Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1895-01-17
A WOMAN'S HISTORY.

In the park, wrapped in her furs, opu-
lent. naughty. cold, in~yulnerable, beau
tiful, the woman's history comes back
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 a queen
sbirsmering on their whiteness, are as
Incompatible as ever they were.
Time and again her calm, insccutable
eyes meet, with a fieeting glance, her
husbands. They quietly, undemon-
onstratively deSpise each other, these
two. But. again, who would know II!
Thus it astonishes no n that both
60 their several ways. AS for Ham,
mond, he does not wear as well as the
beautiful Adrienne. Once, before his
face took on that shadow Of bloated-
mss, his neck that bovine character,
he was handsome enough.
Bu. that was ten years ago. The
outward circumstances We're different
theu- On u moist, fOggy afternoon in
January a young man, with a keen, set,
determined cnuntenance and eyes brood
In, 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
eping, though somewhat more leisurely,
In the opposite direction.
"Hullo, Hammond"
Hammond half-wheeled round and
stopped.
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 a rather
good friend Of his-the best he had.
That was, perhaps, not saying much,
for Hammond's friends were few. lie
had come from q rural district to the
great city, resolute upon making his
way. How he lived he best himself
knew for a 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
used now and then to walk up the
fashionable streets at night and loiter
q moment, lost in the crowd OF street
Arabs of small and large growth, at the
house of a well known prince or
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
a long. slowly moving mass or hverled
carriages, disgorging their contents on
the carpeted way. Hammond would
stand there an instant or two, observ-
ant Of the scene.
Some day." a voice within him
would say, Il shall open my doors in
this fashion or drive up to this very
door as these people do now"
/ Searle was but insufficiently cogni-
zant of these characteristics Of his
friend. He liked him, did him n good
turn when he could, and unbosomed
himself to him as the more prosperous
man viii occasionally do to the conf
dant whose fortunes are not SO excel
lent as his owl.
The excellence OF Searle's fortunes
was a matter Of relative estimates.
Searle himself felt that he vas 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 a bank on a
salary Of ten thousand dollars a year
was a beggarly sort of thing, unless a
man expected to get up higher.
Here lay the difference between the
two men. Searle supposed he might
get uo 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 a young girl II
her mother. The mother came secon'
: Searle had been infatuated for Sole
time. Now they We're engaged. The
young lady could scarcely he 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 al cir
cumstances, non-committal. But on the
other hand, not TO acknowledge the
beauty Of Adrienne EaStlake was i'm
possible.
Hammond, pleading another appoint
ment, left early. Searle fingered be-
hind half an hour later.
What do you think Of Hammond?'
be asked, looking down at the girl as
she sat before him in a low chair, her
head thrown back.
II have only seen him once" she
aid, evasiyely. Her manner to The
nan she was going 20 marry was cool,
! aim, elusive. But, u~nconsciousiy,
blinded by his own ~engrossing passion,
Searle invested it with 4 reflected fer
yor.
"Oh, Hammond is bound to strike
luck some day. Let me tell you about
, him"
And Searle discoursed for some min
guidly.
"Egad.' he cried, with a sudden
laugh, If he had only a start, with a
little capltal-say ten Thousand dollars.
Something like the chance one or two
fellows l know would have IL they
were aware of a certain inside fact 1
could communicate to them!'
Searle was rather n weak man, and
q somewhat indiScreet one. When
Adrienne, with a new show Of interest,
,cEpd what WAS the inside fact ha WAS