Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-05-04
Mary HudSOn'S Lover.
By J. OTIS SWIFT.

Then he had told her of his life. or
his struggles. as a newsboy. His story
of life as clerk in Wall street, ana
then as a gambler on his own hook.
had interested her. He thought that
intiTatinE he had been n rough man.
had lived for the moment alone, would
be news to her.
With all his worldly wisdom he was
not wise enough to know that TINS
sweet. natural New England girl had
read him like n book almost as soon as
she had seen him. She knew he was
wicked man. She knew that he had
drained almost every cup of degrade
ton. She knew it in theoretical way.
She pitied him. and though pity and
| love are very nearly akin in honest
| hearts. her pity for him was not of the
| sort that beSets love.
And now as he pictured to her his
efforts to reform and to lead life on a
| higher plane she made up her mind in
advance. She liked the fellow. but
| there is theory among Maine girls
that goes hand in hand with the pro-
| hibitory law. 1t is that you can't re-
| form a man by marrying him. The
well dressed. experienced New Yorker
imagined that he had only to propose
to Mary Hudson to have her throw
herself at his feet.
She liked him. She admired his hair,
| his taste in dressing. and the way he
talked. But he was not her ideal. On
| the other hand the decadent fellow
really had come to believe that his sal
| walton depended upon her marrying
her pure soul to his soiled one. And
! when he stopped and looked away over
| the valleys to the dim, mystic white
cloud that she had told him was Mount
Washington, and let his eyes fall into
the charming valley between, it was
with something like triumph.
Mary looked down with Il flush on
her honest face. Though she knew he
was unworthy. it was still great pain
to her to have to hurt him. To the
| truly generous and good it is painful to
injure anything.
No" she said slowly. lit cannot be
Perhaps l should have told you before
| | never dreamed you would fall in love
with me. You seemed just like IA good
companionable fellow. 1t has never
occurred to me that you were a man.
| cannot marry YOU because. in the first
place I have not yet come to love you
enough. And in the next place. am
engaged"
An angry and surprised flush mount
ed To his face.
Engaged" And to whom. pray"
Mary hesitated and stopped to pick
4 red acorn at her feet
His name is Tod Jones'" she said
Devereau looked at her a moment
and then laughed contemptuously. "A
farmer. l suppose"
"A mans occupation is nothing she
said
With small politeness Dcvereau rose
and left her there on the hillside. He
flung away through the woods. NUT
tcring in a passion. She listened till
she could no longer hear his feet
breaking the dry sticks. She was very
pale and she admitted that it was not
pleasant to lose the companion of a
summer in that way. but at last she
whispered. How much that mans
wife would have to suffer"
Mamma" she said after supper that
night, where is Tod Jones?"
Mrs. Hudson laughingly went to a
box where she kept relics of Mary
babyhood and fishcd out an old rag
doll. on the back of his coat was
printed in lead pencil. Tod Jones
lover of Baby Mary"
Thereafter the rag elfin occupied a
place on the mantle in MaryS room
And Devereau had gone, leaving her a
note in which his resentment allowed
his true disposition to show through
| No limos