The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-01-30

| yet! believe you're as crazy as Hum
| phrey Lavendar. 7 guess one Robin
son Crusoe II do. An now you've
spoken out and done your duty. your
conscience's clear. an so is mine
was good wife TO CAP 4 Mather, AMI
l shall be a good wife TO Try Hodge
Then" murmured Rhody, the tears
pouring over her face and her thin.
purple-veined hands. with which she
tried to hide them, the day you marry
Iry-O, MY l do'no' how you CAM
should think you would be. You
needn't ask me to come to the weddin'
I shan't countenance it. But you viii
send me over Wits picture then, won't
you2 You won't want it for a reminder.
And I'd better take care of it for you
Il don't know" said Ann, glancine
up at the dark and dashing likeness. IT
looks good on the wall. I've KEEP tn
frame real bright. There amt nothin'
mean about Try; ne wouldn't put vii
outn his place. But, there-you alluE
did set by it. An you paid for it. any
way. An Perhaps some tender
memory swept over Ann. Yes sh ,
went on, ''I' guess ii belongs most tC
you. But, but Will belonged to me-
And then Ann began to cry, and Rhody
kissed her-she couldn't help it; it wa
Ann. And then she ran home as if a
ghost pursued her.
One day the picture came, and Ehoi,
put it upstairs in the spare room. ].
was not for all the world to see. AnC
she made a case for it as tend srly q
ever Elaine wrought on that for Lance
lots shield. if il were not so beautiful
it was of crazy patchwork, a thing
silken shreds and patches. She mad
herself a black gown, too. in those dayS
She had always worn light colors about
the sick; she said it was more Cheerful
For them: and rainy afternoons she ha,
made a point of putting on q bit OF
bright ribbon or q flower, or a gay
apron, or her topaz breastpin, as
some pleasant thing were expected. Blu.
she slipped into her black gown nov
saying nothing TO anyone. If it ha6
been cloth of gold and sewn with Jew
els it would have been less precious
FOR to her it was the symbol Of some
thing she was doing for viii. But ne
one on all the shore, except perhap'
Sally Lavendar, had an idea that Mis-.
RhOdy was wearing black.
Days and nights, away at her work
she felt that her house held somethin
sacred now. To go home to it, to thai
picture. was to look forward TO a joy
She seldom allowed herself to gaze q
it. Sunday mornings sometimes, bcfGr
Meeting communiOn Sunday mornings
she stole in and let the sun ia
through the open shutter 2 moment
and looked at the bold. black eyes tha
followed hers, the hair like a mass o
carved ebony. the rudy cheek, tn
laughing mouth. and VIII was the
more alive to her than ever. When tn
great equinoxes blew, she comforte.
herself again by the assurance that j.
gave a robust life. And summer Sun
day nights she sat a little while be
fore it. a moonbeam sianting over it
and refining it and giving it an nj.
almost of unreaiity. And in those mo-
ments she fels a deep peace in he
heart. Ann was the happy wife of II
Hodge-but there was Il life to come
and in that-who knew? 70 be SURE
that life they neither marry nor ar
given in marriage-bur love, service,
companionship. those things must b.
long to all livesi Only. only-if vii
Mather should come home again. Sh
covered the portrait quickly lest tina
moon-lighted face should figure rudel.
in the dreams of the night because
that foolish fear of hers.