The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1896-10-30

very dark. So swift and sudden had
the trouble come upon him that it still
seemed like the haunting memories of
a terrible dream. But few months
ago he was happy in the sweet COM
panionship of his wife; now he was
alone.
Happiness in this world depends
largely upon ability to forget. 1t was
not without feeling of pleasure that
he had accepted De Vaux's invitation
10 rcioin him in Gray's Inn. The
rooms seemed more comfortable than
before, and the freedom was delight
full AS the band upon his hat became
narrower, the restraint, prompted by
sympathy, with which men regarded
him, died away. lie drifted back TO
the old life with feeling of pleasant
expectancy. but to find the world had
changed. 1t surprised him to discover
how selfish De Vaux had become, while
the manners of their ''set" panied him.
Their brilliancy seemed to have given
place to flash 'gaseousness, originality
to carping contentiousness; wit was
now insolent abuse, and humor posi-
tive vulgarity. Yet they were the
same actors without shop" authors
without publisher, and less extraor-
binary imbeciles without an object
in life. With indolent interest he used
to expect great things from some OF
them, but they were still squatting in
the mire. The Junior Gatherium had
been refurnished, and the cooking was
excellent, but the same decline was
noticeable among the members. The
tales old Badboy narrated in his cor
ner of the smoking-room were, to say
the least, unfit for publication, yet the
old fellow was his most cherished ac-
quaintance in the bygone days. The
place abounded in loud-voiced boys of
new and, to him, mcst Objectionable
species. The past belongs to the past;
man cannot live his life again.
''Poor old fellow, don't care to say
disagreeable things about him, but,
really, he had become a most selfish
beggar," said De Vaux, leaning against
the mantel-piece.
said his friend as he knocked the ashes
from his pipe on to the carpet. "You
ought to get married again, he's no
good for anything else"
'ILe used to be such jolly, easy-go-
ing fellow, now he growls at every
thing. The way he bullies our un-
fortunate laundres is shocking. When
he wakes up, he'll make you sweep
those ashes from the floor"
1.-THE side the man puts on, his as
sumption of virtue, and the way he
sneers at us really annoys me. He is
skeleton at every feast, looks as
shocked as curate if man tells
racy tale, and actually called old
Soal1er a cad because he could not
walk downstairs. / remember bring
him home in a cab two or three
Years oso, ana ne yelled comic songs
all the way"
ITS awful" said De Vaux, with q
laugh; last Sunday he came in while
was having afternoon tea with some
ladies, and simple turned upon his
heel, and slammed the door as he went
out"
"Well, I'm afraid you can't poison
him and put him out of his misery"
He is not our old Selfton, theaters
! bore him, the halls are disgusting. He
won't dance, does not drink enough to
enliven healthy child, smokes in q
corner and growls. At the club no one
can understand him. He has tried the
river, CALF, the Solent, the card room,
and Paris, all in vain. | don't know
what to do with him. You remember
our last little supper party here.
Well, he got it up, and was perfectly
disgusted with everything and every
body, yet all the boys were old
friends"
"Yes, I'm afraid he is incurable-"
"Yes, | am, " cried Selfton, springing
from the sofa upon which he had been
sleeping, "Im u nuisance to myself
and all of you, can't forget the two
happy years of my life, and l can never
live them again. I'll go into some COR
ner and wait patiently for the future,
since | cannot go back to the past"
isn't he lazy dadda. sno-s ilze