Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-12-19
FOR MARGUERITE.

-''SN -" WI u 'hl INV
hearth" The words were low and plead
ing, the voice very tender and true, but
the girl on whose dainty ears they fell
threw the beautiful head a little farther
back and laughed out her half vexed, half
defiant answer.
when you are on the road to success,
Gerard, III marry you at once, if it be
soon, for | can't wait forever, but as you
don't apparently wish for success, them
with a lovely, willful smile and the pretti-
est of petulant moues-"goodby!"
The man listened, his handsome face
turning white, as if carved in stone.
success with you is only another name
for
Money" the girl interrupted, with
that lovely light laugh again. II know
it, Gerard, and despise me for it if you
will. If you had been brought up in pov-
erty, if you had wanted frocks and pretty
shoes and dances and pleasures of every
~kind-and, oh, thousands of things that
you couldn't get-then you, too, would
spell success with an Ma very big NJ
and call it money! You would, 1 know
you would, +" she ended bitterly.
The man sighed heavily. Fate was in
NCCu nSofIIoo III hoNy Ia III SdlCCIi
light and hopeful as it looked a short time
ago, seemed sadly dull and somber now,
and why? Because of that lovely face that
was turned away from him SO petulantly,
because of the hooking words that fell
like little strokes of a whip across his Low
ing heart. And while he thought tn.
music in the distance ceased it's soft throb-
bling, the dance was over, and he had had
his answer, he supposed.
He would say one more thing before
they parted, he determined suddenly. He
would have at any rate aclear understand
ing with the woman he loved so madly.
And after that then the venture-to the
right or to the left!
He put out his hand to stay her as she
would have risen. II want to ask you
one thing more" he said, SO gently that
her wandering attention was fixed on him
one again.
eff l went into the business, my IA
theirs business, which, as you know, I
hate-if l gave up my dreams of the bar
and a life which 1 should love-a life
which would be poor perhaps, but full of
promise-if l had the prospect of success
in the business of which you speak SO high
ly, what them"
She turned to him with a new light
sparkling in her beautiful eyes. Had she
conquered at last-everything, every hope,
every ambition at her feet?
"Then," she said, her voice tender with
feeling and her soft eyelids dropping above
the brilliant eyes, "then I should say no
more" And her tones trembled into 81
lence, and her white hands played nerv-
ously with the violets at the bosom of her
delicate gown.
The snow fell outside very softly, wrap.
ping the sordid city in tenderest white
coverings and Transforming it into q king
dom of crystal and pearl. Inside one of
the greatest of it's many fair houses there
were revelry and the ripple Of silvery
voices and the ring of tuneful laughter.
One of the lands richest men entertain
ed his guests and Toasted them right roy
ally, so that they spoke increasingly we'll
of him and of his entertainment and of
the beauty Of his peerless wife.
She stood in the great drawing room in
purest white, with diamonds on her snowy
neck and beautiful stars in her golden
hair, and around her a little company Of
the gayest and wittiest and cleverest kept
her court and pleased her with their sal
lies until her clear laugh rang out above
all the gentle badinage around.
The husband heard the silver ripple Of
laughter, and it awoke some of the old
thoughts, the old memories that he had
striven to lay by, as a child lays by its
dear old toys when playing days are over
and done with.
And all of a sudden he felt very weary
and tlred-tired of the lights and the scent
of the great banks Of roses that his wife
had ordered the skillful florist to arrange
tired of the music and the faces and
the crowd, and he slipped away unnoticed
to his quiet study and sat there awhile to
dream.
He had gone into the business that he
had heartily disliked-for Marguerite
and it had proved a success in his hands.
They spoke Of him for a knighthood this
year. 1t did not elate him much, but his
wife was delighted, and he was not tired
of pleasing her yet. Only he had pleased
her so much once, he had given up SO
much for her sake, that every sense had
been curiously deadened to him since, and
SO the worlds wear and teal cam and
went, and he felt but little of it.
And his ideals9 They were laid away
very safely and secretly-the steps he
would have climbed with so much vigor
and perseverance were moss grown now
and gray with molding age. There was
not much to work for now-so much had
come to him, he supposed by his W en-
deavors as we'll as by good auckland he
had no child to leave it to. And his wifes
How tenderly she had caressed him at
the time of the sacriice-how gently her
pretty fingers had smoothe the way! She
was so much accustomed to it all now,a and
he had ''lived it down." as she once said
playfully to him. She was always sweet
and always beautiful, and every one said
he was the luokiest man in London. Per-
haps it was true.
He got up and sauntered back to the
drawing room His lovely wife was chat.
ting with a young barrister as he passed.
"My husband would have been Just like
you today, he heard her say in that OK.
quisite voice Of hers, ''if he had not taken
my advice. He took it, and you sec the
result"
The younger man looked round. He
saw the beautiful rooms. the brilliant
crowd, the flashing Of countless gems, the
peerless beauty of the woman who spoke,
he heard the music rising and falling in
the distance and breathed the delicate
scents of rarest blossoms.
Again he saw the word "Success" writ
ten OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES that he, a begin
ner, a novice, could never hope to emulate.
C,,djor1p tho xuorn faca of tha noster met