The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1901-11-22
JOY OF
RETURNING

' A""AiS Nho Nv LID Ills VI VIC
riverside could be better appreciated
when the hands were idle. Leaning
back in my cushions, l listened to the
drone Of the bees and the musical lap
ping of the water against the sides Of
h boat, watching meanwhile the va
rying expressions which fitted over
my companions face.
How sweet and peaceful it all is
here she half unused. "Just a day for
condolences. Fell me, Rose, have 1
ever kept a secret from you?"
mot to my knowledge" l returned.
"Well, there is one big secret which
1 have always kept locked up in my
W heart, the only one, l think, that l
ever refrained from confiding to you.
l am going to tell you it now. How
your" e.
1.-TWO years." 1 answered somewhat
~anxiously, land the happiest two years
of my life. Don't say you are thinking
Of leaving me yet awhile"
did it strike you as being a
strange thing for me to leave my home
and friends and come and bury myself
in the country like thisY
II thought perhaps" I began blum
deringly, that you might have had
some disappointment-that is
l broke off in some confusion, and
my friend looked at me intently from
under her long fringed eyelids.
you were quite right" she said, the
smile dying away from her mouth and
a shade passing oyer her face. "You
thought there was a man in the case.
Well, there was"
Her voice sank as she made this con
f~ession, and her eyes strayed away
over the water with the faraway ex-
preston which had become so famil-
lar. l looked at her silently, desperate
ly curious, as only u woman can be.
and yet not caring to put any question.
"Yes," she said softly. "He was the
cause Of my going away. l loved him
too well to stay"
"But whyT I began impetuously, not
quite understanding this kind Of affec-
ton. didn't he care for you!"
eyes," she said. THAT was the rea-
son why went"
"Was-was he married? I asked
nervously.
EYES," she said bitterly. Gle was
married. and to a vain, selfish. worth
less woman. a woman who cared for
nothing but the indulgence of her own
inordinate vanity. What he suffered
through her no one knows better than
myself. In six months she ran through
all his money, incurred debts which
were impossible to pay and altogether
made his life a perfect misery. Rose,
Rose. there never was a greater curse
to mar than a bad wife"
"That must have been hard for you
to BEAR" l murmured sympathetically.
"But not nearly so hard as for him."
"And do you think he loved your
II am sure of it," she returned. do
you think my life these two years
would have been possible if l had not
known? 1t was that that gave me the
courage to go away and to keep away
all through those terrible long months"
"And now l began anxiously,
staying the oars in their motion in the
water.
She dabbled her hands in the water
before speaking.
"And now she said, II nm going to
see him again."
She saw the look of panied surprise
which came upon my face, but did not
hood t. on1 want ON fo1l-inn DC ~ 70
herself.
Il nm going to meet him in the city
tomorrow. He will be at the station
when my train comes in. l haven't
seen him for two whole years-fOr two
whole years."
''Then his wife is dead" l made re-
mark.
"No: she is not. Women Of that sort
do not die easily"
Butt demonstrated.
"There are no butts about it," she
cried almost angrily. 1--WE have suf-
fered enough, he and 1, and we are go
ing to pretend that the other woman is
dead. We are going to forget all the
misery of the past. He is going to take
me abroad, and we are going to start
life over again. 1t is the thought OF
this which has kept me alive these
years."
"You are a very foolish girl" l said,
with some emotion. "DO you think
happiness will come at such a cost?
Think over it all again or you will re-
pent it bitterly. You have had courage
enough to keep away so long, don't
spoil it all now. l am pleading now for
| his sake and yours"
She shook her head ~obstinately, and
her eyes shone with a light which was
truly m%addening to me. Knowing her
as l did, this weakening change In her
character surprised me more than l
dared to own. I looked at her silently
and met her glance Of odd defiance
with a sorrowful thought Of what she
had been to me for the last two years.
Then l found my voice.
But she did not heed entreaties and
sat half smiling to herself as she play
ed with the steering ropes.
"We are willing to risk everything"
| she said. when two people love each
" = ~0~o