The record-union., 1898-10-10
DEFEhSELESS.

They had been married five years,
and love had lasted-as it generally
does last, if the first critical SIX months
OF matrimony can be tided over With
out disaster. He, Jack Aston, was
fortunate young man, who had stepped
into his fathers business shoes snort
ly after being welded to Clara Fay
worthy, the girl Of his choice Pros-
perity and happiness had waited on
them from the commencement OF their
married life. There were no chHdfen;
but Jack did not want any to divide
his wife's attention, and he scarcely
noticed her deep disappointment as
each succeeding year brought no
change
Clara adored him; and he was one of
those men who like to be worshiped
Her negative qualities suited him ex-
actly. He played upon her sympa-
thies and mental susceptibility as upon
the responsive vibrations of a musical
instrument If ne We're glad, she must
share his gladnesS; if things had gone
wrong with him-from the loss of a
collar stud to a depression in the money
market-hiS glum humors must infect
her also. If it pleased him to discourse
intellectually his wife sat at his feet,
as was expected of her, and listened
with proper reverence to the words of
wisdom.
AS for Jack, he was just the sort of
man to inspire a delirious kind OF
idolatry in one of those simple and
trusting natures that can only be
found among the women. He was
tall, gazed unspeakable things out of
pair Of limpid brown eyes, and con-
cealed the weakness of his mouth and
chin by a heavy dropping mustache.
These outward charms were consider
ably heightened by leaning towards
art in general. Jack sang sentimental
songs in an unframed tenor voice,
leaving out-with marvellous resource
only the superfluous harmonies in the
accompaniment He sketched from
nature in water cOlors, putting in the
sky with circular move-.ent of the
forefinger, and bestowing a painful
attention on unnecessary detail. He
wrote obscurer poetry than Browning,
and was much addicted to finding
meanings in unintelligible passages of
minor poets, that nobody else pretended
to understand.
Can any person wonder that Jacks
wife looked upon him as a genius, and
felt every day more grateful to the
fate that had linked her to the destiny
Of so noble a specimen of mankind?
OF Clara, little need be said, except
that she was pretty when he married
her, and that her Uniformed character
was captivatingly feminine and mold
able. Such traits are the paradise of
the selfish man. and Jack was not mis-
taken-fron his egotistic point of
view-in believing that he had secured
q treasure. Everything that could
make home lie attractive was COM
bined in Clara's lovable qualities and
quiet domesticity. In the winter, when
Jack came home cold and tired from
city routine. a CHEEKY wife was sitting
waiting for him by the tea table; the
kettle simmered on the hob, ready to
make tea the moment he should ap-
pear; and down by the fireside a warm
pair of slippers rested against the
fender. Then-I blush to write it
Jack would fling himself into the arm
chair that had been drawn up for him
close TO the blaze. While the adoring
little woman went down on her knees
and undid the laces of his boots. If
he was in a good temper, he patted her
fluffy head with amiable condescen-
sion; but if he happened to be out of
humor. he flung his foot at her in surly
silence. o. groWled at the world in gen
eral, and her clumsiness in particular,
AL the time she was performing that
humble Office for him.
Jack belonged. in fact to the type
that men of finer material long to kick.
but which. for some inexpIcable reason,
possesses an enduring fascination for
the class Of women who are least cap
able of defending themselves against
masculine mastery.
Judging by appearances. five years Of
welded bliss had not treated Clara 50
we'll as her husband Her face had lost
much of its girlish roundness, and the
deep blue eyes that were her chief
beauty. burned feverishly. rather than
brightly, within the dark rings that
encircled them. Her chest had become
delicate ever since the day Jack had
kept her waiting in the cold outside his
office for half an hour Che did not like
receiving ladies within the sacred pre-
cincts). on the occasion of her keeping
an appointment to meet him there ct
fixed time, in order that they might
proceed to some social function to-
gether. The result was a chronic cough
that irritated Jack a good deal at night.
and a heavy doctors bill at which he
swore so tremendously that she screwed
the money out OF her housekeeping al
lowance and began to pay off the debt
by installments. Later on, however,
Jack found it out. and nearly fright