Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-10

! I took him so pleasantly that he quite be
I stirred himself when he got to my hair and
/ when | mentioned, with an attempt at
/ eayety. that was without hat OF coat, he
offered to drum up a friend Of his who kept
a clothing store a little farther down the
street
Lets be OFF, cried. like one leading a
| charge Of cavalry. Half an hour later | was
so completely metamorphosed that the l?dy
who had recommended the change did not
know me when I rushed in upon her, until
/ ] broke forth into a storm Of inquiries as to
the state Of the invalid l had left in her
| charge.
! where is she?" | cried, for was burn
| ing to display myself before her without my
! former dismal trappings. OF course l should
have remembered how she had learned to
! regard me- that she was weak, tired and in
situation of the utmost delcacy, and in a
manner l did, but how without raising fatal
suspicious could | refuse to enter when the
attendant pointed to the parlor and said my
! bride" was in there? | might, however.
have gone in more slowly; might have fol-
! lowed up my tmid knock, which brought q
smothered chuckle from behind me, with less
! speed, but as 1t was / was inside the door
| and on my knees beside the chair In which
| she sat, pouring out a stream of inquiries,
| regrets and congratulations before / noticed
| that she was not listening to me, but had
! drawn herself back from me as from some
| wild beast, and was regarding me in pallid
| horror which struck me to the heart
why. don't you know me?" / cried, In
! pity and reproach, at which her face turned
crimson, then went down upon the arm Of
her chair, and she burst into tears with
such an abandonment of grief that l was
| beside myself
"Oh forgive me, forgive mel" | cried,
| though l was not conscious Of having sinned
against her. But she only shook her head
and bade me leave her, and, as could not
do that, | dropped into hopeless silence. re-
garding the crown of her fluffy hair, which
was all could see, in helpless misery, until,
! gradually about an inch of her white fore
head began to show itself above the hand
kerchief she was clutching, and desperate
voice said: "How could you be so young-so
awfully young and all that? It's just-just
too dreadful for anything"
"I know it." / said meekly, though I did
not think it dreadful at all. But you know
all this is just for little while | only
stayed to make you understand that. l will
leave You now, if you prefer it."
1
hand cautiously toward me, still with her
face concealed behind the handkerchief.
Well, they would not let us alone, so we
had some breakfast-the usual thing | sup
pose for I remember being asked whether I
would take cream in my coffee and declining
it, then wondering why the stuff tasted
wrong and wasn't the right color; and scme-
/ thing about being asked If the steak suited
me and that | answered dreamily that it did
not, at which people looked offended. Little
could be expected of one sitting down in
! family fashion with a blushing girl, who
kept her eyes fastened questoningly upon
him whenever she thought herself unob-
! served, and who faltered out little womanly
| proffers of delcacies that led him to pile
his untouched plate with incongruous eata-
| bles.
| carriage was got for us by some one and
paid out more money, almost my last Then
we were directed to a downtown law office;
arrived indecently early and We're received
by a janitor much out of temper from an
encounter with the furnace and | was
snubbed by him and frowned upon, and
when the lawyer came l left my companion
in the reception room and went into the in
ner office with him, wishing devoutly that
might have sought my brother-in- laws ad-
vice as to the kind of help to employ in my
delicate business, yet not daring to ven
| ture near him, as l valued my liberty.
= Too utterly jaded to use my ordinary tact
! l did not decently prepare the poor man.
| While pelted him with my wild statements
he sat far forward upon the edge of his office
| chair, with one eye upon the window beside
J him. making ready, felt, for that moment