Connecticut western news., 1895-09-05
A DUOLOGUE.

This is not a problem story" Neither does it discuss the advantages or disadvantages of having thew wo. men" in our midst. It is true tale. And it concerns 0 good man and a bad woman. They would never have met if the London county council had come into existence few years earlier than it did, because he saw her at the Empire. The exact date was Aug. 25, and it was a very hot night. The curtain had fallen on the last scene of the ballet. The man rose from his seat and walked across the prom enade toward the bar. He passed several women, but he did not pass her. He had no intention of stopping, still less of speaking. Yet, when he saw her, he stopped. and when she stopped he spoke. do not remember what he said. They sat down together at little table. A waiter brought them cup of black coffee and whisky and soda He drank the coffee.
 They talked, but again I cannot re- member what they said. A man on the stage sang o comic song. A woman on the promenade faint ed and was carried away.
 Then she said, Well, are you com ing?''
 ''No," he replied. "I don't know why I stopped or why spoke to you. 1 am not one of the crowd' here. 1 am not a performer in the Comedy of Life I am only an onlooker." :"
 She stared at him. 'Then why"-
 1T have told you I do not know. Perhaps I thought you looked out of place-here. ''
 ''I have been here every evening for 3 months. I ought not to look 'out of place '"
 "Why did you come?" Do you expect me to answer that question in this building, surrounded by these people?''
 II am sorry. Of course not. It would resemble performance by The Inde- pendent Theater society, suppose?"
 1T had better go, then. if you do not''-
 "No; stay and talk. Are you happy?" Hardly !" "Are you miserable?" "I am not sure. !" Did you ever love anything?" "Yes." "What?'' ''Life-the trees and fields; the wild moorlands; the sea; the birds that sing in the hedgerows; the cattle in | the fields; the horses and dogs at tho farms. Yes, loved life. loved to feel the wind blowing ill my face; 1 loved | to smell the scent of the heather; loved to hear tl.o song of the mountain streams. Fla. hal I'm almost poetic! | I'm'-
 "Go on. That is all. Did you ever love any. | thing?''
 "Yes." "Who?" "No one.-I mean only dog" "Ohr' ''But he is dead" | "Of course" "Why of course?'" " | Because you loved him"
 The man lit a cigarette. Do you be- lieve in heaven?' | 'No; if I did, should have been dead long ago am afraid to die be death. I so long for-for peace-fol something else-something beautiful something to love. Do not laugh"
 "You are not bad woman"
 "Yes, am."
 "Then you ought not to have beer one."
 "True. That is the cruel part of it. ,
 They watched the men and womer promenading before them. Then tht woman said, "It is strange world. "'
 The man did not answer. He wa thinking. She continued: "You are |, strange person. Where do you live
 What do you do? How do you anus, yourselff'
 "Oh, live alone. quite alone, now my dog Is dead. watch people. lister to what they say. and-I think.'
 "What do you think?"
 "I think that when he-whoever The is-created men and women he ought tt have made them altogether gods or al together animals No one in the world is happy, because no one is ever certain whether he-or she-should live for tn,
 real or for the ideal. And therefore men decided to seek for both, to bt sometimes good and sometimes bad, tc play at being gods once a week anG beasts twice a week-in fact, to live fol the real 61a days out of the 2. Ant some of us, you know, cannot, as the say ing goes, do things by halves. W, must be wholly one thing or the other There is only the good or bad. Ther'
 is no mediocre for some of us. So W
 leave the choice to fate, and when fat
 has chosen for us the world rises an
 either crowns us with the laurel wrcat or paints us with colors from the devil
 palate. The world is so blind it cannt
 see that really we had no choice in tt
 matter. think sometimes fate make
 mistake. She grows weary sometime
 and gives the good where she ought have given the bad. ' "She made mistake when she chos
 for mo. Say she made . mistake
 please. !"
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