The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-30

| TT pity the woman,' she responoeo'
 ''The woman he cried. She put on | what she called her love as she would
 . discarded garment. and her life was none the sadder for it. But he-the man! Twenty years have I been with him | night and day and not for a moment | of that lifetime has he been able to blot | her image from his heart and it will | dwell there to his dying day. When he
 est her cey he had sbe Wounded l But it was not. Lashed by 1t as by a I whip, he shut out from his life every | thing that could remind him of her-yea, | changed his very name in a blind yearn- | ing to forget. But go where he would, l do what he would, his love stayed with him. killing his happiness blghting his l life. Had he not loved her so. he could have cursed her for So wantonly turn l ing all the sweetness of his life to gall. !" 1 There was d note of fierceness in his | voice as he spoke the last words and his | lins formed tn. mselves into the bitter. | cynical smile which had come to be | habituaI with him and he added:
 You see. he was man., and she | why. she was woman, and that epitom- fzes the whole story.
 1 For a moment there was pause; then | his companion turned to him impuisiVeiy. "Is that aliT'' she asked.
 | "All?' he answered. "Is it not enough? ? | A few minutes in the telling, lifetime l in the living"
 | AHQ now, Sne SAUL uoW tHat y'' have pleaded the mans cause so well, | and have branded the woman as h sart- | less and cruel and fickle. and unloving- will let me say word in hei de. | ture of what her life may have been, her | life, of which yoil speak with such as
 surance, but of which you can know ah- solutely nothing"'
 He nodded his head in token Of as- | sent. She continued almost passionatcly. her eyes flashing with a dangerous light "Oh," she said, how lightly you men . talk of woman's love. With what arro- ganee you extol the depth of your own I passion. holding hers as naught in com parison. Listen. Perhaps that woman l trusted the man she loved with trust beyond all saving. Perhaps he was to | her the embodiment of everything noble. and beautiful. and great in man. and SO, he cause she thought him that. she gave | him freely totally. all that she had to give-herself Oh. you cannot imagine. you. a mere man. the struggle that takes place in a wonan's heart before sh" takes the step by which she voluntarily cuts herself adrft from all that she has been wont to cling to before as her dear est rights, asking no compensation Tor | the sacrifice but the love and faith of him for whom size has made 1t. With man. love is but an added blessing. Take | 1t away. aud you leave him little sad | der. perhaps. q Ettl. less gay. but in all other respects the same.
 | know what you sa: You-but pardon me; you are speaking of the woman- | go on.
 Yes the wcmar Man may love in l the abstrdcs. woman must have living, 1 tangible object. Think. then. before you l judge so T irsnly. how this woman may l have looked upon the man in your story' | think of the struggle that may have gone on in her heart before she gavo herself to him. of the doubts of him, and fears | of him against which her love battled. | first strongly. then ever weaker anu | weaker. till finally 1t yielded. Think or | the trust which she gave him with her l self, and then of the agony which must l have been hers when she found that that l trust had been displaced. when she saw l the mantle of greatness and goodness
 with which her love had clothed him torn ruthlessly away. revealing to her his real | nature in all its smallness of distrust, Tn | all its hypocrisy and deceit. Think ot all this, and then judge her If you dare. l And oh. the misery of the next tew hours. heN heart still yearhing for the l idol it had lost; the bitterness of the | last meeting, her love still struggling
 against a firm resolve. And then sh. | continued, slowly. and there was profound l grief In her voice. and then, sef-eon- 1 demned to a life of loneliness, she took | back what she had given, and because | there was no ohiect on which to esi 1 It. she locked it up in her heart, ana l has kept it there through all these sad 1 | objectless. and therefore wasted:
 1 For a moment both were still-she | seemed to have forgotten that she hdo | a listener Recollection came to her suo- | denly. and she gave d little embarrassed
 laugh. She feared she had betrayed her' 1 self.
 Have I not pleaded well?'' she asked
 Do you still condemn the woman u''- | qualifiedly? .
 He was slow to answer. Their hostess | had introduced them hurriedly.. ana ht l had not caught his companions name
 nor had he felt the necessity suoseautiht, | lv to ask for it. The strange fascination l that the woman had had for him rom
 the first mystified and delighted nm, ano | he had yielded to 1t without attempting | to probe for it's meaning. But durlng hSI | last impassoned speech something m | her voice had with startling suddehness
 caused a great wave of profound feeling
 to pass over his heart. He gazed al heI | intently for a moment, ana the my yslel | of her attraction for him was cleared | He wondered that he had not recognizeo | her before, time had changed her So ht. | tie With mighty bound the love Una l had lain dormant in his heart Tor tWent! l years sprang into active fife agaln ano
 a mad impulse to throw himself at he' | feet once more to crave her forglNeness | as he had done many years ago. alIhus | gained the mastery over him. put ny | was well-schooled in self-restraint, ano
 his voice was almost natural when ht | answered her question. .,o a, .You have indeed made noble de l fense." he said. But if that woman
 should have been as noble as you nave made her out to be. would mercy She M 1 forgiveness have found no place m hel 1 heart? Would twenty years or unalterec | inve not expatlated the error of mo
 n;ent of passion? Would she blight ms i life and perhaps hers. merely pecause 1 in A fit of jealousy, prompted a,ter al | bv his great love for her, he hitu lalie.
 to measure up to the imposssiole niS | standard she had set fkr nm: Wou!o
 that Le just, and womanly. and Chris
 Ue saw a dreamy look creep into hei
 eves as he spoke and her voice had 2 | far-away sound to it when she answered 1 him. But her words opened a new Als ! to him. ., .ho said
 "and he had indeed proved true to Ht ! ai tbese vrars: if his love for me had | dwelt unchanged through 1t all as mlllt
 wo,Id have. | should thank God rom
 my soul for the blessing of such d love
 and if he were to come back 10 me no" | I should ask for his forgiveness TOT nay & | ing misiudged him so. and Woulu peg
 bin, humhly to take back as voluntary
 rist what | took from him then But l mon are strange-their pride IS ever
 strnneer than their love. He would not | come hack. and my love and my forgive
 ness and my repentance would never oe l known to him - -, I,,,or as she smoke. and at the last. she hroKe l 5on,r and buried har face in her halds. | AT his heart went out to her; he bent Eover her and touched her halr WItr
 his lips. ,, sof,,, that he
 .rSit, knew whether he had said it. But | pa had heard it. and she shrank rom ! sne iid idi1 s startled fuwu. FHr d lrns