The Delawarean., 1900-08-11

him II could. | am going away, and
he shall live his life in peace. have
merely come to ask you what kind Of
life it is going to be-
The woman in white threw herself
back in her chair and raised her beau
tiful arms above her head.
"Oh, you cold blooded womanr' she
cried, clasping her hands above the
shining coil Of her hair. "You icy
wives that go your round of what you
call duties, and sew on buttons and
have good dinners and sit at the head
of the table, as interesting as that
Dresden shcpherdess, month after
month ana year after year, and then
are shocked and outraged when he
meets a flesh and blood woman and
loves her. What kind of life will he
have? Why, he will learn for the first
time that he is alive! What right have
women like you to talk about love
women who give Il man up the first
time he looks another way! Why, l
would make myself the most beautiful
and most attractive creature in the
world to him, so that he could never
even look at another woman-and then,
if lie looked. l would not so away and
leave him. | would Kill him."
She clutched the paper knife in her
right hand and lifted the left hand
and kissed again the flashing circlet on
her wrist.
The woman in gray looked at her,
and the sight was branded on her
memory When she spoke again, it
was in lower tones. Her eyes were
fixed on a ring-a a loose loose ring that
she was turning around on her finger.
Perhaps we were mistaken about
having loved each other" she said
absently, as though she were talking
to herself. we were both SO young,
and so ignorant. We were married
earlier than we had intended-because
my mother died, and / was left alone,
and was such an unprotected child
and so we We're married, and we
agreed that we were to study together,
because we We're both so ambitious
for him. And perhaps | couldn't have
kept pace with him, ut my best, but
had to take in sewing to help him
along, so l hadn't much time-and in n
little while lie was away beyond me.
have never caught up with him since,
but have always gone on studying, so
that ] wouldn't quite disagrace him
when he became a distinguished man"
The woman in gray stopped to put n
delicate and uemulous hand 10 her
throat.
"When he was studying law" she
went on presently. his eyes were trou-
bling him, and SO ! read aloud to him
for many hours every day. Sometimes
] almost wished his eyes would fail Il
little more-a great deal more-so that
he could be more dependent on me,
for was very young and ignorant
then, and, you see, l thought l loved
him!"
The woman in white did not speak
She was sitting quite still, as though
she We're a marble woman.
'And even away back at the first"
the woman in gray went on in that
desolate self communing, 'when we
were ignorant boy and girl together, we
had quite settled it with ourselves that
he was to be a distinguished man. We
even made little play of it, telling
one another that people would one day
point out with pride the poor little
house where we had lived and where
we had so much trouble paying the
rent, and then we would laugh so mer-
rily. Oh, where has the laughter all
gone? And so we went on looking for
ward always to the day when he would
be famous and working and planning
for it, and l always pictured myself so
proud-so proud of his triumphs! We
cold blooded women feel very deeply
sometimes and think long thoughts!
And now he has won the honors we
dreamed of, and tomorrow l am going
on long journeyw
She slowly rose, and the marble wo-
man in white saw for the first time
that she had little package in the
thin hand.
Il have something to leave with
you," said the woman in gray, ''some-
thing to give you. See it is a little
bundle of letters. He wrote them dur
ing my mothers illness. They are the
letters of an undeveloped and ignorant
boy to poor little girl. l have cher
ished them long time, but give them
have already gone out of my life"
II
An hour afterward the woman in
white found that she had been alone
for long time and that the last of the
poor little letters was open i'll her hand
A withered rose had dropped from it
and lay in her lap among the folds of
fluffy white. The air was filed with
the fragrance of the little old time
rose, which seemed to be part of the
old time boyish love that was dead as
the rose. Once, long ago, in her life
also
The radiant face of the woman in
white was pale and old and weary
looking as She tied the letters in the
packet again and laid this penciled
line upon them:
do not go on the long journey, for
go on a journey of my own" Then
| cI1n eli TIE