The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1898-06-02
, Nobody,s: Papa.
49, 90 ~~~

0S~~ @ ~~~%~~~
4 sombre-looking man wandered
sloomilv from picture to picture. he
had 10 cat .logue, some people prefer
to 90 without and gaze untrammelled
by prejudice. He was not perhaps the
ONLY man in the room without cata-
loeue, but there was that about him
which distinguished him -.efectual!y
from every other human being in that
Hs>ecowia,:::r:: No one else looked so utterly
unamused andindifferent as he, though
manywere less critical. He knew a
good picture at once, and gave it a
quick, aprreciative scrutiny, while
the worthless specimens he passed by
with glance OF contempt. Presently !
he turned listlesSlya away and sat down
on the ottoman in the centre Of the
room. Folding his arms, he sank
into brown study. What was be
thinking Of? 4 woman of course!
! Yes; but not woman that he loved.
he thought of her as the beautiful
he;ress whom he had wooed and won. i
She was courted as only such women !
are courted, and from all the host of |
admirers be had borne of the prize.
He, penniIess and obscure, with only |
: his personal qualities to recommend
him--ahl she must have loved him
then, How beautiful she vas, and
how sweet-she seemed! A bitter
smile curled the mans lips. Sweet!
she was made Of muriatic acid. He
himself, to be sire, was. not all honey
and sugar. Men are not-but a |
woman, His ideal of womanhood had
always been softness, gentleness-she
< should be hero worshiper-and her
hero naturally should be herhusband.
Gertrude had been accustomed to
l.1o**ease. She lad not been willing to
z--a.y5 ina ;17a7,,s 7S II. had expected apparently
should haze msfalaZss~ laZs2 slsysi i.sn shs 5Ha1
.ss he They had scarcely week of love
and happiness, and in six months he
had left her
You married me for my money!
was the last fatal insult she hurled at
him III her passion.
every weu> madam. / will leave
you your money and relieve you of the
ypresence ola despised husband i for,
eYerl'' .-.
= sGhose Were. the last words he had
ever spoken to her-the last words he
# ever should speak. He had left her
then and there, to her grand house,
with her grasd servants and her grand
friends, aad he had gone to Australia
to begin 4ifealie with only his brains
for capital, The capital, however, was
SIS SIS q good one He had made his fortune,
d.: d. and he had come home, yielding to a
q strange l0Gging'to see-nos her oh,
~ ~ no. nor any man or woman alive, but
Z Z to tread lis native soil, to revisit the
5% scenes where he had spent happy
q boyhood-and tben-he should return
4 to Australia. There he had friends;
q there he had land. It was his home
now. No one knew of his arrival in
II England; no one should know. From
his wife his separation had been com
plete. There had been no letters-no
inqniries.;"Eo' each other they were as
dead
e~ 1t was seven years since they had
met and married and parted, and he
did not know If she were living or
dead. OF calssse be, did not want to
Know.& She. perhaps was anxious to
hear Of th4ss death. in order that she
might marry somebody else. Perhaps
in time she would assume his death.
He started up. The heat was in
tolerabie, the pictures odious, tie
people detestable, their cackle unen-
durable. He would 60 straight out.
He would not look at another daub.
That one was not so bad, though! In
spite of himself he stopped to look at
il. 1t was the portrait of little girl
"a dear, little girl in hat and fur tip
pet and sn;,ff, standing in the porch of
'ascou.1TF Nclise. It was evidently
stormy winters day. Her feet stood
IN tirsSipw, but Shewas standing quite
still IN an attitude. of eager expectancy.
Ii fascinated him; he looked loRg and
earnestly It.was a good picture, but
it &as;net altogether its artistic merits
that !ta piyated him. The chiid's face
seemed to awake some far-off memory
"a memory that kept on eluding him
III n2HPeIpieAllS manner. lhen at last
it came. to him: The. likeness was a
little sister of his own who had died
in carly childhood; she had been his
boyhoo1,s companion He had loved
her deeply: he had mourned her long.
iFoor Nellie! Her name had excited
Eths, first Disagreement between his
wife and hiMSeIf. He had said that if
they should nave a daughter he would
wish her to be called Ellen after this
sister of his. His wife had declared
with heat that she hated the name.
Was it possible that she could be ieal-
ous even of a dead child? Or was it
simply that love of opposition which
ended by making their life together
impossible? All, ii Nellie had lived,
he woUld have had some one to love-
sen;e one to turn to in his desolation.
Tie likeness was extraordinary.
4.Do you like my pictnre?''
.sle tanned round and saw the orig
Ssaai OF tie portrait standing at his