The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-11-20

over Ills face. %, l forgot, he SalC
leaning away; I didn't mean 70 annoy
, you- A year or two ago. Of course.
might have held your hand in mine as
{ long as l liked You were still free
being. But what was right then is
: wrong now, according to the kaleid
: scopic etiquette Of your coun5rywo
: men, I forgot al that in the heat OF
the moment. / recollected only we
: were two human beings of the same
race and blood, with hearts that beat
and hands thatlay together. remember
now you must hide and stifie your ma
tive impulses in future; you're tabooed
for life TO Robert Montieth: must
! needs respect his seal SET npon YOU
; And he drew a deep sigh Of enforced
resignation
''F'reda sighed in return These
problems are so hard. she said.
. ''Berthram smiled a strange smile.
There are no problems he answered
confidently. You make them your
selves. You surround life with taboos.
and then-you talk despairingly of the
problems with which wour own taboos
alone have saddied YOU
One night Freda came 10 his rooms at
the clearinghouse to tell him that her
husband had said she must have moth
ing more to do with him and she has
come to say goodbye" She was
frightened at her temerity. but this is
the way Bertram Ingledew regarded
the situation: "Bertram gazed at her,
| distressed. Her tone was distressing.
Overcame him. She had to slip in there
like fugitive or a criminal. She had
TO crawl away by stealth from that
man. her keeper. She, a grown wo-
man and a moral agent, with a will Of
her own and a heart and conscience,
was held so absolutely in serfdom as
a particular mans thrall and chattel,
! that she couldn't even 60 out TO visit a
/ friend without these degrading subter-
| fuges of creeping in unperceived by a
back entrance and talking low under
| her breath. lest clearinghouse crone
/ should find out what she was doing,
And all the world of England was so
! banded in league with the Slave-driver
against the soul he enslaved that If
| Miss Blake had seen her she could
hardly have come in; while, once in.
she must tremble and whisper and steal
| about with muffied feet, for fear of
! discovery in this innocent adventure.
He held his breath with stifled wrath.
1t was painful and degrading
Then he told her he loved her and
that she loved him and that her hus-
band was not to be considered
Bertram "bent over the woman of his
choice and kissed her with chaste
warmth. On the forehead first: then,
after a short interval. twice on the
lips. At each Kiss. from which she
somehow didn't shrink, as if recogpiz-
ing its purity, Freda felt a strange
thrill course through and through her.
She quivered from head to foot. The
scales fell from her eyes. The taboos
OF her race grew null and void within
her soul. She looked up at him more
boldly. 80, Bertram,' she whispered,
nesting close toehis side and burying
her blushing face in the mans curved
bosom. 81 don't know what you've
done TO me, but feel quite different
as if I'd eaten the fruit of the tree Of
knowledge Of good and evil"
Il hope you have" Bertram answer
ed in a very solemn voice, 'for, Freda,
you will need it, He pressed her
close to his breast; and Freda Mon |
eieth, a free woman at last, chung there |
many minutes with no vile inherited |
sense Of shame or wrongfulness. II
can't bear TO co. she cried, still cling |
ing to him and clutching him tight. |
I'm SO happy here, Bertram; o, so
happy, so happy"
So Bertram and Freda eloped and /
took Freda's two children with them.
The enraged husband followed and |
came up on the runaways. Bertram
was standing with his arm around Mrs.
Montieth and he resented the intrusion.
This is the way he answered the hus-
bands angry charges: II am not
scoundrel, and / will not submit to be
called so even by an angry savage. 1
ask You in return. how dare you follow
us? You must have known your pres
ence would be very unwelcOme- /
should have thought this was just the
one moment in your life and the one
place on earth where even you would
have seen that to stop away was your
imperative duty. Mere selfrespect
would dictate such conduct. This lady
has given you clear proof, indeed, that
your society and converse are highly
distasteful to her" Then MOntieth.
gOaded TO madness. did what most men
would have done in the circumstances,
he shot the man dead, who Mr. Allen
says. had never wronged him" As
the husband and wife stood over the
dead mans body "a faint blue fame
seemed TO issue from the wound In
Bertram's right side and rise lambent
into the air above the murdered bady.
. Gradually. as they gazed. the
pale blue fame. rising higher and
higher. gathered force and volume, and
the perfumes as of violets became dis ,
tinct on the air, ike the SAVIOUR OF & =
purer life than this century wots Of
Bit by bit. the wan blue light. Pickering ,
thicker and thicker. shaped itself into {