The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1899-06-23

poor darling! There's not sign of
tear. Such an intense yet reserved na-
turc. My rocr, poe: ,'irl!" And then
Mrs. Hamilton hcl! arsclf to lit
tie hot bun with nI ous air, as one
who is conscious of ing done her
whole duty III every relation of life.
From that moment the huus ehcll
went on with the regu' agi ty OF clock
work and in all respects as if 10 ab-
sent mas ter was in existence. Mrs.
Hamilton assiduously studied the
daily papers for news OF the Arikh una,
and she tabblcd from time to time Ct
"our dcar boy" After ssveral day 5
she, however, gave up even that
much, and, rs Mary did net divulEe
the contents Of seve:al letters which
she received from her husband, Mrs.
Hamilton Was positively afraid TO
question her on the subject, but con-
tented lie self with seeing that extra
good things were provided for Mary's
meal.
"Ycs; sec that there IL, little buns
Mouncoy," she said each morning
And tell Foster t. make them very
hot and with plenty OF butter. What
would Mrs Conway like for sweet?
Well, let me see. She used to love a
tritic with almonds, ratafias and straw
berry jam. You might tell Foster to
make Il nice little dish Of triAe and per-
hars mushrooms on toast for afterward
We must take care to keep Mrs. Con
way's strength up. She is feeling the
parting terribly"
tpl 1n1i
cey rs she repeated the conversation to
the neat cook in the kitchen-"which,
between you and me, Alice, l M more
than doubtful about It's my opinion
that missis married master out of con-
sideration for her ma. 'Tain't likely
grizZled, grutf, unreasonable beast such
as him's going to break any young girls
heart when he goes away"
Il shouldn't wonder bat what you're
right Julia, " returned Foster wisely.
Meantime in Mary's mind only
huge sense of relief from an obnoxious
presence dominated every other feeling.
She heard her mothers remarks about
"our dear boy, it is true, but she sim
ply endured them as so much babble
which it would be useless TO answer
plan by which she could be rendered
free of her husbands purse at the end
Of the time Of his absence. She had
fully made up her mind that she would
with him again. She told herself that it
was 10 part of wife's duties to live
with man who had used personal vio-
lence toward her. She went over tho
situation many times in her own mind,
and she had deliberately come to the
conclusion that in striking her TO the
ground Captain Conway had forfeited
all further right to her consideration.
81 knew" her thoughts ran, "that
he was elderly, or at least of advanced
middle age, that he was rough and plain
III ways and manners, but | did not
know that he was brute, an unmiti-
gated brute. If | had known it, even
for my mothers sake could not and
would not have married him. Now
feel am perfectly justified in carving
out the rest of my own life independ-
emily of him. "
But, though it is an easy thing to say
that one will carve out life for one
self, it is another thing to do it. 1t is
one thing to declare for independence;
1t is another thing to free oneself
from dependent position. And when
Mary Conway came to weigh herself in
the balance against fate she found that
she was not able to press down her side
OF the scales SO much as lot
Her own career, in which she had
been doing so we'll at the time of her
marriage, was irrevocably closed to her,
even had she been willing to begin again
at the lowest rung Of the ladder, and
no other one seemed to be open to her
She thought Of many WAYS Of earning
a living. but the very first question
which common sense put to her always
brought her mp sharp like bird tied by
the leg, which, when it would futter
away, Is brought UP sharply to a stand
still by the string that tics it. The ques-
tion was, ''What do you know about
ltT' The answer was always the same
and came with uncompromising curt
ness, "Nothingl"
She gave more than thought to 90
ing on tho stage always Il woman's
first instinct in times Of stress-but
when she heard of there being 1 100
names on the books Of one theater and
l, 500 on the promise list of another she
was discouraged from any hope of sue
cess in that direction. She thought Of
trying literature, and she did write a
little story which she smiled and cried
over and copied ont many times and
loved dearly. But she sent her bantling
out into the hard world, and she never
saw or heard of it again She wondered
whether she could start better class
school for small children; but, again,
although she felt herself competent
enough to teach, common sense stepped
in and asked: ''How are you going to
furnish house' How are you going to
In, lr1 nj NJ tho Grut n11nrtou2 VIII ..u..,.