The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1901-11-21
The Other
Hand
A Studied Offense and Its
Penalty.
By GwENDoLEN ovERToN.

ne W DIS III lOkt With lllltu niiils Out VI
hand, for a richer fellow, and he was
very hard hit. He went west and was
lost to sight, and the places where he
had been knew him no more. If any
one CHANGED to mention him to the girl,
she smiled the smile of plying con-
tempt, which is most women's tribute
to the memory of a man they have
treated abominably, and said: Poor
Dick" She was as mean as she was
beautiful-which is not the fairy-tale
formula; but she got her punishment
in the end-which is.
This is how it came about:
Circumstances and physicians over
which she had no control sent the rich
man she had married-whose name was
| Kent-to spend a season on the Pacific
| coast. Kent's fancy lighted upon sea-
port town, the only objects of interest
in which were break-water, in course
of construction, and a spit of land
upon which. tourists were assured, the
skeletons of dead and gone pirates
| might yet be dug up. Neither these
nor the adjoining shipping village,
which only awaited the apprOpria
| ton of a delinquent congress to
become the harbor of the Pacific
slope, offered to Mrs. Kent that
variety and excitement which alone
could make existence palatable to
her. So she decided that if there
were to be any such, they must come
| from within herself. Therefore, as the
most unlikely thing that she could
| happen upon, she determined to try
what it might be like to lead that
| which is known as a normal and healthy
| life-going to bed when the frogs be-
| gan to sing in the dismal marshes
about, and getting up with the sun. 81
will take plenty of exercise" she eX-
| planned to her husband; 81 will row for
a couple of hours before breakfast, on
the lagoon, l think"
At daybreak she made her way across
the strip of land that divided the la
| COON and the sea. The hotels and cot
| tages faced the sea, but the lagoon was
the inner harbor, and there were upon
it only wharves and rickety boat
| houses and fishermen's huts. 1t was
not exactly a picturesque outlook, or
| dinarily, but the sunrise lights cast a
sort of glamour over it now. Even the
deep, loose sand was cool and tinted,
and all traced over with fine ca balistic
lines where the lizards had dragged
their tails and no one had as yet
stepped Later on, it would be blister
ing hot and the marsh weeds would
give out a choking smell; but this early,
their stunted yellow and pink blossoms
had fresh and pungent scent.
She followed path that led to a rough
board shack, standing on stills over
the ebb-tide mud, where sign adver-
tised that boats were builded and for
rent. When she stopped in the small
doorway, her figure shut out most of
the light, and she could barely discern
the man who was moving about inside.
He came toward her. Her back was to
the low rays of the sun, so her face was
in the blackness, and only her form was
as glistening white as the Angel of
Apocalypse.
Had he row-boat, she asked; one
not too heavy, and with oars of mod
crate sweep? He was taciturn-a
'long-shore character, ably-for
he did not even answer, only took a
pair of spoon oars from their rack on
the wall, and led the way out to the
landing pier. She followed, running
against strange shapes of wood, and
stumbling over piles of lumber in the
gloom. When they were out on the
landing, he turned about and faced
her suddenly. She was quite close be-
hind him, and she gave a quick start
back
81 thought So" he said, steadily; 81
thought the voice was like yours"
He had had that much warning, but
she had had none at all, and it might
have been a full two seconds before
she got control of herself. Then the
beauty of the situation and all its pos
sibilities floated upon her suddenly
and she decided that her movement OF
impulse had been the best she could
have made So she followed it up
She shrank back into the doorway
farther still. "Rchard!" she said
covering.
He stood resting upon the oars and
scrutinizing her stolidly. He flattered
himself that he was calm, not to say
cool, but Mrs. Kent had deeper than
surface sight. She knew that he ap.
peared cool for very much the same
reason that circular saw appears
still when it is going fast enough. For
herself and for the major part of man.
kind she was very light scoffer at
love; but she was no such fool as not
to know that the heart which has truly
loved and never forgets does have
its existence in the flesh as well as in
the lines of Erin's bard. So, summing
up the situation with the aid of obser.
vations upon his character, made rath.
err exclusively some five years gone
by, she came to the conclusion that
when she should be ready, it would
take perhaps half an hour at the out.
side to have him at her feet as tiger
is at the feet of trainer with whip
Henesly spoke at last. "You die
your work pretty thoroughly while
you were about it, you see," he said
81 went to the devil and to bedrock in
something less than year. Then
married a Portuguese fisher girl wher