Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-03-07


She pitied him as women will pity
lover, no matter how unworthy, bereft
OF his desire, but she said to herself with
dignity that she was worthy of a better
destiny than she had yet selected Tor
herself.
The village was a quiet one with a
green river flowing swiftly between
s.oping and wooded banks. The houses
wore an aspect of peace. The people
seemed neghbory, unconscious of riches
on poverty, and very simple. They We're
egregiously curious about Marian, and
really led her on to that course of ac-
ton which her friends regarded as too
eccentric.
Were you looking for kin folk?" they
asked.
No. she had no kin folk
Were you trying to get something to
do-plain sewing or millinery work, or
nursing?"
No. The truth was-and she was
ashamed to confess it-she had no trade.
To pass the time, she bought herself
five acres of land. thickly covered with
pines, upon a bluff which oyerhung the
river. There she built a little house,
priding herself a sudden interest in
the conveniences of domestic life. She
put big window toward the south and
filed it with beautiful growing things.
Never before had Marian Ogden known
anything about the diversion of work.
Now she arose each morning with the
prospect of occupation before her. After
the house was built and the rooms fur
nshed, the ground was to be cleared
of unsightly underbrush, the years ac
emulation of leaves to be destroyed.
there was a road to be made. a fence
to be built Her bankers, meantime, had
been of necessity taken into her conf
dence. and requested to ailay the APP
prehensions of her connections who lived
| i'll her house back in town.
After the first. the people in the VIII
lage took her quite as a matter of
course. 1t didn't at all surprise them
that anyone should desire to live in
their town. They said that probably
Miss Ogden had made up her mind to
be an old maid. and most of them re-
garded this as rather sensible resOlu-
ton.
Her little suppers her afternoon ''liter-
| aries" her candy pulls and sewing
circles We're popular in the extreme: nor
was there anything in the simplicity of
her attire and manner to indicate to
the uncritical observer that she had
| known any other life than the one she
was now living
nj the midst Of all this. Miss Ogden
| became acquainted with young man.
JudsOn Sillery by name. He was the
orator of the town, very patriotic and
eager young person with determina-
| ton to get to the top" This was not
the result of egotism. but of we'll in
culcated notions that it was the voca ton
| of all good Americans to get to the
! top At first he amused Miss Ogden.
| Then he appealed to her. Finally she
| gave him that purer and saner part Of
! her heart which was not yet captive
to an unforgotten frenzy. and married
| him.
| Upon this Marian Silery sat to work
to achieve something which money
| could not buy She diverted herself by
lending herself to her husbands am
billions. To assist him in making place
and to accomplish something in the
same way on her own account. became
| her vocation. She experienced a certain
| wholesome satisfaction when her hus-
| band went to the state legislature. She
| felt genuinely gratified when he went
| to congress. and then she became con-
sciOus that her ambition had overleaped
itself. Her husband was becoming vain.
He began to patronize his wife-he had
remained sweetly ignorant of her assist
| ance all Of the time. with purblind self
infatuation. He found excuses to drop
her into the background. At first she
was intensely amused. being conscious
that at any moment she could give him
a dramatic surprise. and reveal herself
as person of Importance. But by and
by it began to hurt.
| This awoke in her longing to put
herself to the test. To keep the regard
Of this inflated young orator of hers,
she must do something spectacular.
But was it worth while? Was it not a
little cheaper than other things in a
world which for her had always seemed
somewhat cheap?
Still, to keep the love of husband
was not cheap thing to do. The love?
Well, that might be rather an imposing
name to confer upon the patronizing
affection which Judson Sillery imposed
upon his wife. Still, life, which had
cheated her by giving her too much at
| the beginning. and thus allowing no
room for anything but anti-climaxes.
offered nothing better than this, to pre-
serve home which. builded upon the
sands, seemed lettering to it's fall.
So, while Sillery was away at Wash
ington, Mrs. Sillery went back to her