Gloucester County Democrat., 1899-10-12
WOODBURY. N J, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12 1899

world is used to seeing the man grow
Indifferent and the woman. cold and
pale; but you-you might take the trag-
edy as it is within the four walls and
make 1t live and throb in there. You
might put it that at first the mans
mistake was in always straining for
ward to his goal. forgetting that the
happiest time Is now-forgetting how,
when he looks at last he win not find
just the same laughing girl as he mar
ried Often he left her, we will say
he wanted cheerful faces and relaxa-
tion after his work, and the wife was
only like a ghost creeping about the
house. And so at last, for her the only
alternative to a broken heart was a
heart hardened to stone. And, oh, she
had so loved him-had so determined
always to look her brightest and best
for himl That might have gone on till
the end. as it often does; but there
came a blow-one blow more than she
could bear. Wen suppose Wen sup
pose that one day the wife, somehow
or other, heard him talking to a friend.
The friend was quiet; he had asked:
What's the matter with-with her? All
the romance gone that you used to talk
abOutY Make it--make it that she held
her breath for the answer. even then
even then; that even then she was
hungering to put her arms all around
him, and tell him, oh. no, it was not
gOnel And supposing she heard him
say: Her! Pooh, take no notice of her
always the same. Wish to God some
times I'd never married-what with
the expenses and the miseries at home.
Can't make her out mot like other wo-
men. Given 1t up long ago. Don't you
ever marry, old manr And supposing
the wife stood and cried to God to take
her on the spot. and that God did not
answer, and that at last at last. when
something seemed as If 1t would snap
in her brain-she crept into her hus-
bands study and took out the pistol
that he kept in his desk and put 1t to
her forehead. and-and almost pulled
the trigger. Wouldn't paper accept
a story like that?'
Still no answer. The man had Gran
ed still farther forward, his hands grip
ping the desk. his face gray In the
dusk, his stare widened 1t Iooked-it
somehow looked as II he feared for his
life to look around. In fear of hand
waiting for his throat. 1t was not his
wife talking. 1t was tragedy that had
come creeping into the room, as it
sometimes did when he wrote late. and
something stood and breathed behind
each shoulder.
The voice came again. as from long
way off.
"YesI Say she paused the moment.
and that saved her. She looked at his
work and thought of his long struggles
and the mind that always strained aft
er something in life that is never to be
found. But the thought had come into
her head. and 1t staid and staid. and
more than once. when he had passed
her with hardly word or look-no,
my God, she could not bear it! God
forgive her, she cannot bear itr'
The indescribable sob and a swift
rush. A hand had plucked open the
drawer at the mans side. and some
thing bright flashed out. Just in time
he realized something and swayed up,
with a hoarse cry: "Wissssiei No. nor,
and faced the picture that was to eat
into his memory for all time.
The dead silence. the stare with
which the wide eyes in her worn.
white face seemed to search his soul
wildly for flicker of the truth Then
her hand dropped, and her face began
to twitch piteously. His arms were
out-and the heart beat there yet
WINNER he had whispered a
whisper. Don't, don'tl Come back
to mel Come back to me!'
And for those two Time put back the
hands of his clock. But the story.
That was not for publication.-London
Star.