La Junta tribune. (La Junta, Bent County, Colo.) 1881-1939, 1898-07-23

Il do not understand-you say sucn
hard. cruel things" she moaned.
Hard and cruel" repeated her hus-
band. with bitter contempt; did ever
a woman live so cruel as your"
Il am not cruel" she replied. "I
have been driven mad"
There was such infinite sadness in
the young voice. such dreary despair in
the young face, that he was touched
In spite OF his anger and contempt
Tell me-" he said. what made you
do this thing-this cruel ungenerous.
unwomanly deed?"
She thought he referred to her con-
duct in following him, and they seem
ed to her hard words.
What made me do It? You will
only despise and hate me the more II
l tell you" she replied
Frankly speaking. Hildred, nothing
that you can say to me will make the
matter worse, but 1t may certainly be
made better. Tell me the plain truth"
Yes, ] will tell you." she replied
Il see that all good understanding is
at an end between us"
That is certain he said. with en-
phasis: with my consent you shall
never enter my doors again"
Have / acted SO very wrong?" she
asked. sadly
Wrong" he exclaimed contemptu-
ously. we will waive that. Hildred
You have done that which will never
pardon. Now tell me why you did it.
You may speak the truth to me; you
bear my name. l will shield you from
all harm. No one knows but myself"
Then she did not see me?" said Hill
dred, drearily.
No-and you may be thankful for
1t. answered the earl, severely. "She
did not see you. You may speak quite
frankly-no one knows anything about
it except myself. Now tell me-"
What have to tell your" she said.
II did 1t: l followed you here be-
cause-oh, how hard 1t is to tell,-be-
cause / was jealous of her. thought
that you were both ridiculing me. that
you would tell her that you had been
Obliged to marry me to save yourself
from ruin. but that you did not love
me, you did not care for me, YOU dis
liked me. you hated me, you longed
to be free from me-my accursed
money was all you wanted-that YOU
would never like me. And | fancied
she would pity you in that soft, caress-
ing voice of hers-pity you for being
burdened with a wife you did not love.
| believed that you would tell her that
l was jealous of her, that then both of
you would laugh at me-"
rrha ~
ened all sense of shame. She had for
gotten that which her jealousy had
prompted her to do. and remembered
only her great. bitter wrongs. She was
no longer heroine-only a passion
ate. injured. deeply loving woman.
She rose to the occasion.
The earl was impressed more than
he would have cared to own
Il could not bear It," she contin-
ued. passionately. II should have done
worse than this, / am sure, IL It could
| have been done. / was mad. I will
tell you all. l was mad because / had
learned to love you with all the
strength of my heart and soul. / could
not bear that you should Jest about
me with careless words: 1t was as
| though you stabbed me for pleasure"
You love ne?" he interrogated, in
credulously.
The dark shawl fell from her. and
she stood erect before him in all the
dignity of her pale. passionate beauty.
Her amber dress and her rubies
cleaned in the starlight; the queenly
head was held aloft; she no longer
pleaded and wept; the memory of her
passionate love and her bitter wrongs
filled her with angry pride.
Ito be Continued.)