San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-09-19

The nert instant the man aods on his back.
ferent, and she could not hate him. and
there was therefore but one possible re-
suit
She had chosen, moreover, that kind
of holiday which helped to make indif-
ference impossible. She saw her hus-
band at his best during the whole time,
and there was no incident of their trav-
ell to distract her from him, nothing
that caught and held her attention
which was not associated closely with
him.
More than all, however, he was a
man born to be loved by women-strong
to command where strength was need
ed, gentle as child where gentleness
served, as brave as a man can be and
courteous to the point of long suffering.
In all bodily exercises he was excep-
tionally agile and enduring, and he pos
sessed in marked and extraordinary
degree just those qualities which to
Lola were the type and embodiment of
manhood.
She was bound to yield in time to
the forceful influence which he exer-
cised, and the more she perceived this
and struggled against it the more IRE
sistible did she find it.
AS her feelings softened so her fears
waxed. She was afraid to grow to love
him, because she saw all the dangers of
it to her.
One thing she had learned clearly
about her husband. With all the stub
born tenacity of his race he held the
honor of his name and family as high
as religious creed and perhaps higher
Straight dealing was an instinct and
deceit and treachery an abomination.
She had seen 90 instances Of this in the
months of the honeymoon, and she was
shrewd enough to understand that the
deceit which she had practiced he would
punish remorselessly and visit with i'm
placable unforgiveness if he ever dis
covered it.
His faith once given was given abb
solutely; once betrayed, was withdrawn
| forever
She did not care while she knew that
the tie between them was ON her side
one of tongue and not Of heart. She
knew, of course, that in the future,
whether Pierre reappeared or not, she
would need clear head and calm judg-
ment to walk safely, but if she grew to
! love her husband she would be neither
clear in head nor calm in Judgment.
So long as she could part from him,
If all were discovered, without any loss
except such as touched her social posi-
ton and her money interests, she felt
that she could go through all with the
certainty of ultimate success
| But if she loved her husband there
\ were thousand and one complications
which might follow, each of which
would be source of undoing.
TWAS no trouble to her to feign love,
to school herself to seem happy in her
husbands presence, to be bright and
cheerful with him and to shower upon
him hundred attentions which seemed
1 the spontaneous outcome of desire to
l please, but were in reality the more
| shrewdly chosen because a clever cal.
| culation prompted each and all.
\ Gradually she was surprised at the
ease with which this acting was done
and the pleasure which. it seemed tc
give her in the doing, nor did she guess
the real source of the pleasure until an
incident which happened when they
had been away some two or three
months revealed the truth to her.
They had ridden into far outlying
town in one of the southern states, and
Lola was standing in the street alone
waiting for her husband, who had been
detained at the place where they had
stabbed the horses. A couple of drunken
rowdies passed, and, noticing her beauty,
stopped and spoke to her. She took nc
notice except to glance at them with sc
much contempt in her expression that
one of them lost his temper and, with
deep oath, tried to clutch her by the
wrist, vowing he'd kiss her for her in
science.
He reckoned without her strength
and Dluok. however. and as he RrasDed