Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-07-25

A Love Story Of To-Day.

- A~VvS ASAW ~
In the navy, with its constant and
rapid changes, its almost limitless pos
sibilities from day to day. the fates
themselves seem to sit alert spinning
on ones very doorstep. One uncon-
sciously treads lightly and whispers
| in hopes of being forgotten, if only for
a passing hour. Many hasty word
dies on the lips because OF the aching
memory of cruise just passed, the
haunting fear OF one fast approach
ing.
Of course, there had been misunder-
standings between them before, in the
usual rise and fall in the tide OF all
human relations, but never before any,
| thing like this.
Ensign Phelps had just returned
! from a long, wearing cruise to find a
| condition of things political that sud-
| denly dwarfs the proportions of things
| feminine Also his sense of humor,
never rampant, happened to be further
| attenuated by studying late into the
night for his approaching examination
| for promotion
| Mrs. Phelps had tried to face it all,
| but the two dreary years separation
| had left her with nerves that shivered
| at a breath. Then, too, she had in
stantly recognized and resented that
| feeling in him that comes to all men at
such times-the sense that the deep
purposes and ends of his life had
! brushed her aside, that he wanted both
arms free for once.
| Tie brute that fights to win, and
has been trained fifteen years for just
| that, was awake and on fire within
| him. Nothing of this had been spoken
between them, and yet it was at the
root of their quarrel that spring morn
| ing, when words were said back and
forth that seemed to sweep up the
/ love, devotion, patience of two lives
| like ashes ON the hearth where a fire
! has died.
! He strobe along the gray chill
| streets ON the way to his ship at the
navy yard, and she stood still, wide
eyed and white, and for them both the
past and future were wiped out, and
the present only lived in one of those
flaming agonies of disillusion of which
one somehow survives such a surpris-
ing number in the course of lifetime
The baby at her feet plucked at her
dress, and the mother didn't even feel
it, wrapped in that overwhelming
sense of fnality that belongs to pas
sionate youth.
| She looked about in dull amazement
| at the familiar things about her, that
made up their simple little home.
There under the lamp were his books,
a pad and pencil, where he had sat
| studying last night, and near it her
sewing where she had been beside
him, sewing in unwilling silence after
her long isolation. The indent of her
head was still in the pillow on the
lounge, where she had at length
thrown herself, and lay watching until
she fell asleep toward midnight
She glanced about, half dazed, and
then Ruth, the old colored maid, the
only servant she had ever had, came
in from the kitchen, and spoke to her
in that low, sweet compelling voice
of hers, that went back to Mrs. Phelps
babyhcod down in Maryland.
She obeyed the voice from habit,
and went mechanically about her
morning duties, in the performance of
which a certain warmth and Sliability
returned to her-r7Tr-sar mood sense
&c ~-o0r and outrage began to burn
again at his last singing words, whose
probe went deep with the sure cruelty
Of long association.
She took her little girl, and went
out on her homely round of marketing.
largely trumped up by old, keen-witted
Ruth.
On returning she toiled YEARLY I'D
the three flights of the apartment
house-the elevator SO seldom ran
after the men had gone for the day.
She sank exhausted on the lounge
in the tiny dining room, and let the
child pull off her gloves, one obstinate
finger after the other.
Her eyes were shut, and nerveless
reaction had set in, when she heard
a young step bounding up the stairs
and sharp ring at the bell. She was
half conscious that Ruth opened the
door, and that boys high voice was
saying:
| Cant see the lady hersef?"
She sat up as he approached
| Holding telefoam-corner drug
store, lady-youse'll hev to hurry" he
| painted, and was gone again in a flash.
Mrs. Phelps sprang after him, and
called down the stairs:
| What number? Where from? Did
you hear?"
"Sixty-one," he shouted, from two
stories below.
The navy yard" she exclaimed. a
| thrill of premonition sending her heart
into her throat.
A moment later she stood along in
the telephone closet at the corner, and
through the transmitter a soft "Hullo,o
sped on its way. Then she listened.
Eyes, I'm Mrs. Phelps. WHO are
you?" she had not recognized the voice
that had answered.
20, Guy!" she cried, softly, in sud-
den, illogical, overwhelming relief, as
she chung tightly to the receiver.
Yes, yes-I'll listen carefully" she
said next; and then silence.
What? What? Say it again, very
slowly. | can't understand. Surely I
haven't understood" Her voice was
Sharu with a sudden draa, Aoaip ct