Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1898-06-17
; Nobody's Papa.

a SOmDfe-IOOhinR HiUu NduutIeu
gloomily from picture to picture. He
had no catalogue, some people prefer
to go without and gaze untrammelled
by prejudice. He was not perhaps the
only man in the room without cata-
logue. but there was that about him
which distinguished him effectually
from every other human being in that
crowd No one else looked 80 utterly
unamused and indifferent as he, though
many were less critical. He knew n
good picture AT once. and gave it a
quick. sppreciative scrutiny, while
the worthless specimens he passed by
with glance OF contempt. Presently
he turned listlesslyaway and sat down
on the ottoman in the centre OF the
room. Folding his arms, he sank
into brown study. What was he
thinking Of? A woman of course!
Yes but not woman that he loved.
He thorght of her as the beautiful
heiress who he had wooed and VOL
She was courted rs only such women
are courted, and from oil the host of
admirers he had borne OF the prize.
He, penniless aud obscure, with only
his personal qualities to recommend
him--ah! she must have loved him
then. How beautiful she was, and
how sweet--she seemed! A bitter
smile curled the mans lips. Sweet!
she was made Of muriatic acid. He
himself, to be sure, was not all honey
aud sugar. Men are not-but a
woman! His ideal Of womauhood had
always been softness, gentleness she
should be hero worshiper--and her
hero naturally should be her husband.
Gertrude had been accustomed to
homage. She had not been willing to
own master, had expected apparently
TO find in him a slave--a slave! She
should have married another man than
he. They had scarcely q 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 in her passion.
Every well, madam. will leave
you your money and relieve you Of the
presence OF despised husband = for.
eyer!"
Those 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 grand servants aud her grand
friends, and he had gone to Australia
70 begin life anew with only hi, brains
for capital. The capital, however, was
. good one. He had made his fortune,
and he had come home, yielding to n
strange longing to see--not her - oh,
10 tread his native soil, to revisit the
scenes where he had spent happy
boyhood--and then---he should return
to Australia. There he had friends
there he had land. II was his home
now. No one knew OF his arrival in
England; no one should know. From
his wife his separation had been com
plete. There had been no letters--no
inquiries. To each other they were as
dead.
II was seven years since they had
met and married and parted, and he
did not know il she were living or
dead. OF course he did not want TO
know. She perhaps was anxions to
hear of his death in order that she
might marry somebody else. Perhaps
in timc she would assume his death.
He started up. The heat was in
tolerable, the pictures odious, the
people detestable, their cackle unen-
durable. He would 60 straight out.
He would not look Mt another daub.
That one was not so bad, thought In
spite OF himself he stopped to look at
it II was the portrait Of little girl
"A dear, little girl in hat and fur tip
pet and muff, standing in the porch OF
q country house. 1t was evidently q
stormy winters day. Her feet stood
in the snow, but she was standing quite
still in m attitude Of eager expectancy.
II fascinated him; he looked long aud
earnestly. II was q good picture, but
it was not altogether its artistic merits
that captivated him. The child's face
seemed to awake some far-off memory
"a memory that kept on eluding him
In a perplexihg manner. Then at last
il came TO him. The likeness was q
little sistefo OF his own who had died
in early childhood; she had been his
boyhood's companion. He had loved
her deeply; he had mourned her long.
Poor Nelliei Her name had excited
the first disagreement between his
wife and himself He had suid that AZ