Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-01-10

ask if she were anyone we had seen
on the stage before.
The minute / looked at him I
guessed who she was. I had recog-
nized her by the description I had
nized her by his relentless memory,
which would not let him forget that
she had been the one passion of a
life, which, since her treachery, had
set itself to but a meaningless tune.
L saw his wife slip her hand into his.
'Shall we go?" she whispered. Her
intuition had been as swift as mine.
Her courage and dignity were what
l would have expected them to be.
Not at ALL" he replied. Its a play
we came to see, isn't it, Isabel? What
is a character more or less to u.s."
But for all of his bravado, I saw that
his wife kept her hand still in his
there in the dusk of the box. I was
conscious, too. when the moment
came that the actress turned her eyes
our way and saw Curzon. and, after
a seconds hesitation, recognized him.
Her eyes dilated and she drew her
breath sharply, but she did not lose
her line. On the contrary, she began
to take more interest in her part,
and acquitted herself creditably.
We took the ladies home after the
theater, and then l went on with the
Curzons to their door.
Tom" l said, as 1 shook hands with
him. Il happen to know about your
story. l guessed who the woman was
on the stage tonight. 1 want to con-
graduate you on the good friend you
have in your wife and to tell you that
if you need another friend-which you
probably will not-you can find one
here"
He said: Thank you" in his hearty
way and went up the stairs with Mrs.
Curzon.
The next thing l heard was that the
leading actress-Marie Averill, she
was billed-was stricken with a col
lapse, and that she was lying at deaths
door at the hotel. The paper an
nounced this, with the change of cast.
asked me if I'd seen it.
Isabel is up there at the hotel look
ing after her." he said.
"Curzon," 1 cried. your wife is an
angel, but l suppose you haven't found
it out, have you? You take her for
granted, don't you?"
II don't think l car talk about that,
a II" he asked. I didn't beg his par
don. / was too fond of him to let a
formal apology intrude itself between
us. The next day, meeting him again.
he ventured the information that his
brother had been killed in a railroad
accident in Australia, and that his
brothers wife had been on the stage
for ten years.
"She has a daughter. the picture of
herself" he said. THE daughter is
staying with us. Isabel says she
doesn't think Nannette can recover"
Il hope not" l thought, but I didn't
dare say it.
1t was true. hat once having given
up. the woman of many remorses could
not recupsrate. She died in the arms
of Isabel Curzon. and she was buried
from the Curzon home as Curzon's sis
ter.
l sat in the hospitable library of the
house the evening after the funeral.
AoNh. 1oiN l. IL = PdIO iDO dSDI
20 the uttermost, hasn't she? Your
brother paid. too. didn't he? Now put
the memory out of your life. The peo-
pie who deceived you are dead. Make
an effort to trust the rest of the world"
He made no answer, but sat there
staring at the fire. I saw that the
ghosts of the old pain had hard hold
of him. and no word of the right sort
came to my lips. I was casting about
me in vain for some argument to offer
in protest of his suffering. when the
door opened and his wife came in. hsr
arm about the waist of a lily-slenGer.
white-faced. beautiful girl. whose
black garments chung to her with a
statuesque grace. The girl lifted her
gray-blue eyes apealingly. and I saw
there were glints of gold in them. She
had a tender and deprecatory smile.
and though her eyes were red with
weeping. yet she looked comforted
too. We both arose as the ladies en-.
tered, and Curzon stood staring at the
two. his lips trembling.
Tom" said Isabel Curzon. in her
strong. clear voice, Il suppose you
know that this dear child is our new
daughter. don't you?"
Curzon sprang toward his wife and
caught her hands and pressed his lips
to them.
Isabel" he said. quite oblivfous to
the girl and to me. Il love you!" The
words hsl all the dramatic force of a
first declaration. and 1 guessed shrewd-
" that Isabel Curzon had never heard
him say that thing in quite hat same
ton before. She had won him at last.
through many sacrifices. I looked at
the girl whose adoption represented
the supreme sacrifice of this courageous
woman. and 1 felt sure that the scr-
rows and sins of her mother would
never be experienced by her.
"Curzon.' said I. later. 81 congratu-
late you. This child who has just left
us will bring you nothing but joy"
Nothing but joy" he repeated.
~She is like her mother. but yet not
like. I'll go to England next month to
the old place and take my wife and my
children with me-my sons and my
A Display of ignorance.