The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-09-16

she arose from the table in tears, rushed
20 an open widow and flung herself to the
pavement. She was an American girl
she killed herself because she learned
too late that she mad heart-she who
had broken 50 many hearts
she had always denied that she had
heart. When other women talked Of their
loves and hatreds, their joys and griefs,
she laughed
Mon dieui" she cried. I have none Of
these for I have no heart and am hap
py."
She lived. as butterflies live, IN the sun
shire. No one ever saw her weep. Lie
for her was a mad, merry chase Of the
phantom pleasure. It was dance Of the
wilI-o-tfle- wisp, d waltz song with tempo
ever accelerated.
But the night and the cold came with
out warning. They found the butterfly S
wings broken, her colOrs paled.
The woman's title was Viscomtesse De
Henriot, her name Vesta Dora Hastings
She threw herself from fourth story
window Of Maxim'S the Delmonico's OF
Paris. because the man she loved had no
love for her Her heart had at last
awakened, and the awakening was pain.
1t was terrible, the breaking of heart
that mad just sprung into life.
lou may recover from your injuries,
madam, if you but aid me by your will, ="
said her physician.
An, but doctor, have no wish to live!
Life is too hard for those who have
hearts,"
And the doctor says she died from sheer
perversity, this beautiful woman. VINO had
broken so many hearts and whose own
heart was at last broken.
She fingered four days after the leap
from the bright. iowery- ccented banquet
ing hall to the broad sidewalk below,
where. men and women were gossiping and
drinking sweetened water. She wept
often in the last days. She said some
bitter things, but the hearers said they
were true. every one.
Love is only another name for pain"
IF you would be happy, be loved. If
you would be wretched, love"
when you open your heart to love,
you are opening it to its twin sister. which
Is misery
1T is not for women to love, for love
to them means suffering. To men it is
the lush and JOY Of conquest"
IF a man is Indifferent for you you are
mad for him. If he loves you you scorn
him. Such is the mystery called woman"
The greatest good that can come to a
woman IS 10 be'born without heart"
After all, what is a heart? 1t is a ca
pacity for suffering"
vrrho hraalrC .
heart, is a murderer. 1t Is far kinder to
kill the body that torture the spirit"
II believe the sin beyond redemption is
u break the heart that loves you.
Neither God nor man nor the devil could
conceive anything more cruel"
There were other women of fashion like
herself and few men about her bed at the
last. 1t was strange, this for men and
women Of the gayest of cities TO flee from
sight Of death as Mephistopheles from
the sound Of church chimes. but the
NIcomtesse de Henriot had been the gay
est of them all They had not thought
that she could be so gloomy even in death.
Besides. they all loved her in their way.
The woman wept until there were lit
tie burrows in the rouge on their ch eeks.
The men fiercely twisted their moustaches
They drew the curtains OF silk. rich as the
heart Of a rose. about her bed and left her
there.
1t was in the midafternoon glory OF a
September day. The man for whom the
Victomtesse de Henriot died was driving
on the Bots du Bologue. No ore had dared
10 ask MIN 10 be at her bedside when the
shadow fell.
She had loved him. He had not loved
her. lie was proud Of both facts. in a
supercilious fashion of his own, for had
not the Vicomtesse broken many hearts,
but never loved until she mot him?
He was toasted in the cafes as Adonis,
Apollo Narcissus. He smoked and miled.
hut said no, a word. He was not seen al
the funeral.
Nesta Dore Hastings was poor and am
bilious. Being merely a woman. she had
hut little chance for advancement except
through the aid Of men. and early Vesta
pore Hastings learned that men aid most
when they are most allUreG.
She was very young when she learned
the fine art Of allurement the fetching
tricks OF The eyes. the smile that woes
but IS not overmirthful, the pre-t.est az
1ectaton OF dependence and trustfulness
In PORTLAND, by the Pacific. where the
warm moisture Of the air gives the hair
a curling sof,ness and. winelike. stimu-
lates and Yet SootheS. until the carriage
has the grace Of the fawn and the iudo-
lence OF a voluptuary; where the soft
sunshine kisses fair cheeks 20 a peach
pink hue seen nowhere else. Vesta Dore
Hastings was horn and reared. She was
beautiful after the fashion Of the nut
brown maid. She was above toe medium
height. There was an urtaught grace
about every movement that would have
been called queenly had Sc not been a
poor mans daughter. No matter how
simple her clothes. she wore them well. Of
a phrase as full Of meaning 10 her owr
sex as mystery TO the other. She ha6
developed 10 an unusual degree the SIT,
OF facination which il woman is only
an intensified womanliness
Her friends and neighbors REGARDED Il
as a rare piece Of good fortune wher
Miss Hastings attracted the admiring st.
tention OF. and finally married. the trav.
cling Vicomte De Henriot. described hy
them as a Rusian-French noble. Ms.
Hastings agreed with them as 10 her good
fortune.
That she ala not love her husband was q
matter OF no moment. That after few
years she secured divorce from him was
mere incident BY IN divorce she Sc
cured almony. which enabled her 20 IN
dulGe her passion for beautiful externaIs