The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1895-02-16
WOMAN'S HISTORY.

When l see her pass in her carriage
IN the park, wrapped in her furs, opu-
lent, naughty, cold, invulnerable, beau
dful, the woman's history M back
to me ever and again, point for point,
step for step.
Her brow has the same marble
s~moothness; her shoulders, when she
sits in the blaze of her opera box,
diamonds that would grace a queen
shimmering on their whiteness, are as
incompatible as ever they were.
Time and again her calm, ~inscrutable
eyes meet, with g fleeting glance, her
husbands. They quietly, undemon-
onstratively despise each other, these
two. But, again, who would Know it?
Thus it astonishes no that both
go 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-
hcss, his neck that bovine character,
he was handsome enough.
But that was ten years ago. The
outward circumstances were different
then. On a moist, foggy afternoon i n
January a young man, with a keen, set,
determined cOuntenance and eyes brood
Ing, 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
ering, 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 vas 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. He
had come from a 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
a moment, lost in the crowd of street
Arabs of small and large growth, at the
house Of a we'll known prince OF
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 Of liverled
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 insuficiently cogn1-
zant of these characteristics Of his
friend. He liked him, did him a good
turn when he could, and unbosomed
himself to him as the more prosperous
man will occasionally do to the conf
dant whose fortunes are not so excel
lent as his own.
The excellence of Searle's fortunes
was a matter Of relative estimates.
Searle himself felt that he was as
lucky as any man need wish to be.
Hammond, had he been asked to give
bis opinion, would have remarked that
to be the manager Of a bank or 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 up 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 and
ner mother. The mother came second.
Searle had been infatuated for some
time. Now they were engaged. The
young lady could scarcely be 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 all 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!"
he asked, looking down at the girl as
she sat before him in q low chair, her
hand <hyscuyn hook s 'H
II have only seen him once" she
said, evasively. Her manner t.
man she was going to marry was coon,
calm, elusive. But, ~unconsciously,
blinded by his own %engrossing passion,
Searle invested it with a reflected fer
v0r. >n+ ~.
"Oh. Hammond is bound to strike
luck some day. Let me tell you about
him." 49,
And Searle d~iscoursed for some min
guidly.
.sEgadv' he cried, with a sudden
laugh, IF he had only q start, with a
little capital-say ten thousand dollars.
Something like the chance n or two
fellows I know would have If they
were aware of a certain inside fact 1
could communicate to themy"
Searle was rather a weak man, and
q somewhat indiscreet one. When
Adrienne, with a new show Of interest,
asked what was the inside fact, he was
not proof against the fiattery of her
freshly bestowed attention.
Simply the fact that U bank"
Then he stopped short.
Look here" he laughed, uneasily, II
ought not to be telling you this! It
only shows what confidence / have In
you-how I worship you! Heaven! l
believe better than any girl was wor-
rhinod hnfnfnW -. -. . II.