The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1897-09-01

been neighbor and dear friend OF
Elizabeth.
II hear you are TO be married." she
said, suddenly. There was question in
her voice, but rot question that at all
doubted of being answered.
Jones chafed. 1t was none of her
business; il was meddlesome curiosity;
yet to himself acknowledging that she
had always shown unselfish interest,
and that now he would, nay, must,
answer.
All he could attain to by his inward
rebellion was an attempt to soar light
ly above her. He crossed one knee
over the other, then crossed the other
over that, and said: "Well, congratu-
late me, won't you?" and he succeeded
in saying it with a sort of nervous flip
pancy.
He could detect nothing but gentle
gravity and she answered: "I cannot
do that"
He sat stifiiy, thinking that if this
were a man, he'd know pretty well
what to do with him.
1--WE had experience with a step
mother myself" sine went on quietly,
as if thinking aloud, and without
thought of influencing.
Jones started. Really, it was almost
indelicate in her to talk this way. Be
side, he had not thought of Sue a.
step-mother. That is surely an ugly
name.
"And / could never wish any little
human being so unhappy childhood
as | had. My step-mother was good
woman, and her ways were right in
physically, of course, but in the thou
sand and one ways that only person
thoroughly out of sympathy with
child can be. tried my little best to
please her, and then have wept my lit
tie heart out TO sympathetic pillow
at night, that nothing l could do was
pleasant TO her, and that she didn't
really want to be pleased. l was simp-
ly crushed. If / had not been vigor-
Gus believe | would have died"
She paused, and Jones found no
words. He told himself that he had
no need, nor no wish to defend Sue to
this meddlesome woman. "If / had
not been vigorous | believe | should
have died'-the words burnt him. His
little girls were not vigorous.
''I have thought of your poor chill
dren many times, but | cannot come
to Elizabeth's home how. / cannot.
| should only make spectacle of my
self.n
about anything so long ago?n
thought her listener, and then he turn
ed restlessly, as he had done last night |
when he remembered that it was noe |
really so long ago.
"l can never pass the house without |
seeing Elizabeth's dear face just as she |
stood the last time saw her. She was |
wearing the pretty blue gown with the |
gay little ribbons-you remember"
Jones nodded.
"She leaned against the pillar at the |
corner of the veranda, and talked sau-
ely to me at the gate. The clematis |
vine she planted at the corner-you
know-laid one OF its clusters on her |
head. Her arm Vas raised-hadn't |
Elizabeth the dearest curves TO her |
arms? just wanted to lay my cheek
on her wrist and kiss the whiteness
often"
Jones face was blanched. Eliza
beth's dear arms, He felt them clasp |
him. He laid again his cheek to her
wrist and kissed the whiteness.
"One other time, among the last / re-
member, I had said something had
feared had hurt her, and 1 apologized;
then, going home on foot, passed
your gate just as she left the carriage. !
She stopped me to speak of what had
passed, and was so sweet in her assur-
ance of her love for mel loved her |
so! remember just how she looked;
she was enhancing; in brown, with
plumes on her broad hat that made her |
hair glisten gold and her face look
like lilly"
Jones' eyes burned. "She was so
sweet in her assurance of her love for
me" ran through his brain. "God"'
he cried to his aching heart, 81 loved
her sou
al never see the little girls without
seeing in them dear Elizabeth's sweet,
sweet face"
She was torturing himl his skin was
parched.
"And''-she said as she rose. Jones
lifted his eyes heavily. She seemed
taller than usual; he wondered DULY
at it; ITO see another there in her place,
caring for her flowers, or perhaps neg
lecting them; sitting in her chairs, re-
clining on her dainty couches, presid-
ing at her place at your table; to have
you giving your homage and love,
holding her in your arms and melting
her with your kisses, as if Elizabeth
had never been-oh, i cannot bear it,
1 cannot bear it?''
A sob broke on Jones' ear; he heard
a door shut loudly, and looked up to
find himself alone.
And then, to his surprise, began u
struggle, in which his native common
sense could not conquer. ''Oh, Eliza
beth, Elizabethp' his heart called,
He walked the room with
uneven, restless steps. He turned fierce
ly on an inoffensive office boy: "No L
can see no one"
He thought of Sue.
What had he seen i'm Sue. w hat n
ungraceful walk she had!
How expressionless her face almost al
ways was.
He tried TO recall the passions her
kisses Lad aroused him to, but his
blood refused to leap and thrill. 1t
struck him now that she was thought
too eager; there had been delicious
shyness about Elizabeth that no other
woman possessed.
He recalled some woman's un-
remark that the Simpsons
vpara naf ca rafuI hnusakeapars Heay-