The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1903-05-29
ACT j.
were both very young,
tremendously In love, and
astonishinglY ineXperienccd.

tremendously III lONt' uhu
astonishingly inexperienced
And to this, in itself, suf
f1ciently distressing mixture-of youth
and love and inexperience-she added
a worldly-minded mother, and he the
very smallest thing that could pos
they heaped the measure of their
Joint unhappiness with such trifes
as unfailing obedience TO the maternal
voice, q reliance that was child
like on the maternal wisdom, a
self-deprecating fear OF hurting be-
loved object, and all sorts of maidenly
and gentlemanly scruples behind the
age, but not by any means less fresh
and sweet for that. They hadn't the
suspicion of vice, a selfish thought
between them, and they were so OBJ
viously and entirely made for each
other that 1t was, from the first, quite
Inevitable that they should be parted.
They proved, indeed, only too easy
to part. Even the world-minded
mother would have been better salts
fed with n victory not so quickly won.
Her daughters tears hardly moved her
more than the young mans gentle,
sad-faced reasonableness, and together
they almost persuaded her to overlook
the microscopic income, though neither
made any but the most passive efforts
to achieve that so desired end.
But she hastily summoned her world
-mlndedness, and by its aid decided,
once for all. that IL would be n pity
10 disturb their angelic resignation for
the sake of a poor and preposterously
commonplace marriage. And she urged
the man TO accept n post that had been
offered him in India with voice so
tenderly like her daughters that he very
nearly refused 10 comply-he missed
from IL the sting, goading TO sacrifice.
which he had lately come TO associate
with himself and Fate.
However. he did comply. The offered
work held out hores of advancement.
OF moderate but sufficient wealth, In
the vague middle distance OF life. And
who can tell what other mad hopes
were bred of that solitary hope,
welded to desire. in the mind Of man
very young. very inexperienced. very
much in love? But he did not say any.
thing TO the girl about waiting for him
and his future fortunes. Tie had prom
ised her mother not TO, and he was the
very pattern of an honorable youth.
And thus the girl, while he was away,
was hurried into marriage which she
told herself would break her broken
heart afresh. At any rate. 1t broke her
spirit. But, then she had never been
conspicuously spirited.
ACT II.
Herein lies story often told already.
So many times writer so many times
read, that the greatest indulgence of
reader and writer alike are surely
craved for It, She, tricked by n MS
taken idea into marriage much
against her inclination, to become n
self -effacing but nevnr interesting wife,
the pale mother of paI5 children. He,
ignorant for years of the full extent of
the barrier dividing them. lured by n
forlorn hope across half a lonely life
time.
His figure had lost It's old boy.shness,
his hair was thlckly fecked with gray.
but his pockets were comfortably lined
and his position assured, when. quite
casually, he learned hat the woman
whose fidelity he had clung to through
all their separation and silence had
failed him within twelve months Of
their parting.
He told himself that every dividing
year, every hard-workirg cay, every
long. breathless ni.ht. had built his
old love more firmly into the fabric
OF his being. In the early twenties.
knowing her to be false. he might have
put her image from him and lived TO
be no less ultimately happy for the
healed wound. But. coming now, SO
late, after so long, il unnamed him
He told himself again that he was
heartbroken, and, absorbed In that
sex. betrayed by single individual
belief, forgot to rail at the whole false
which is the acknowledged panacea OF
the broken-hearted
The news had reached him not only
tardily, but with singular lack OF
detail-just the bare fact of her mar.
riage at that far-off date, and nothing
more. No doubt, he might have col
lected further information from the
same source, but he shrank nervously
from doing so. To know what man
ner of man had supplanted him-wha'
good could that do him? That any
man had been allowed TO appropriat,
his own seemed in itself a sorrow dens,
enough to darken the remainder of hi,
days Habit chained him for a tim,
TO his work. but his interest was gon,
and his health began seriously to fail
How much that was due to continuous
residence in n trying climate. how
much TO the blow, IL would be Difficult
TO determine. He, at any rate. exon
Grated the climate.
But for all that. he was forced I,
leave il. His friends carried him. &c,
weak TO protest further. on 20 home
wardbound ship. They never though
OF consulting him. OF curse. he woul
nuht W ~ uOlits w
OF them all. chained by circumstanc
TO the land of threatening liver an
ever-preseDt mosquitoes. would mis-
the chance Of break down TO TAX
him back TO England?
So II was that he awoke from III
lethargy OF extreme weakness to fin
the salt sen breezes blowing healt