The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1897-04-03
WadswOrth Dispatch,
PUBLISHED sEMI-wEEKLy
SO 90 Per Annum

~ SAAp AZ W III n II iADtt9-
ed
What made you take such a yow?" l
askld.
II don't know; l can't say. wns hur-
T.ed into 1t. 1t happened like Il Isl: We
were walking Oh the Digue at Ostend orc
evening. Mmo. Anutotf and ann were
On in front. Paul and / were leiiind. lie
was in very low spirits that day, for be
Lad just seen some specialist, who had told
him point blank that he had not six weeks
- live, and he could not bear the thought
nj eying and leaving me. Up to that mo-
nhent le had always cherished a secret hope
Tat might yet become his wife-poor
Paul. He was u Pole, you know, and very
romantic and superstitious and altogether
different from any other man l / have ever
known. His despair that evening terrified
mo, and when he asked me IL | would
grant him one last request, whatever it
might be, l answered Yes, without think
iEg-anything to comfort the poor fellow.
And tho request was that / should let him
PLACE this ring on the third finger If my
right hand, and as lie did SO repeat after
him some sentences in Polish. | did it, and
then he told me that | had sworn solemnly
10 wear t.lis ling until doeth, to be buried
with it, and that l Lud asked God to unite
rs hereafter, even II it should be his good
leasiiro to separate US here upon earth"
And you took that vow and you ut
tered that lrayer!' l exclaimed In horror.
Yes" she said. "What else could l dor
Paul was in despair, and he was dying.
IL would have been cruel to refuse him.
There are times when l regret horribly
having acccded to his request, and yet l
nm quite s,iro that If the time were To
eoine over again l should behave exactly
she same"
There l entirely agreed with her. "1f
the time were to come over again." we
siiot'd most of us "behaye exactly the
SAM" As were the bygone days, SO will
the coming ones be. Tho Ethiopian. can
rot change his skin. The copy cook moral
list has told us that Experience teaches"
Possibly she does, but l fancy that the
number OF her pupils who have p~rofited
by her lessons Is very small, and 1t will
take her all she knows to enable her to
hold her own las IN inspirer uf conduct)
against teinperament-for the ply steal
snays tho moral, and the moral stamps
the intellectual.
"And, after all" Cocile added, ~ did
nothing. l only spoke u few words"
every word has its own spirit,
M True or false, that never dies.
Every word your lips have uttered
Echoes in God's Jkies,"
/ murn,ured.
Don't, don'tr' she cried. THAT Ia the
sort of thing Paul would have snid. Thank
heaven, Frank is not-trnnscendcntal."
asked her IL she know the meaning of
the word, and she l%auRhingly replied that
she knew 1t was something uncomfortable.
And then she suggested that we should
change the subject,
"And please tell dear old Frank not to
bother. II he wants the ring, he'll have
to saw off my finger to get 1t, and / sup
pose he doesn't wish to do that"
From that hour we dropped the subject,
and | cunnot remember any further allu-
sion to it being made. Isuppose the young
people came to some satisfactory under
standing, for frank never again asked me
TO interfere In the matter, and ! was thus
spared II repetition of hat Is always
an ungruteful as well as an unpleasant
task.
lime passed on, ard the wedding day
was fixed, and Cecile, like most brides
elect, lived in a whirl. Between dressmuk-
ers and friends and bridesmaids and rela-
tives, not to mention FraLk, she seemed
to be 'on the Ro' morning, noon and
right, anC | hogan to recognize The truth
of one OF tbs uniavorable remarks l had
heard. She WIS unquestionably extremely
delicate. She seemed to grow thinner day
by day, and sometimes, when my eye fell
On the offending little ring with Its ouri-
Gus green stone, l would tell myself that
soon 1t would Lot be a question of being
unable to take 1t of, but of being impos-
sible to keep 1t. IL. However, notwith-
standing her thinness and her pallor, she
was in excellent spirits n laughed our
fenrs to scorn.
One morning, about a week before the
day for which the wedding had been fixed,
l went up to Savile row with the Longs
to sec the final trying on of the bridal cos
tune. Ceciie looked lovely In her marriage
garment Of soft, rich satin, the dead white
of which was relieved here and there by
the dark green of the myrtle leaves with
which both the bodice and train were
trimmed. The whole strength of the COM
pany was summoned from the atelier above
to admire their habdiwork and Its wearer,
who was all smiles and gracious respon,
siyoness for a time, until suddenly, with
out n word or a sign of warming, she
clutcLed hold Of the chair against which
she Was standing and ieil back in a dead
faint.
We were not long in restoring her to
consciousness, but before leaving the
house l learned, 10 my grief and dismay,
thai this WAS rot the first time that Ce-
Giles strel 9Th had sucoumbed under n
similar strain.
"But some young ladies' reverca stant
for long, said tie graceful, fair haired
modiste, who looktd herself ready to drop
with exhaustion. However she added
Quickly, ait cannot lie helped. One must
-A...G -. .,nt.;, TINA II ono witches tn he