Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1895-03-15

JNSS sAAkh AAShlGOu6 lOEu, ANOvCE
for one moment would she have submit
ted to unrighteousness or to tyranny.
What a fierce little m this is!" he
whispered, with a smile. 81 never could
have believed it of her!"
"oh, forgive me! 1t is because 1 am so
%happN-so happy! that 1 can understand
what it must he to be miserable"
But Bclla's misery. however deeply it
had moved her sister-in-law, did not seem
to have overwhelmed herself. She began
talking over al her affairs, yolubly and
freely; silent endurance was not her gift.
once having got her brother to agree with
ner IN the opinion which, ut any rate, she
heid to-day, though it might change to-
morrow, she became quite cheerful, and
Planned her future life rs n "widow be-
wltched" with an eagcrness that q little
astonished Silence.
N mamma would only give me some
money, L could spend the summer in Swift
zeriahd, the winter in Paris. always
wanted to travel abroad for awhile: and
10 DC travelling without him, able to go
Whrre liked, and do what I wanted.
Oh!'-a sigh of intense relief-"Rodv
you must try and persuade mamma to
give me plenty of money!"
You forget" he began. brayely.
Dear me, yes! 1 had forgotten all
about it. But never mind, Rody dear"
IN a coaSing tone; cant you put your
wrongs in your pocket, and write to her
ior me: You always wrote sucl. capital
ictters; II She would listen to you when
she listened to nobody els. Her only son
worm all her daughters put together
at least she thought so. Come-do it.
This morning ] objected to her being told
where 1 was, but now 1 see it must be.
You'll save ME the trouble of it by writ
ing to her YOURSELF"
Poor Bella! She was always ready to
lay her burdens upon anybody who was
willing to bear them. He knew that, and
yet when he looked at her, and heard her
familiar caressing voice, the good brother
felt again like the little boy who had car
ricd his big sisters parcels, flowers, gar
den tools, even her doll sometimes. when
she got tired of it.
Il cannot write to my mother" he
said, with a sad carnestess; "but I will
telegraph to her in your name, saying
where you are, and that you wish to stay
with me|you really do wish it?-till
something Gun be settled between you
and your Observation-Disclosures or, if
it must be, separation"
"Separation-only that; she says so,"
cried Bella, always ready another pecu-
~liarity-how strangely, cruelty clear they
all came out nowD-rcady and eager to
lay the responsibility of her doings and
opinions upon somebody else.
what I say is" Silence answered,
that If You husband is us bad as you
aver, and if you have that hatred to him
which you profess to have, there is no
righteous course for you but separation.
4 kIff v0Yr pnvrct mot rN,n, a. on n1,o, 4 ...-.ll
as you propose. Live simply and quietly.
Be n real mother and take care of your
child. You can never be quite dcsolate
with n child"
Bella shrugged her shoulders. "You
have the most extraordinary ideas! But
YOU are q good woman-a very good
woman. l shall tell mamma so. 1t shall
not be the worse for you to have been
kind to me, my dear" she added, With a
certain touch of feeling. and then plunged
back into her own affairs, which absorbed
her SO entirely, and which she expected
every one else to be absorbed in too.
Far into the night they talked, for Mrs.
Alexander Thomson, who never rose
early, was accustomed to sit up late; and,
besides, she seemed to take a certain sat
isfaction in discussing her m~isfortunes.
1t was like n person with an ugly wound,
or a remarkably severe illness, who at
last comes even to take u sort of pride in
the same. The sclf-rcspcct, the reticencc,
the silence of a broken heart, was not
hers at all, though unquestionably she
had been n cruelty wronged TAX
ing advantage of her folly, worldliness,
and love of wealth and position, her hus-
bands family had married him to her,
just to shift from themselves the burden
of lima man who, as she truly said,
wanted q keeper" rather than a wife.
She had walked into the snare, o%pen-eycd,
but it had been Il snare nevertheless; and
Roderick, as he heard her revelations,
felt his blood boil with righteous indigna-
ton, that instructive chivalry in defense
of the injured and weak, which if every
strong man felt as he ought to feel there
would be no need for feeble women to
veX the world with clamors about their
rights or their wrongs. The truly noble
of either sex never care to put forward
either the one or the other.
While Bella talked, Roderick and his
wife We're almost entirely silent; and
when, afterward, day after day passed
by, and no answer came to the telegram,
or to a second, which, weary of waiting,
she sent after it, still they made as few
comments us pOSSlDlc OH Will uOW UcSuu
seriously to pcrplex them both.
Mrs. Thomson did not seem in the
least p%erplexed. She made herself ex-
trcmely comfortable, without much re-
garding the comfort of other people, ex-
acted n great deal of attendance, and
amused herself with suggesting many
luxuries hitherto unknown ut Blackhall.
mo, there's no fear of my husbands
coming to fetch me-" she said one day, in
answer to a question of Roderick's. HE
is n Richerden man all ovcr-hates the
country; would never face a Highland
pass in winter, and if he came he would
run away again. You haven't big enough
rooms or grand enough dinners for him.
By-the-by, Blackhall is rather a cold
house, Silence, and a little gloomy, you'll
allow. You ought to keep up good fires,
and l think. if l were you, l would have
entirely new curtains and carpets before
next winter"
Silence smiled. It was one of those
numerous little remarks which she had
l n1raodv 1nornod u,,ioflv fO smile 0t with.