And YOU
once told me that if"-shc paused IL mo-
%n,cnt-'if you had boys you would teach
chem exactly as your father taught YOU,
tliat either to tell or act a lie was abso-
Altely impossible to n gentleman and a
sardinc!'
"You little Jesuit"
Don't call me that" and her eyes filled
with the quick tears. which. however. she
rarely allowed to fall-shc was not Il ''cry-
ing" woman. II cannot argue. l can only
feel md think. Dearest. l sit and think
n great dcal-morc than i'll all my life be-
fore. ] ought. YOU know
Her head dropped and a sudden flush
came over the sweet young face, firm
AltOuSn Vi us SMSNtiitSss ulutl lTllleE
chan even Il little while ago. Her brief
eight months of married life had made n
woman of her. And there were the long
lonely h~ours-alone. yet not alonc-wllcn
a wife ever so Dung. cannot choose but
sit thinking of what God is going to give
her; of the mingled joy and fear, and
solemn responsibility. stretching out into
far generations. Well, indeed. may she
say. even us the holy woman of whom it
IS recorded. "Relold the handmade of the
Lord, be it unto me according to thy
word"
Something of t~hiS-cNprcssing what she
never said-was written in Silence's face.
Her husband could not quite understand
it-no man could; but lie saw the soft,
tired look-tired, but not wcai--.here
was nothing weak about her; md he put
his arm around her very tcnderly.
My darling. speak; you know 1 will al
ways listen to you, even Though l may diff
fer from you. No two people can always
think alike. But l want IL wife, n coun-
selor; l & did not want Il slave"
She laughed; still she paused n little
before answering. 1t was hard to go
against him-hard to put into plain. ugly
words the fact that she. a wife. dared to
think her husband wrong. Dear as he
was TO hcr-this pa%ssionately loved Rod
erick-there was something in the other
love. dimly dawning, growing daily into
a mysterious yet most absolute reality,
which made her ut oncc clearsighted and
brave. with the courage that all women
ought to have when they think of them
selves. not as themselves, but as the
mothers of the men that are to be.
"Roderick"-he was startled by the
sweet solemlity of her tone-'this seems
a smaller thing than it is. Whether we
accept these invitations or not, matters
little; but it does matter n great deal
whether we begin our married life with
truth OF untruth; whether we meet the
world with IN utterly false face. or else
J sullen face, rejecting all its Kindness.
Why not with a perfectly honest face,
saying openly, We are poor: we know it,
and it is not pleasant; but it no disgrace;
we are neither afraid nor ashamedy'"
"That might be all very well in Utopia;
but here? Did you ever know anybody
who did it?"
Yes; my father aud mother did it.