Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1897-06-05


served as a sample of repartee." she told
him; for she insisted upon seeing him
through very rosy spectacles, and when
she found the rosiness fading or wear
ing away in spots, she laboriously tinted
them up again. She talked diplomacy,
the world. life, ambition, to him con-
stantly. She lost sight of the fact that
an officer has very little use for that
sort of thing. She brought him to cor
rect tastes in the matters of art, and
literature, and music, and, above all, per-
sonal appearance.
He absorbed how to cut his finger
nails, probably, for she never actually
told him, and he stopped chipping them
on the bias lie tried ut saying things
with his eyes; pretty generally the
things had to be said over with his
tongue, but both of them laid that down
to Mrs. Torrey's stupidity. After all,
Gordon was improved 1t took IS
months to get him into shape, and then
he said he was in love with Mrs. Torrey.
The way she had brought him up made
him hard to handle. He had all kinds OF
ideas that do in books and salons and
French, but are bad, in fact, in the army
and in England. 1t began with the eye
talk, and Mrs. Torrey understood that.
But she pretended she did not: so he
thought her stupid again and put it in
words. He was very fiery about it-as
in the books. They were on the porch to-
gether after dark This was rare. for
she was careful of appearances, usually.
! hnt
life itself to me?" he asked.
81 have tried to show you life"
Don't talk to me in that cold. in
structive way, as though you were years
older than land homely. You are only
half year older, and what is that?-
wherein the Balzac showed-"and you
are beautiful"
"Oh! no, | am not"
AT least you have the face of Ma
donna"
ITO you it should be the face of a
brother officers wife"
Cant you see that l love you pas
sionately?"
IT can see that you think you love me
romantically, but you don't"
He did, however. He was in earnest,
and he had had the decency to keep it
to himself for long while. Then it had
burst out. and after that he made her
life burden. She saw that it was her
fault, she ought to have seen that the
kindest thing to do in the long run
would be to drop him relentlessly then
and there. Instead of that she tried to
reason with him and to comfort him,
which, of course, did not work.
He said that if she shook him
altogether, he would kill himself,
and he might have done so, be-
cause his brain was a romantic mud
die. Mrs. Torrey was in a very bad pre-
dicament when Uncle Sam came to her
aid. He ordered Lieut.. Torrey to Bal
timore on recruiting service.
Torrey lived in Washington, and went
over to Baltimore to the Office every day.
In two months Gordon had sick leave
and was in Washington. Mrs. Torrey
was frightened. She flew into a rage,
and told Gordon what she thought of
his actions. He retorted by calling her
heartless. 1t ended in a parting with
tears and curses; and Gordon married
an heiress before he went back.
Mrs. Torrey felt sorry for him. She
knew she had broken his heart, wrecked
his life. She would do what she could
for him. At least she would further his
ambitions. He should owe his worldly
success to her. She had learned good
deal by real experience now, and she
was youl. g, brilliant, very pretty and
marvelously attractive. She became
quite feature in Washington society,
a woman of the world who never lost
her head whatever she might make
others do. All this in less than two
years. She knew there was no use in
trying to advance her husband, and she
did not particularly care to, because
she had found out now that she was un-
happy, horribly unhappy, and that her
life was fiat thing. She cared for the
Gordon she had made more than she
guessed. The real interest of her life
lay in him. Her influence was great
because of her social powers and her
beauty and attractiveness, and by dint
of trying in those thousands of untold
ways that there are of doing such
things she got Gordon an attacheship
nt the court of ST. James. He had a
rich wife and he could accept it.
1t was improbable that he did not
know whom to thank, but however that
might have been, he gave no sign and
neither did she, except to turn horribly
pale when she met him on Connecticut
avenue one afternoon. She smiled wav-
eringly and pitifully, and he only looked
deepinto her soul with hurt eyes. He had
mastered THAT much of eye-language.
He was rather pleased at the obvious
success of it, but she believed his heart
was broken, and was as miserable as
naturally good and honest woman is
when such thing is on her conscience.
| A year later she was in another from
tier garrison, and her husband came in
with the mail.
81 say. Olive-you remember Gordon
Well. he's recalled from England"
"Why?"
| ItTt'c oil IN +biS lattar 41,of o, mo b, IJou