The Portland daily press., 1895-08-03
ON STATUTORY GROUNDS.
By ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
Copyright. 1895, by the Author.l ]

Iulll u 4uSu0S, ITl60QS never speak Oh
his divorced wife, Suzanne. save in
scorn unutterable, but now that many
months have elapsed since she passed to
her long rest / may tell the true story
of her life, known only to me and one
other. Should Philip Hughes read these
words and recognize himself under this
alias shall not feel that have broken
trust, only that have planted flow
er upon the forgotten grave of suffer-
ing martyr to that most merciless tyrant
Love.
She was fisherman's daughter in a
remote little spot on the coast of Maine,
whittier Philip Hughes hied himself
after he heard that Mildred Montrose
was false to him. 1t was Mildred's
aunt who had written home from Paris
that the young woman was enamored of
title, behind which lurked man, and
this, added to six weeks silence on the
part of Mildred, sent Philip to Maine.
His was morbidly jealous nature to
begin with, and the fact that Mildred
possessed a fortune, and he only his
talent as an artist, had sharpened that
pierced his breast from the hour he first
met and loved her. 1t had been case
Of mutual ttraction-mutual infatua-
tion, in fact-from the start. Philip had
always declared that he should never
marry; that poor devil of an artist
had no right to ask any poor girl to
share his poverty, and certainly if he
10 hn
a girl with money. Mildred had main
tanned that she should always distrust
man who made love to her because of
the burden Of her fortune. Yet when
these two met at Ladies' day. at
some club where Philips pictures were
feature they looked in each others
eyes and "forgot, forgot" as the poem
has it. Philip forgot his poverty and
Mildred her fortune, and within three
weeks time they were acknowledged
lovers, as completely infatuated with
each other as any two beings who ever
existed in "fools' paradise. +"
The engagement was not announced
Indeed they imagined their love to be a
great secret. something quite too re-
talk abDat Yet everybody knew and
talked about it, and, strange to say,
everybody approved Of it, with the ex-
ception Of Mrs. Montrose, Mildred's
aunt. Mildred was an orphan, and her
money was inherited from her mother
Mrs. Montrose was her uncle's widow,
a wcr,an OF colossal ambition, but slen-
der mssns, and she had acted as a sort
Of foster n,otaer and duenna for Mil
dred, who had been orphaned in her
sixteenth year. Mrs. Moutrose was
woman of fine praseuce, whose one abb
sorbing desira to be society leader had
never been realized. Well born and en-
dowed with beauty, she had married
wealth, only to see it slip from her hus-
bands held in a financial crisis two
years afterwxrd. His. losses induced a
stroke of paralysis, and he fingered a
hopelass invalid though all the best
years Of her womanhood and then died,
leaving her at middle age with a bare
competence. After Mildred came into
her life Mrs. Mortrose transferred her
own ambitions to her niece. Surely with
such afaoe and figure and fortune as
Mildred possessed the girl ought to shine
in the world, she thought. Three years
in society, however, had seemed only to
increase the rather pessimistio ideas of
her charge regarding mankind, and
Mrs. Montrose had planned European
tour with foreign title shining in the
distance as her goal, when Mildred met
Philip Hughes.
Nothing could have been more unex-
peoted OR more distasteful to Mrs. Mon
trose than her niece 3 Endden and pecul-
lar infatuation for a penniless artist.
But she was too polite to make any out
spoken objections. She knew too we'll
that she would but add fuel to flame by
opposing the lovers. So she praised
Philip behind his back and was most
gracious to his face and allowed the lov-
ers to meet with the utmost freedom.
Meanwhile she fastened the prepara-
tions for the tour abroad and forestalled
any suggestica on Mildred's part to
postpone or abandon the journey by say
ing ona day: SIT is really most fortu-
nate thing for me, my dear child, that
you desire to take this voyage. My ply
sician tells me that another winter in
this climate would jeopardize my life.
He says have heart trouble, which
those severe bronchial attacks, with the
raoking cough, might aggravate to a
fatal extent, and you cannot imagine
how grateful feel to you for taking this
journey I would not dare to go alone,
even if you were under the care of
friends -
So two months after their final meet
ing the lovers were separated. They
were not formally betrothed, because
Philip told Mildred plainly that he
would never ask woman to be his wife
until he had made some sort of a place
for himself in the temple of fame.
with such hope as you have given
me-, he said, with such an inspiration
I can surely achieve more in the next
year than all could have done in ten
without you. All ask is to keep your
heart and hand free for me one year
give me trial, and if prove unworthy
1fx -