Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1895-01-10
WOMAN's HISTORY.

3 AssvvOMAN5 - H1OlUhI /.
When see her pass IN her carriage
in the park, wrapped in her furs, opu-
lent, naughty, cold, invulnerable. beau
Il hful, the woman's history comes back
1 to me ever and again, point for point,
step for step.
Her brow has the same marble
smoothness; her shoulders, when she
sits In the blaze of her opera box,
diamonds that would grace q queen
h .shimmering on their whiteness, are as
4 Incompatible as ever they were.
Time and again her calm, inscrutable
1 eyes meet, with fieeting glance, her
1 husbands They quietly, undemon-
onstratively despise each other, these
two. But, again, who would know 1t?
Thus 1t astonishes no one that both
go their several ways. As for Ham
mOnd. he does not wear as well as the
lbeautiful Adrienne. Once, before his
face took on that shadow of bloated-
nlss, his neck that bovine character,
lie was handsome enough.
But that was ten years ago. Tie
!outward circumstances We're different
then. On u moist, foggy afternoon in
january u young man, with keen, set,
determined countenance and eyes brood
Ing, calculating, summing up, combin-
Ing as he went along the crowded
streets, was accosted by another man
Of about the same age, who was hast
erlng, though somewhat more leisurely,
in the opposite direction.
"Hullo, Hammond"
Hammond half-wheeled round and
stopped. ...
1 IF you've nothing else on hand,
come and make that call with me to-
night" said Searle.
| Hammond was conscious Of no special
! eagerness. But Searle was rather
good friend of his-tlle best he had.
That was, perhaps, not saying much,
for Hammond's friends were few. He
had come from rural district to the
great city, resolute upon making his
way. How he lived he best himself
knew for few years.
There were times when the struggle
! was fought at such close quarters that
his board bills often remained unpaid.
But at the darkest the logged deter
mination in him never faltered. He
. uSCO AOW uAO lACA " VAIN uH WAO
fashionable streets at night and loiter
! moment, lost in the crowd of street
Arabs of small and large growth, at the
house of we'll known prince of
finance, over whose front steps an
awning extended to the curb.
The noiselessly opening and shutting
door at the head OF the steps gave
glimpses of an interior of light and
| warmth. To the curb there drove up
long, slowly moving mass of liveried
carriages, disgorging their contents on
the carpeted way. Hammond would
stand there an instant or two, Observ-
ant of the scene.
"Some day." voice within him
would say, II shall open my doors in
this fashion or drive up to this very
door as these people do now"
Searle was but insuffciently cogni-
zant of these characteristics Of his
friend. He liked him, did him a good
turn when he could, and unbosomed,
himself to him as the more prosperous
man will occasionally do to the conf
dant whose fortunes are not so excel
lent as his own.
The excellence of Searle's fortunes
was a matter of relative estimates.
Searle himself felt that he was as
lucky as any man need wish to be.
Hammond, had he been asked to give
his opinion, would have remarked that
to be the manager of bank on
salary Of ten thousand dollars year
was a beggarly sort Of thing, unless
man expected to get up higher.
Here lay the difference between the
two men. Searle supposed he might
get up higher some day, but he did not
think much about it. Hammond
thought Of nothing else.
The call the friends made together
that evening was on young girl and
ner mother. The mother came second.
Searle had been infatuated for some
time. Now they were engaged. The
young lady could scarcely be said to
be in society; and .she was only in
moderate circumstances. But Searle
was so happy that he eagerly wished
every one of his friends to see Miss
Eastlake and appreciate his good fort
une.
Did Hammond think her sufficiently
handsome? Searle, with masculine
faulty, asked himself the question sew
eral times in the course Of the evening.
Hammond's face was, under all cir
cumstances, non-committal. But on the
Olu6f llduu, lOL W itChl1OW1SuSc IAAC
beauty of Adrienne Eastlake was inn
possible.
Hammond, pleading another appoint
ment, left early. Searle fingered be-
hind half an hour later.
"What do you think of Hammond?'
he asked, looking down at the girl as
she sat before him in low chair, her
head thrown back.
IT have only seen him once" she
said, evasively. Her manner to De
man she was going to marry was cool,
calm, elusive. But, unconsciously,
blinded by his own engrossing passion,
Searle invested it with reflected fer
yor.
"Oh, Hammond is bound to strike
luck some day. Let me tell you about
him."
And Searle discussed for some min
guidly.
'.Egad! he cried, with a sudden
laugh, IF he had only a start, with a
little capital-say ten thousand dollars.
Something like the chance one or two
fellows I know would have if they
| 1voro auoro Of co,.tain inside I