The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-28
THE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY, MARCH rs, 1897.


Dick laughed shortly. though his heart
sank like lead lie knew what was COM
ing.
oh dare say" he returned, with I'M
easy defiance. And what did they find
to say about me? Scandal of sorts, no
doubt"
She turned to him desperately.
Il ought not TO have listened, I know
that, but ! heard the first words by ac-
cident, and then-and then / could not
move. ! seemed turned to stone. 1 can
never forget the things they said-and
the woman was worse than the man."
You betP' Dick said cynically. He did
not look at her, but at the shining tips
of his irreproachable patent leather shoes.
You may as well tell me the whole story
and have done with it," he went on. II
hate hearing things piecemeal."
She put her hand on the back of a chair
as II to steady herself and stood there look
ing at him-her face white and set, her
eyes glowing with an unwonted fury.
They talked she said, of you and
your life; of your love for gambling and
racing, and every form of dissipation, and
and of other things that can't be men
toned between you and me. Was it's
1t all true?"
He laughed again.
I'm not a saint" he said II never
professed that. Did you expect me to be
one?"
She looked him straight in the face.
No. she answered quietly II didn't
expect you to be saint-but 1 believed
you to be man of honor"
He was not quite hardened, and her
words cut like knife He WINGED
GO on he muttered between his teeth
Il don't know how to go on" she said
land yet i must. After that they began
to talk of me-Of you and me-and they
said-they said" She broke off with
a gesture that was all eloquent.
go on" he said again
She raised her eyes slowly to his.
They said," she went on, desperately.
that YOU did not love me, that you never
loved me, and that you only asked me 10
marry you because you had run through
all your money and because-because-
oh! the shame of it!--because my money
would enable you to keep on with the old
life and the old associations. They said
you had not given them up and did not
Intend to give them up even after our
marriage-even after our marriage. Is
that true?"
He shrugged his shoulders.
Yes" he answered recklessly; ITS true
enough"
She looked at him for a moment In
silence, then turned away
YOU"
Dick groaned in spirit. The situation
was the most embarrassing and unpleas-
ant one in which he had ever found him
self.
He had behaved like a blackguard-the
fact could not be CLOSED over-to a good
and true woman, and she had found him
out. 1t was not the first time that he
had behaved like a blackguard to a wo-
man, nor the first time that he had been
found out, but then those other women
were not like Maisie.
AS he stood there, staring at the floor
in sullen silence and feeling like a pris-
oner at the bar he thought of all that
this meant to hlm-and 1t meant just ev-
erythlng. He had lost his last chance.
Nothing lay before him but ruin and
misery and degradation. 1t was all over
now He had played a desperate game,
and his luck had failed him at the eriti-
cal moment. There was no more to be
said or done. Henceforth his world would
know him not.
AS he realized this with intense bitter
ness of spirit, he suddenly realized some
thing else, too--something that filled him
with surprise so overwhelming, so bewil-
dering so appalling, that il drowned for
the time being all other feelings. 1t was
Maisie that he regretted most of all
Maisie The woman to whom he had sold
himself in order that he might retain GER
tain things, had, by some strangely iron
ica freak of fate, became far dearer to
him than the things for whose sake he had
been more than willing to sell himself.
And he had not known Il until that mo-
ment.
1t has been said that we never appre-
ciate a thing at its true value until we
have lost 1t, and Dick bowed to the truth
of the old saying
Now that Maise was lost to him forever,
he realized all that she had been to him
realized that he was honestly and gem
timely in love for the first time in his life,
and with a woman who was the exact OPP
posite of all the women he had ever adj
mired before And this new strange love
had grown up in his heart so quietly and
gradually that he had not expected its ex-
isteuce till the present crisis had caused
It to leap into sudden passionate being.
Truly we are but puppets in the hands of
destiny.
Il loved you" Maisie said again. her soft
voice strained and broken, her soft eyes
dim with bitter tears, land / thought-I
thought you loved me-"
For minutes that seemed hours to both
of them, Dick stood still, staring at the