The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1896-12-29
A DISAPPOINTMENT.

There i'a difference, subtle, distinct, yet
perhaps inexplicable-th face of Helen
Barton year ago is not her face today.
Hers was background figure in that half
farcical sketch of justice Of "Justice Will
kinshaw's Attentions in my book of
"English Episodes. - pleased myself by
picturing, behind the vulgarity and tricki-
ness Of one or another Of the persons Of a
trivial drama, the fine, refreshing presence
of tho tall and suave and violet eyed book
keeper at the HI tel at Scarborough--a wo-
man who was popular and yet desirable, q
favorite yet unsl oiled. But she is no lon
ger the same. Ami it is the change in her,
and it is nothing else, that constitutes her
sordid tragedy.
1t is q matter for rejoicing perhaps that
she may live-indeed, may eat, drink, walk
and sleep and work and chatter, too, and
pretty often, with forced or chance
gayety-for many long year that seems
to casual observation not unprosperous, not
void, certainly, Of all life's purchasable
pleasures. Hers is a tragedy, no less. She
has not In these 10 months lost all beauty
and all goodness. 10 have done that would
have been difficult. Much had been given
her Of both and much remains Yet there
Is something - important, underlined.
which has essentially altered for as you
look ut her this certainly you feel she is
another Helen Barton.
If you don't like her. if she was mover
sympathetic to you, or at least If you have
never acquired the habit of observing wom-
en- closely, you will put it down to health.
You will say: "Perhaps this short time
since we last saw her, perhaps one bad ILL
ness has made certain ravagos. The trace
of them may pass. Or you may say still
loss and sagely recognize that the poor girl
is tired, or that the weather, with its
abrupt transitions, tries Miss Barton like
the rest Of U.s. Wide of the mark anyhow.
Her health is buta symptom Of her spirits
condition.; fatigue q mere excuse, the
weather not to be charged with all the mis-
chief that it's the fashion to believe. These
things have wrought no vital change in our
still fine looking young friend people would
still pay court to. You are not at the root
Of the matter certainly. Helen Barton
keeps her secret.
She has somehow lost heart If you are
one of those who really like her, that you
know though you know nothing else Her
life, it seems, is n dull machine The
wheels CRATE dry. Or, more, somewhere a
chain has broken, or Il handspring snapped
suddenly.
She happened to have changed, u few
months since, the place Of her abode In
stead Of a hotel at Scarborough, the scene
of her day doings has shifted to hotel at
York. But the company that gathers
round her in the evening hours, or in the
idle times in the long afternoon, is of the
nature that it used to be, and Helen Bar
ton is the recipient now of cheap atlmira-
ton, now of tcrvent, tranSitory regard
Tho attention paid to her she sometimes
wildly encourages. Much oftcncr it APP
pears only to bore her; it is 50 much
matter of COURSE it does mako 50 little diff
ference; it is the same practically. And
she is sought perhaps all the more because
it is her habit to be inaccessible
What, them is the reason for the occa-
siOnal Transformation Of her manncr-for
tho listlessncss, reaching to sadness, and
then again for the encouragement
wild " did l say?-that here and there
she Offers Notice her!
Under the influence Of great emotion or
If some experience profound and prolonged
the eyes of certain women change their
color. From dny to day, as you notice her,
rhc eyes Of Helen Barton change but little.
They have changed, though, very much
since a year ago. They are good eyes still,
Observation-Disclosures with which, if she were
% minded, she could make an appeal eff
ectvcly. But they arc not quito the !
uayc and violet eyes they used to lie at |
Scarborough. The world was in front of |
hem then, and they feared nothing, ana |
hey trusted much. They are now Of !
Older, less bewitching, more ordinary blue,
color tanner more ctfaccd They seem to
ave past in them that you cannot ex-
lain. Put two and two together, though,
nd sooner or later you will get at her mis-
ory
With q character intelligent, yet quite
with small capacity for
old thought and q great power of feeling
cenly, through frame magnificent and
attuncd, Helen Barton may not,
Il the medical phrase, have been "a fla
orable subject for an attack of love
ever. Her life perhaps Travelled upon lines
90 few to give her average chances Of di-
ersion and escape. She was handsome
irl and healthy, so organized, indeed,
hat she could scarcely fail to like the pass
ng pleasures of the hour and day. She
tuck to her work admirably, was won
erfully exact in her accounts, but &C.
cunts arc scarcely fascinating She had
ever read one good book steadily, or loved
allure, or cared for any art Had, then,
lat love foyer, attacking her, found her
And she who, not flirt at
Il, and counting, as it seemed, so little on
lo admiration of many--had she come one
ny to set tremendous store on tho admira-
on Of ono9
1t would he hazarding too much perhaps
, say such admiration had been given and
Id been withdrawn; some coveted care
me superficial appreciation at least--with
.wdry show Of passion-bestown and sud-
'nly ended. Part of the change in Helen
arton might be explained by that, any
wv, But the student Of the young wom-
/, as she lives and suffers today-though
by do I say suffers when all that is
lite evident Is that she Is often intoler-
Wy bored and sometimes inconsistency
ger and Is not quite as bcautiful-the
Hdent of this young woman must not ex-