The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-01-02

lips when BERTHE Wyngram engaged
himself to Mrs. James Taunton. After
casting their horoscopes, people were
rampant i'm prediction. and went about
like itching seers, prophetically heart-
full. Ruthessly they traced the coupled
destinies-thrnugh gin to pltfall-from
altar rail To hearse.
when a young bachelor marries an
old wife, what is he to expect op-
served Lady Wyngram to her daugh-
ters. you know. dears, my creed Ill
these matrimonial matters. Girls should
never marry an old man-unless he is
rich. and man should certainly not
marry an old woman-unless she Is
handsome
Her ladyship shook her skirts and
ctrIs and seQuins. and they shNered
and tinkled like a beech tree in NO
Vember wind.
But Mrs. Taunton's side of the medal
no one cared to see. She could scarcely
tell in herself how she had fallen i'll
love i'm so unSccmly and irrational
manner.
Colonel Taunton. G. B., of the Indian
staff corps, was. in his regiment, nero
and a gentleman. He preserved his
uuips and kind moods for his mess. and
dangled the other and the knotted side
of the string at home. Only to her bed
pillow. at night. she turned her race
and told her misery in sobs.
Luck. nevertheless, bubbled for her
when at forty-tWo he completed
promising Carecr-burnt tU death 10y
curry and French brandy.
Living now i'm the flame of West Lon
don. with windows watching on the
Green Park, she held open doors to
most who cared To enter. she asked
nothing from the women but clean bills,
and from the men deft manners and the
faculty to talk.
man in sCTJpo, or wanting to be
something, or to get somewhere, was
sure Of helu from her. Her ear anj
influence was ever CEcn tu Sucn. Her
friends said that sympathy with nor
was a frailtN. But in general she
judged fifty. Certainly she lifted Ser
tie WYngram to his soCrctarYship to
Mr.. WIstworth, NJ. T.. wherein he pros
pered. And in the ripening time he
wheeled into the colonial otiic" at easy
breathing. escaping the elbows of COM
petition.
BERTHE and she closed in ana were
exceedingly .IituOlN. lHtN blt' l'l'N-
ted and smoked. and schemed and con-
sidered humanity together. In such
relations. one or other OF the meeting
parties is sure. to move sometimes few,
sometimes many, degrees nearer to the
ether.
In the beginning she had stfed her
TisgVingS in the mantle of Plato. Now
as he steered, she drifted. He had
1.
tinPly useful. He cultivated her with
diplomatic suavity, without heat, or
hope. or unmanncred fancy. But he
sometimes thought as he looked ana
listened, what a pity indeed she was
50 unspeakably plain.
ono day, at this time, Bcrtic tinlned
with her at two.
Holland next week." ne said, sud
denly. Session done: charwomen in
the house: chief sucking sulphur at
Bath. Holidays to the weary. lady.
Isn't it worth tirlng to rest New food
loose clothes, primeval comforts-as in
the beginning"
You're very glad TO gu?" she asked
81 could fling my cap to thr stars.
Petitions, ba2aars, deputatiGns, stitu-
ents, and all the wheels of Hansard go
again. shut my eyes and dream pur-
pie wonders. that the world is brave
with smiling flowers; and spin my top
in the sun--just for the spinning sake"
He was thirty something, and crcas-
Cd in the face and somewhat puckared
in the eyes, but his tongue cut at the
cords of youth and swept beyond the
reach of logic. He was titfullv youth
ful-in his visiting houIs-so his friends
called him THE Boy"
She bade him the checriest of good
byes, smiling till the door closed Then
she fell back on the sofa, and cried as
a child might-from the heart
You see, although she married, she
had never husband.
on the morrow, then, Wyngram, In
ulster and soft shirt, gathered papers
at Victoria bookstaIl to while the ted :
ium of the 9.20 to Queenboro. there
10 join the "ram'you, damn-you" GER
man boat to Flushing.
He. being of versatile turn, rolled
IN quaint cumpany-the Guardian and
the Sporting Times. Afterward he
strOde up the platform. There were
the usual lOungers-the ladies who are
for ever hurrying from cottage after
shells; the rush of trolleys. and all
the means and machinery for whisk-
ing tired peoples from scots 10 south
eru sunshine.
Wyngram tossed his pouch and pa
pers ON his cushions and settled him
self i'm his cap. \ hand touched his
shoulder from the door.
II couldn't let you 90 quite away
without saying good-by again" she
said in a voice all too broken by humil-
ity.
she stood at the door as she sat
within, one hand ungloved, and some
stones burning at her throat She had
srcnt a night-she only knew how.
lie asked her 10 come in and sit
thcre were still two minutes He was
somewhat graveled for lack of talk
ing matter, but he was as hospitable
as a tented Arab, even on a railway
Ilatform, Then IA long whistle. a slam
med door, a snort from the engine.
on, must go now" she said
Come and see the Dutch" he said
with light laugh, She looked al
rim for moment, not understanding.
Jhun:
'Oh, my dear, my dear, IN go with
you nywheTe-anywherc she cried.
And the guard lurched into the van.
But three hours IN an only moder-
Etaly heated railway carriage ana rea-
son Is sure to work down the baro-
meter. Mrs. Taunton returned TO town
I'm rhe next train, and Bertie went to
Holland. There he concluded that per-
hans after an, q rich wife is the sur
est of political sails, And from Ans
tcrdanI, with clean ~" pen and a
legal frame OF mind, he started the
tirSt of the letters that au1ad I'm the