Connecticut western news., 1895-10-17
SEPARATION.

OEI AHA JUN.
 ''It is usual, believe" he said, "be- fore dissolving partnership to take ac- counts Let us see what we each brought into the firm. ''
 "You begin," she answered.
 ''I brought fair ability, energy, ann bition, decent position, means of com fortable life, an unblemished name. Ev- cry one said wasn't "a bad sort, and, more than all, brought deep, true, passionate love-"
 Said the woman, ''I brought beauty" her statement was splendidly true "youth, physical purity-to which you do not lay claim" He bowed. 'tPer- haps little else, for it was generous of you to marry the daughter of an undis- charged bankrupt"
 "What have we got out of our mar riage?" continued the husband. "Let me speak. Of course the honeymoon was failure. Poets and novelists spoke bitterly-"tell wicked ridiculous lies about honeymoons. They never are wholly happy, unless, perhaps, when it's the wife's second honeymoon, Aft CT that three months exquisite, almost mad joy, then four months of happi- ness, followed by three of contentment, ending in year of gradually increasing misery
 ''Of course the honeymoon was a fail ure, she answered. "The next three months were happy, the following four not bad, the subsequent three indiffer- ent, and the year was intolerable. You got more out of the business than l, for you put more in. Alas, I had not the beautiful mad love's capital, and yet"-
 "And yet" interrupted the man, misunderstanding, "you have wasted that capital, and the beautiful mad love has gone, and I, who once would have died for you-more than that, would have lived disgracefully for you. I do not believe in the loved I not honor more'-am content to dissolve partner ship, willing that we should part as friends.
 Content? Willing?" she asked. "Tell me, what do you regret most?"
 ''I regret my bankruptcy" he said. '.I began our partnership with what I thought splendid, inexhaustible fund of love. I look back to moments of hap piness beyond description, and now I am insolvent in love. After all, be- lieve," he continued, with pleasant : manly smile, ''I believe that it is bet ter to have loved and lost," even if it be the love and not the sweetheart that one has lost. Do you regret nothing? NUbat o1;rr,C xor,r 2,,
 She shook her head.
 "Come, you should tell me. There, on the table near you, is the deed of dissolution, the separation deed = it hasn't even been engrossed on parch- ment, but is printed on paper. At the end are two seals. We execute the dis solution deed by putting our fingers on the seals. The partnership was executed with our lips In quarter of an hour MT. Hawkins, the lawyer, will be here | to witness the execution. Tell me-" She shook her head again-her splen- did head, regular in feature, delightful in complexion, crowned with gorgeous auburn hair, illumined by deep, large, violet eyes.
 "You regret nothingf" With sigh she answered. 1T regret that you have cast your pearls before me. regret that have misprized and lost your love; that I gave you little in return. I regret that my very inability to return your love truly has irritated me by making me feel your debtor; that feeling of irritation has helped to make | you miserable and me miserable too"
 ''I did not use the word regret quite in that sen5e." he answered. 1T meant is thero nothing that you look back tc of happiness that yet lives in your mem ory?"
 She put down the fan that had flut tered in her tender hands, and with hal smile, half blush, answered, "Ther' was one thing, one moment, that I re gret.
 He rose and walked up and down th' room, the daintily furnished room, ev erything in which was note in deat love soilg.
 "A year ago, almost to the day, cer tainly to tomorrow, we were at Etaples you recollect?'
 ''It was for economy'I went, becaus it was ridiculously cheap and very petty and I hated Boulogne. D
 "I remember how we wandered about; how, alas, we quarreled in tn lovely pine woods, or, to be true, quarreled, and you suffered, and tn splendid seashore, where I said bite things because my friends were a Trouyille and I at the quiet Pari Page, and you were sad and silent. "
 My dear,'' he interrupted, "I wa ] greatly to blame"
 "Hushl You must not interrupt Then one day we took boat-a clums. boa:-and sailed out, despite the warn incs of the fishermen. didn't care, yo1 didn't care-what happened. We ha quarreled, or, rather, l, at lunch. sai harsh things"
 My dear" he interrupted, "ther were faults on both sides. They render ed life intolerable and love impossible butt
 "Hushl We rowed out. You had tn sculls and I steered-at least lay l
 the stern and splashed the waves wit
 my hands-the hands you used to Xii so often.
 She paused and looked at the hands
 firm. plump and white and decked wit lovely rings of curious workmanship He, too, looked at them and sighed. Si
 sighed. - -