The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-01-06
TWO WIVES.


o husbands"
n "A quarrel this time that ends ever,
q thing. I'm going to my mother In Boz
ton"
Don't my dear"
Marion kingsland spoke thus in tone
tranquil and low. She was swaying he,
self softly In rocking chair, and she ha
folded her arms in leisurely way. Sh
was large, blond woman-not handsome
, but with beautiful figure and face full
Of sweet gravity
"Oh, you've always said that" replies
young Mrs Lawton, frowning at the fire
But now 1 mean to disobey your coun
sell
very well, Agnes; as you please. Re
member I've always said one thing. You
husband loves you devotedly''-
All, that's the very point, Marionl III,
loves me, but not devotedly. He"- ant
here Mrs Lawton lowered her face and
drew out the next words in a logged
dragging undertoDe-'he is not faithful y
The oscillations of Mrs. Kingsland's
rocking chair quicksned the least little hit.
What husband isSp
| "Saurs"
"Oh, Treat-yesl 1 was.1't thinking of
him" She colored, biting her lips. What
Is the present trouble, Agnes Tell me. F"
very simple. ! found ~ote in
Fred's-I mean Mr. Lawton's-overe," "at
pocket"
theres'' N"s
Doing theres"
iou were spying-jealously SPYING"
said Marion, with her usual calm. "Ad-
init 1t"
"You' re crueler than usual, Marion.
was fool to come here. Mamma will
sympathize, however. ! shall take the
o'clock train for Boston,
WAS the note very dreadfuls"
'Oh, 1t told its own story. And, as
you're aware, this Is not the first time''-
That you've gone through your hus-
bands pocketss know. And the sigma
tures"
"Initiala"
II see And very violent quarrel fol-
lowedi'
"The most violent we have ever had |
And the last we shall ever have"
Marion Kingsland stopped rocking. |
agnes, she said, breaking a pause, ~ |
don't know husband who in public is |
more respectful, more attentive, more posi- |
lively gallant to his wife than yours"
In publicr' bristled the other. "What |
does that means'
1t means O great deal more than many |
wife gets-many wife of our acquaint. |
ance whom I've heard you openly pity In |
my hearing. Now, answer me frankly |
Might not that letter which you found and |
read have implied filtration. passing
sentiment, rather than the very lurid and |
scandalous Interpretation you put upon
1T say, might it not? Think for mo-
ment before you answer
Agnes tossed her head, decked in tiny |
bonnet Of tangled pansies.
well, perhaps" she presently conced-
ed, with distinct reluctance
Perhaps" repeated Marion. "Now that
Is at least an admission. 1t puts Frederick
In more pardoDable light But il does
not excuse you from being most rashly in
discreet.
"Ob," fumed Agnes, 81 do so detest |
that kind of philosophy
''We women can cultivate none that Is
sounder."
''We women, Marionl How would you !
feel, pray, II your Trent
Never mind my Trent, dear. Let us |
talk generaltios for few minutes.
There's hardly household that hasn't its |
Bluebeard's chamber.
Except yours. And SO you can af-
ford
"Generalities, please, Agnes, just for
little while. There are Fatimas who do
pry, and there are Fatimas who don't.
The latter have by far the best time of it
that is, when their Bluebeards treat
them fondly and courteously. Discretion
Is wonderful safeguard to conjugal con-
tentment. The moral obligation with mon |
should be as strong as q Is with women.
i freely grant you that. But society does |
not grant 1t, and In the lives of our great
great-great- grandchildren 1t will not prac-
tically employ any such system Of ethics |
unless ! miserably err. 1t Is a system |
talked about, written about, and, II at
some day It will be actively exploited, on |
that day everybody who now lives will lie, |
as firmly believe, In graves whose deep |
est cut headstones have grown undecipher-
able blurs. The new woman may dream |
her dreams and even realize few of them. |
But, after all, it is still q mans world,
and "A mans world for many centuries It |
must remain. Fatima will reap nothing
by her curiosity except unhappiness. So |
many Of them live and die In blissful IL. |
norance. And it is SO much better that |
they should. Men are men, and the leop- |
ard does not change his spots. Why not |
let we'll aloneS A wife can tend and water |
her jealousy and her suspicion precisely "a |
II they were two different specimens Of fern |
In a favorite jardiniere or course marital |
neglect, Ill treatment, rudeness, are I'll !
autre chose. But I have often taken a |
tnoughtful survey, Agnes, of my own SO
c,ai surroundings They are very much |
.he same as yours, my dear. We often
, meet NJ The same teas, dinners, dances
We Know tho same set-the smart set, 4 |
suppose one would call it-and most cf |
our men friends are married, like our
sNs. And I've repeatedly asked myself
puging as much by what they don't SAY
rs ny what they do say, n a vast amount |
OF family torment may not be avoided by
the simple process Of Fatima refrainipg
rom all Interference with Buebeard's key
bunch"
Hero Agnes sprang from her scat by the
ure ana looked tearfully, impetuously,