The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-07-28

by her chatter. / knew, as soon as l
had seated myself in my chair, that
should hear her whole history, and /
knew, too, that the opening chapter would !
be a dissertation on the profound rootage
of her family tree. / knew also. since +
she was young and pretty and travelling I
alone that the second chapter would I
concern itself with an unhappy marriage.
There are, no doubt, young and pretty |
married women who travel alone on their /
way to rejoin husbands they adore, but I
in the course of much going to and fro
over the surface of the earth it has never |
been my fortune to meet one of them. All !
those / have known have been abused an
gels and most of them victims of the
worlds unjust censure well as of mar
ital brutality.
/ had the pleasure of patting my fore
sight on the back 1t was 10 o'clock when
l came on deck, and by noon, when the
purser came to invite Mrs. Potwin and
myself to partake of a very rare and
precious sort of cocktail which he was
about to compound, / had the story. AS
for the genealogy, it proved, as is often
the case with American genealogies, to
be rather record of the political and
financial achievements of the uncleS and
cousins of the narrator than tale of
past ages. They were all rich and great,
II appeared, the men, and the women all
unhappy and frequently consoled Mrs.
Potwin's father had, like many other
rich and great men, sought less simple
joys than those afforded by his hearth
and home, and the mother of Mrs. Pot
win had run away with a gentleman who
wore gold lace on the sleeve of his coat.
The brilliant creature whose effulgence
had cast this dark shadow over Mrs.
Potwins childhood was not very clearly
described At one stage of the narrative
l conceived him to have been military
attache at one of the embassies in Wash
ington, and at another his portrait seem
| ed rather to be that of an ecJlyer in a
travelling circus. At any rate the moth
err had run away with him, and my young
friend had found herself standing with
reluctant feet bereft of maternal sup
port 1t is a general law that young and
pretty women who are travelling alone
have never known n mothers love, and
perhaps II Is because they have all lost
their mothers early in life that their hus-
bands have been permitted so truculently
to ill-use them. Potwin had appeared.
and she had promptly dislked him, and
as promptly married him. 1t was a long
story, but, accent or no accent, she had
a soft little voice. At this hour I can
not be sure whether she married Potwin
because she had stepmother, and was
unhappy with her, or because she thought
she might some time have stepmother
was monster l need not say. We have
all been taught in school that If we wan,
to get a clear idea of any character in
history we ought to try to imagine him
present to our gaze, and to my sight
Potwin appeared with a key of rum in
one hand. cudgel for his shrinking
bride in the other, and tender words ad
dressed to an obese lady, upon his sinfu
! lips. Whether Mrs. Potwin had divorce,
him because he beat her. or he had di
I lyorced her because he was tired of beat
I ing her / was not quite clear; but the,
two were twain. | ventured to ask he
, If it was because she liked the sound o
Potwin that she had abstained from re
, suming her maiden name and she toll,
: me ii was out of regard for the feeling
of her family. Upon this we went to TIL
: lpursers office, where he poured five diff
h lferent fluids together and stirred then
: up with a broom.
I In the course of a week we had becom
!, very friendly, the little Mrs. Potwin an
Z |. Whatever her shortcomings. or long
: Igoings. may have been, she was a y6un
f woman of uncommonly quick perception
z and IL did not take her long to discoye
e that l was by no means inclined to max
II a fool of myself for the sake of her pref
IS ty yellow hair and her softblue eyes Sin
d told me that she believed Englishmen
J. be singularly lacking in the imaginatiy
e faculty, and / was rather pleased tina
e Iotherwise that she should excuse M
:, want of enterprise as racial defect
It liked to hear her talk about herself bl
N had no desire to have her set othe
l. people talking about me. / was charm
l. ed to fill her wine glass. as we'll as II
n purser's, but did not want to have hs
Of discover when we reached Yokohama thu
r there had been a mistake about her lie
is ter of credit, and to have her ask me
1 hafs hn.1I H. H..
er ladies' who have never known a mother
IN love, and whose husbands have behave
10 like brutes, have little habit of beir
I'd unbusinesslike about their letters of ere,
le 1T In word, Mrs. Potwin was a d,
r. lightful acquaintance, but did not in
I press me as a person with whom L care
L TO cultivate an enduring friendship; ar
as for losing my heart to her, should
ne soon have lost 1T to a fairy in Chris
r mas pantomime. My generalzatio,
el were, as i afterwards discovered mo
ly or less unjust. She was not an advel
to turess. She had a very comfortable il
come of her own. She wanted someboc
IL to talk to, and accident threw me in h
s. way. She could not help dropping h
r eye-lashes at me; that was second n
at ture to her. and she was frankly disa
n pointed because / would not fall In 10
ne with her. She believed that she was
IN woman made to disturb the souls of me
n and she resented my plaeidity Three
r. four young fellows among our felloy
IN passengers were quite mad about he
ge and even the purser himself (who ga
in me to understand that he not infrequen
at ly found favor in ladies' eyes. he renal
ge ing untouched of hearD followed h
he about like large and proud sort of d.
er before we reached Honolulu. The stear
as er was to lie there all one day, and MI
Potwin told me it was her pleasure tn
C. l should take her for drive; so We we
tie together to the Pail. I was fiattered
en- her preference, for 1 knew that t
at young fellows had one after another
lie !vited her to go. but before the drive w
at over she explained the compliment ava
sh You see," she said, they are all
nd love with me, or anyhow most of the,
he and the rest will be before we get to Y
to lkohama. They all look at me as if / we
a a plate of ice cream, and / like that
"a. like IL better than anything else in I
d. world: and they quarrel about me all t
cd time, and that is perfectly lovely. But
ot went off and drove with one of the
m you wouldn't be miserable at ally
I'm wouldn't care a bit. I don't blame v
on for It; it is because you are an Engls
sr- man, and you can't help it: but tn
al are not as stupid as you are. and tn
he appreciate me- Thereu be awful ro