The Florence daily tribune., 1899-02-16
JTsT IN TINE.


hght ciera % nrs.iiy which had just com
Isiefs.. n -t.oc.--- iui season At a popular
thc..ssI il ..4-- city.
In li4t.ic -. She wnS known to n lin
lied leys as Mr- 5o.li smith, sire having
IusIrilc " han lt.ic more than schoolgirl
u man oi That nan,e, who was twice her
avn ase SIniii. lad boon wealthy 80 long
ns lie 30. a. aLiu to personally superintend
his soap builiug establishment, but his for.
tune Lad ,a,.ed away since his i'll spent
lot.sh had condemned him to pass the b,L-
Aztec "f Lis life upon couch. semipara-
l.z"d and stricken with such aches and
l..sins a. made existence only endurable
when his souses were lulied into slunber
10y nHrcutlus.
When the business brain which had
raised i'm from obscurity had driveled
away with the failure OF his firm, II had
herome necessary for somebody to do some
thing to keep tie wolf from the door Of
even such modest and unprctending lit
ile cottage as still remained from the
wrrcI, Then it was that Winifred had
sought to- put her charms, hitherto So
cruelty sacrificed, to profitable purpose,
and her success upon the stage had been
brilliant and rapid.
Life again became bcarable to her, for
although she had to leave the one little
huhy girl morc than she liked in the care
uf ru Sos there was IA gnyety and glamour
pt Ut stage life which banished thoughts
~ the irritable invalid at home. 1t made
her young hlood throb and her bright eyes
ri arklc with happy excitement.
As she rose in her profession she was
able Ia provide luxuries for the whining
wreck of humanity whom she called hus-
band, and for her there was the luxury of
hearing her efforts applauded by thou
sapds Of admirers every night.
What wonder when Isolated admirers
would seek opportunity TO whisper in her
cars--thusc ears 50 weary with harsh cavil
ing and complaining-praise of her art
her eyes. her hair and her voice that she
would listen To the strange and unfamiliar
taley What wonder She listened when one,
with devilish art. spoke OF a thing which
she had never known He called IL love
What wonder that her heart beat faster as
she dreamed of the life he spoke of, of the
bright pictures he PAINTED, wherein this
mysterious love" filed all the canvas
and there WIS no room for sick and quer-
ulous men un couchcs, and wherein mar
cOtics We're not needed to bring peace and
rcsty What wonder she listened like a
little child fascinated with a newly told
fairy tale?
The last night OF the season he brought
her roses and told her that they were the
living emblens of his love for her What
would She do with themy Would she cast
such flowers aside TO ps rish, or would she
wear them in her bosom next TO her heart!
On the morrow he sailed for Europe,
perhaps never To return He would pass
her cottage early in the morning he said.
On the steamship there was n vacant state
room, reserved for him II he should want
It, In the coupe as he drove down to the
dock there would be vacant seat.
lfas he passed the stoop of that cottage
where she had suffered so much, where
love had never entered, IL she sat there
with his roses or with even one little bud
nf them at her breast he would wait for
her at the corner where he now was part
ing with her. and they would fly together
to another land where love should live
with Them forever
She listened like one whose soul Is stirred
by sweetest music she let her hand lin
ger in his. Her other hand held the roses
which Were to decide her fate, and the per-
fumc OF the flowers seemed to dull her
senses.
She felt his arm creeping around her
slender waist, and with a shudder, she
knew not If il wns born of passion or fear,
she suddenly tore herself away and hur-
ried into her home.
There was no sleep for her that night.
Her husband was in one of his most irri.
table humors. Directly she entered the
house he called Cor her, and with fretful
peevishness and petulant remarks he made
himself even mons trying than he had
ever been before
With her mind fully awakened to the
task of tending and soothing him, forget
ful for tine moment OF the associations of
the roses, she put the pretty posy in
vase of water by the side of the bed. But
when the weary night had passed and the
liCht of the morn stole into that sick
room, where she had watched until drugs
had meruifully lullcd him into slumber,
her heavy eyes fell upon the bunch of
roses, and she remembered all.
She rcmembered that he was going
away within an hour or two-going away,
perhaps never to roturn-and again her
life must be such as 1t had been through
out the dark and dismal hours of the hor-
rible night just passed.
Disgust and despair were i'm her heart.
Want of sleep and the vapors of opium had
dulled her sense of right and wrong.
She stole to her wretched husbands
bedside and noiselessly plucked one fun
blown rose from the fateful bunch. She
pinned it in her bosom.
Laughing "a little defiant laugh, she
stole to her room and put her best hat
jauntily upon her pretty curls, shaking
them saucily at her reflection in the look
ing glass.
Noiselessly unbolting and unlocking the
front door she tripped out on to the stoop.
She seemed to breathe the fresh air of free
dom that bright and breezy morning for
the first time in her life
Again she laughed as she saw little
cloud Of dust far away upon the road, and
she knew he was coming.
Just in time," she murmured.
Mamma, mammal Ne wants 90,
mamma, dearp'
The woman turned and saw her little
child, her baby Dorothy, standing in the