The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-12-10
5 strT wENTY YEARS! am notched
and grizzled. You are only

|
and grizzled. You are only
1 mellowed, ripened." My friend
smiled and lighted fresh cigarette.
He puzzled me. Rumor had led me to
expect to find him, after my long alb
sence, a disappointed If not soured
man. 1 had sought him here in the
retreat where he ana his cold, uncon-
genial wife lived, 1t was said. like q
pair of hermits. Arriving at a moment
when the lady was absent, thought
| myself fortunate and prepared to probe
! the unhappiness Of one whose affection
! In early youth had left a very sunny
spot on my memory. I was, In fact,
ready to give him all the pity and SYM
pathy which bachelor of experience c
can feel for the irremediable mistake
of married friend.
Have you been hearing tales about
me?" he asked. "Shall tell you the
story Of my welded life?"
"If it does not pain you
| He smiled again. He has grown en-
! tirely philosophic," thought yet not
heartless, or he would not have well
, coined back an old comrade so warm
w."
Where shall begin?" he asked.
"At the beginning. You We're very
young, careless and, ] think, heart
whole when I went to the other end of
the world and lost sight of you, half
| a lifetime ago"
DO you know that l have been a
| millionaire in the meantime?"
II have heard something of It,"
"Thc wealth of an ancient relative
In IA :,
the golden wave came and went is a
story by itself. For five gilded years l
was transtigured in the eyes of the
| world, and it was during that period 1
met and fell in love with my wife"
l had heard all this and more. and I
felt sorry. I looked steadily at the op-
posite wall lest my pity should daunt
him. l knew the story of the worldly
mother and daughter who had forced
him into loveless marriage for greed
of the fortune which had proved so
elusive. He went on:
"It was not alone who thought her
suprenely beautiful. The world had al.
ready bestowed on her queenship he
fore the June day when I first saw her
at an open-air fete, all in white, pale,
cold, severe and sweet, like goddess
in marble Her mother walked beside
her, a woman of a different style. AS l
gazed after her in what you would call
romantic enthusiasm, a friend laughed
and bade me veil my admiration, as
those women were known to be in quest
of a golden million. If it be the case
that what everybody says must be true,
then true it was that the cold, eXquis-
ite daughter and the naughty, hawk
like mother We're adventuresses playing
a game for fortune, beauty against q
slender purse for n year or two Of prime
youth. Already beauty had over and
over again dared to reject love, ador-
alton and fortune considerable. Their
| figure has not been reached whispered
my cynical friend, your millions will
do it. BY this time l had proclaimed
myself an open worshipper. l am bound
to admit that all the encouragement
received was from the mother. The
daughter remained icy. ] persisted in
my suit, and in a short time was the
accepted lover of the woman who had
held me in n thrall.'
"She accepted you willingly?"
"Tacitly so. The mother seized on
me with effusion. My affianced wife
appeared just to endure her new posi-
tion with patience, nothing more The
mother assured me that her daughter
had a most affectionate nature hidden
under her chill exterior. She loved me,
and she had never loved any other man.
l tried to believe. And so we wed.
AFTER n time, when the excitement
of my first pride and happiness had
subsided, 1 began to feel reluctantly
conscious that there was something
wanting in our life together. My wifes
behavior was perfect from every point
of view, but there was wall of re-
serve between us which nothing was
able to break through. Wherever we
went / was aware that people said
had been married without love for the
sake of my million. How was l to feel
sure that the verdict was not a true
one? Had she given her heart to some
worthy fellow, who was millionless, and
rejected him, even as she had accepted
me, at her mothers bidding?
II resolved to take things as they
came, and to make the best of the goods
the gods had provided for me. We led
q life of amusement and pleasure. Our
house in London and our country
house mot this house. something much
grande.) We're as perfect as money
could make them. My wife went every
where, dressed and bejeweled as the
world expected to see her. We enter
tanned the smart crowd known as
society. l was proud beyond the pride
of man when / saw the woman I had
chosen receiving the admiration which
no one could refuse her. l even thought
she seemed glad of my pride in her.
Once or twice as l looked at her across
the shoulders of a crowd that divided
us / thought I saw something in her
eyes of warmth which was absent from
them when we found ourselves again in
our home,
''As time went on her reserve which
was my despair, communicated itself to