The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-11-20

oAAis = NiAo 5oS wig 1851 l
and eagerly while the phantom faded
away from my gaze. Another picture
now rose before me.
l saw myself clad in a cheerful morn
ing robe. Charles had prosperea in
business, gold poured into his Golfers,
n with gold cane fashion, with am
b1t1on II pride and a score OF demons
In her train. 1t whispered:
You are young and you are beauti-
full. In the great world you would be
an acknowledged queen. Put your
husbands wealth to use. Let not your
beauty fade out in the nursery. Your
child Will get on well enough in the
nurses care. i've in the world n
shine like a queen
And this was the beginning of the
SHADOW which darkened the picture. I
saw the glitter of the ball, the splendid
furniture, the silver plate, the gay
equipage and the stately apartments,
and amid it all through the opened
door of a neglected nursery I saw a
pale. drugged 4-year-old child slowly
dying. The end came. The tiny rose
wood casket was closed over the fea-
lures of the child who died of motherly
neglect. l saw a strong man bend in
convulsed grief over his dead boy and
then go out silently and, growing grav-
er day by day, turn to his business
again. L heard frantic bursts of grief
from the stricken mothers mouth and
I1SpSd ily JeWGleu MINUS IN anguish.
A long pause fell between, and then
another, the last, picture fell before
me. l recognized it's ~faithfulness at
once. Ten years interviewed between
th1s picture and the preceding one. l
had not changed save to fuller and per-
tected beauty. Everything was as plain
as day-the magnificent furnishings
OF the home, with the Persian carpets,
costly tables, bronze and marble stat
Ies n china and silver wares, and
fhrough these walls I moved, a cold,
!. and beautiful woman of ice. I shrank
from the portraiture with dismay. But
While L sat and gazed into the picture
: glided a pale, careworn ma wearing
the same expression 1 had often seen
upon my husbands face. How
l changed he looked from the hopeful,
manly Charles Gordon who had stood
, before me in the moonlight! He had
been a grave n silent man ever since
his boy died, but there was now fresh
trouble eating way his life.
What has brought this about?" I
asked.
! In a moment my question was an
: sWered. Into the magic picture came
g. shadoWy finger which pointed to the
\ paper-strewn table at which my hus-
band sat. I gazed and beheld a revela-
. ton, and mechanically my eye ran over
every paper he opened. The catalogue
g was fearful-a long array Of bills
liolS u illIule, SlilucS, JSWelo, ollhS,
along array of which I recognized dis
tinctly my own agency, and balancing
{. this catalogue. stood a tangled trade,
= empty Golfers, with the word PANEL"
y written as with a pen of fire. While
he sat and unfolded each paper and
laid 1t aside I stole nearer and gazed
Upon the one he had just taken. 1t
:, was my latest bill, the bill for my ball
> dress. I made a movement to snatch
it from him, and the spell was broken.
What is it, Daisy? You. asleep here
and d~reaming?" I started and to find
7 myself seated in the. great velvet chair
and my husband standing beside me.
Did 1 fall asleep? I must. But you,
Charles, you have not slept" [ said,
70 for just then I noticed that he was in
his coat and full dress.
st have been up late, looking oyer
some papers 1 brought from the store
le But I was just going up stairs. You
le should be asleep before this" he added
half ~reprovingly, his eyes wandering
to with a sort of panied look over M
is toilet.
why do you not speak to me
as Charles? You are in some great trou
n. Bile. Oh, Charles, I have had a dream
in this evening that a shown me mysel
Mt in my true light. 1 am nothing, mor'
IS than nothing. I am a drag instead o
ur a helpmeet. Speak to me, Charles, ant
as tell me that you do not hate me-"
ad Can you bear the worst, Daisy?" h
r. asked hoarsely, lifting his eyes t.
mine.
Anything, anything, my dear hus
m band. I have been blind, but the scale
tn have fallen now. Tell me everything
Are we ruined?"
10 I'VE are,'' he Whispered IN a thick
unsteady tone. THE crisis has carrie
OF me down. I have dragged away tn
long hours of this night trying to de
Use some loophole of escape, but all i
Ity vain. 7 do not care for myself, but 70
you-you, Daisy and ne groaned i
bitterness of spirit.
I could not bear it without a burs
pm Of tears; he so thoughtful, l so selfish
om I pressed my lips to his burning fore
es, head and said, amid my sobs, "Nt
ar Charles, not ruined, for We have save
lge cur love from the wreck"
ed Charles looked at me steadily, and
in weight seemed to have been lifted o
ig- his head. His lips lost their grim eS
vn. preston and there was d ripple OF teal
il. his voice.
ide DAISY, you have saved mel he sale
me "Maddened by the thought of the MOI
'es. row, 1 know not but the result migf
sht have been this-see..' and he Dire
es- forth a little vial labeled "laudanum
hid from his vest pocket. But you hay
saved me, darling" ~
the Charles, we have both been mad!
it'll I said, with pallid lips, and striving fe
set his sake, to suhdue the terror mat III
tn girt my whole being when l realize
DID. how nigh my husband had stood to tt
per wretched guilt Of suicide. And &c
Id forgive me for my wan OF symparl
but in al! your troubles and help me sro1
my this hour to be your faithful wife.
Lrt- And sitting there late In the nigh
est my husband kneeling beside me ar
with his head upon my lap, L bent n
me cheek to his, and the tears, Daptlzll
our reunion, fell upon the folds of n
enc last folly-my ball dress.
linn ~
ar Table Decoration.
the Eor a;nper table decorations as Fl