The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-02-25
Six Years Lost,

| supper just peepinS from Denedtn It's
| hem IT'S all very well TO eschew the
| what necessary for all that. and 1 have
| never seen any great evidences of econ
omy on your part, and l am quite sure
! you have not on mine"
Max Bayard tugged impatiently at his
mustache as the girl. whom a moment
| before ne had asked to be his wife, thus
| answered him.
4 have 9sver had an incentive to econ
omy," Max said IN answer. Il have
enough TO live on and feed my horses.
| though my tailor's bill does trouble me
| now and then, / confess; but, Sydney,
| I viii change all that, dead. 1 can't, per-
| haps, give you all the Injuries TO which
/ you are accustomed. but you shan't lack
! for comforts. that l promise YOU
I'VE should be Observation-Disclosures
| bic, both you and IT, the girl answered.
| bitterly. I'VE have not either OF US been
reared in q school of poverty. 1 would
| cry for cake while you could only give
| me bread. and you for ale, while could
| give you only kisses. Come. be sensible,
and let US be good friends
Friends? Never'' he exclaimed. II
am starving, and you throw me stone.
| Look into my eyes, Sydney, straight and
true. and say you do not love me, and
| 1 will go away, and trouble you no
more
The long lashes dropped low on her
cheeks.
4 cannot quite say that" she answer
ed, but 1 will say more. 1 promised last
night to become Mr.. Clayton's wife with
in six months"
Max Bayard' handsome face grew
white to the very lips-a look of deadly
anger, mingled with something like loath-
ing, crept into it. Sydney shrank from
il, as from a blow.
Don't, Max-don'ti" she cried Il could
not help i'll am very sorry
You could not help it-you are very
sorry" he repeated very slowly. Gould
not help what? Toying with me for your
MISUNDERSTANDING fast and loose with
your victim, or selling yourself 10 the
highest bidders Which? You are very
sorry-for whom? For the man you led
stey by step TO the brink of the flower
strewn precipice, only to smile as he
plunged to the chasm below, or for him
who wins the prize in the lotery-the
prize for which he has paid the price of
all his fortune? Pardon me. Miss Yer
non, but he, l think, is more deserving of
your sorrow than the man whom you
hurl to the lowest depths of the abyss"
With these words, he turned and left
her.
Six years had passed-six years. fraught
indeed with change.
'If she had been but true to herself
and me-" Max Bayard had thought
when, but a few months after the event
which had driven him from his native
land to find forgetfulness in travel, a
letter had been put into his hand, which
had followed him, from port TO port, an
nouncing that he had fallen heir to
fortune which might have challenged Mr.
Clayton's in its magnitude.
A year afterward he married. His wife
was very young and very lovely; but
there were depths in his nature that her
hand never stirred, and even az she lay
with her head pillowed on his breast an
other haunted face would come between.
and, mid the caressing murmur of her
words, would sound the echo of the
might have been"
But he loved her very dearly. and
mourned her very truly when, one short
year after their marriage, he laid her
away in her grave and took up the bur
den of life again, with the added respon-
sibility of the tiny infant daughter she
had left him.
''Wanted-A lady to superintend the ed
ucatiOn of a little girl. Apply between
the hours of and at"
1t was in answer to this advertisement
that. six years after that memorable af-
ternOon upon the BACH a lady stood wait
ing in the elegant drawing-room of the
house to which she had been directed.
Her veil was down and the room was
half in shadow from the heavy curtains
which draped the window. but for ali that
she started perceptively when a step
crossed the hall and a gentlman, his hair
slightly tinged with gray, entered.
She had sunk back on the sofa, and
her frame quivered with emotion.
You have come, madam, in answer to
my advertisement" he asked, cautiously
NO no. she answered. There are
reasons why it will now be impossible
for me to accept the situation offered"
That voice! Had it not too long haunt
ed him to be thus easily forgotten?
Would he not know it even though 1t
sounded above his very grave?
Sydney, You here?" he exclaimed
"Ah. Mrs. Clayton-pardon me for the
moment l forgot"
The shen threw back her veil Six
years had made little change. II was the
same beautiful face, but grown very pale,
and the lovely mouth quivered as she
spoke
Believe me, 1 would not have intruded
myself upon you had 1 dreamed it was
you who had inserted the advertisement
My wife is dead" he answered. But
stay as she rose to go. Tell me how
1t happens that you are in necessity. Is
Mr. Clayton dead?"
She shuddered.
You mistake" she said. II did not
marry Mr.. Clayton. I am Sydney Vernon
still"
You did not marry him?'
No 1t is woman's privilege, YOU
70 br-
was very angry. and at her death she left
me nothing. Your advertisement attract
ed me. I thought 1 might learn to love
a little girl"
sydney. why did you not marry Mr..
Clayton?"
Had ne really spoken. or was It her own
thought which formed the question? No.
he was awake now, his eyes resting upon
her.
You have no right to ask me-" she
atdlh cpl tcT- p n. a dyaais55emp irwy /
said. imperiously. Let ting dead past I
bury its dead
No right. perhaps-that 1 admit, but 1
answer me. all the same. For the sake 81 !
all these starving years. let ne know the I
truth
Because I did not love him" sae an
swered. then-"becauae found myself /
weaker than I knew"
%. Sydney! II we had knowu-if ve I
bad koowi, My darling. was there an I
1taer reason? Was Il because you loved 1
me-"
Because shall love you while life
asts"
A month later there was a quiet wed
Times-Hera}d.
Wit and Humor.
Customer Cat restsurantb-''This steak I
: much smaller than tbs one I had yes
e-1av"