The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-09-02

my mlnc winch must De Spokeh- II vas
right after all. that you should have
brought me home and nursed me back TO
strength; for do you know it was through
you that my accident happened?"
Through me?''
Eyes. was walking home from friends
house, where I'd been dining. Suddenly, IN
a circle of blue light the street boys were
playing with / saw a face-your face it was.
as know now. But thought thought it
was the face of someone else."
Someone you were very fond off,
She breathed the words rather than said
them.
Someone 1 loved with all my heart and
soul. My wife.
Your wife, All. you were married seven
years ago. were you not?" / saw it in the
papers"
MY marriage was never in the papers,
and 1T took place not seven years ago, but
ten The Everard Sinclair, who was married
seven years ago to Lady Mary Cleethorpe
was my first cousin. Why. nurse, how white
YOU look, And your hand is trembling
What is the natter
Nothing, I am a little tired. Let me go
back to my old place; l get the air from
the door there Now go on with your story.
please. Is your wife-dead?"
II can't tell That's the terrible part Of
1t. Hardly any one even knows that am
married. Within a week my wife was
taken from me, and 1 have looked for her
vainly ever since You will laugh, Nurse
Clare, but by that foggy light. seeing your
face suddenly, 1 thought 1 had found her
loS CHI
Am so very like her.
Like and yet not Likes She, my Leonie,
was girl, not eighteen; she would only be
about seven and twenty now. She had an
enormous mass of curly dark hair, the
longest and finest ever saw, and skin like
a peach. Her figure was plump and Won
derfully pretty, and she was the gayest,
merriest creature you can imagine, Staging
and laughing from morning till night. We
were like couple of children. But all this
was ten years ago."
'Yes. People change with time" she
said, quietly. But what do you mean by
saying she was taken from you? How can
any one separate husband and wife?"
His brows knit.
'Unluckily, she was French" he said.
1--WE were staying at country house. She
was schoolfellow to one of the girls. The
moment / saw her fell madly in love with
her; and she loved me. too. though at first
she was too much afraid of her parents to
own II. / wrote to them to ask their con-
sent, for nothing would content me but an
immediate marriage. But old Mons. Du-
pont, her father, was a self-made mana
wealthy merchant, with no ideas but
money-making and TN inveterate hatred
against the English. Leonie was his only
daughter. and he refused my offer in most
insulting terms, and ordered his daughter
home in a week. / knew nothing of
French law. and 1 took no ones advice,
but / got a special license, and we were
married secretly at Wythinge Church. not
far from Folkstone. Then we wrote to her
people; my mother was dead. and my
father was fighting in Zululand. so that
could not consult mine. Monsieur Dupont
gave me no reply, but telegram, inform
ing me that the marriage was by French
law illegal and void. as the consent of
Leonic's parents had been refused, and de-
manding the instant return of his daugh-
ter.
Need tell you that didn't understand,
and couldn't and wouldn't believe it, or
and hurried up to town. having telegraphed
to my lawyer to meet he for consulta
ton. To my amazement and horror 1 found
it was perfectly true. Outrageous as 1t
seems to our English ideas, French SUBJ
jects cannot be legally married at short
notice without the consent of their par
ents! Love or liking is set aside in the
case of that unfortunate nation. The
young man or woman must wait until their
parents and guardians have we'll studied
the monetary aspects of the proposed
match, and when they have done haggling,
and not before, Romeo is free to meet
his Juliet, always in the presence of their
respective guardians!
ITO old Dupont the fact that his daugh-
ter was already the wife of the man she
loved was nothing; the fact that she was
heiress to his scraped-up thousands of
francs, and had thrown them away upon
an Englishman without fortune was every.
thing.
when I returned to my little home at
Wythinge, it was empty! My wife had
been stolen from me by her father and
mother. and from that day to this, Nurse
Glare. 1 have never seen her face Do you
wonder that I refuse to marry? How
could 1 take another woman as my wife
while in my secret heart feel convinced
my Leonie is alive?
For three years I sought her, but the
Duponts kept her close. and swore to me
she had entered a convent. At last, in de-
spair. went abroad, as you know, risking
my life for the sake of the movement and
excitement of travel in a savage country.
But the thought of my little lost wife has
never left me, and the reason why delight
to look at you and obey you. the reason
why / am, as you call me, such a good
patient. is just that by some accident,
your voice and your face remind we won
derfully. of her. AS you bend your head
now by this light it might be Leonie-"
"A much older and sadder woman than
your Leonie. Mr.. Sinclairi
''Of course" he returned, dreamily, with
his eyes still fixed upon her face. land yet
why are you trembling? And why are
your eyes filled with tears? Answer me
and don't run away, Nurse
II have to see about your beef tea
and"
h