Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1903-04-04

ana am-waitfng for your ansyep. You
nu asS not tribe with me, Grace"
- LOU SUN insist on it, Paul, at the risk
y. your own happiness? Paul." she ven
Lureu' suddenly, even supposing thai 1
nIu oved another before l ever met you,
what difference can that make to YOU?
L love you truly now"
90 much difference, my wife, that
.ninA could never again be happy if
Ane" you had ever loved another than
nisseii' put cannot bear this suspense.
ask you nothing about other men.
only ask you, did you ever love Bruce
Conwayw
one could not utter falsehood; she
couid not escape his keen, persistent ques-
.ionlng; she must be frank with him and
nope Tor the best. That was Ahe only
way the poor little heart reasoned them
SO with down-dropped eyes, and sound
IN her ears that recalled the whisper Of
the ocean in her ears one parting ulght,
she drew little farther away from him,
ana answered, in a hushed, low voice,
| much like chidden child's:
II did"
A silence fell between them so hushed
that she could hear her own heart beat.
lie had put up his hand to his face, and
she 1:ould not see his features nor guess
what effect her words had on him.
Paul. she ventured, almost frighten-
ed at the sound of her own voice in the
stiffness. don't think of it any more. l
was nothing but simple, dreaming child,
and 1T is just as natural for a young girl
to fancy herself in love with the first
handsome young man who flatters her as
1T IS for our baby there in his crib to cut
his teeth and have the measles when he
grows older. 1t seems absurd to make
yourself miserable over so tritling a
| thing. I didn't like him so very much, in
deed 1 didn't. I soon learned how I'M
worthy he was of@ny woman's love. He
is tickle, wayering, unprincipled man,
who never knows his own mind, unwor-
| thy a second thought of yours, my noble
husband
Unfattering verdict! but true one.
She understood the man who had tri0ed
with her young heart almost better than
he did himself In that time when he
| had wayered so fatally between his pride
and his happiness she had fathomed his
very soul. She could look back now and
thank heaven for what had seemed then
q SCdICely W Uc UOIHe' w lltt
it had cost her only heaven knew, for in
her way she was proud woman, and
never wore her heart on her sleeve"
but nobody stops to question how hard a
struggle has been SO that victory crowns
it at last.
He made no reply to her wistful de-
Tense. She went up to him and touched
his hand with hers, still intent on max
in with this nroIIH font
spirit. He only put her very gently but
firmly away from him, and in moment
after turned suddenly and left the room.
She heard him go down to his study, close
his door, and fall heavily into q chair.
Then her repressed impotence and anger
broke out, as she paced back and forth,
like spirit, in her flowing hair and long
white robe.
''The idiot! the mailman! to come back
here after all this time, and throw the
shadow of that unhappy love all over my
future life! Did he think that l had no
pride? that l would bear GOODNESS, care
lessness, neglect, and be glad to meet him
after four years had passed, and say yes
to the question that in all honor he shout
have asked before he went? | think
could spurn him with my foot if he knel
before me again as he did to-night.'
Mamma, mammal The soft, fright
ened voice of her child, waking suddenly
from his rosy sleep, recalled her to her
self. In an instant she was by his side,
bending over him, kissing his brow, his
lips. his hands, his hair, in a passion of
grieving tenderness.
"My darling, my comfort, my pretty
boy. l am so glad that you are boy!
You will never know the pains, the PEN
alties. the trials and crosses Of a woman's
life. If you were a little girl, and
knew that if you lived you must bear all
that | have borne and must still endure,
7 could bear to see you dead rather than
live to say, as I have done: Mother, why
didn't you let me die when | was u little
'child?"
The little clock on the marble mantel
chimed out the hour of three in soft mu-
steal notes. She lifted the child in her
arms, and, passing into her sleeping
aDartment, laid him down OIL her own
bed. for she never slept without her
treasure in her arms. Then, kneeling by
his side. she whispered a brief, agonized
petition to heaven before laying her tired
form down in the snowy nest of linen and
lace.
When the soft summer dawn began
to break family over the earth, Paul Wi
mans rose up from his tiresome vigils and
stole upstairs with noiseless footstep
that did not waken her from her ex-
hausted sleep. Her child nestled close to
her heart, and her lips, even in her fitful
slumber, were pressed upon his brow
lust as she had fallen asleep. The long
curls of her golden hair flowed over both,
and wrapped them in a mantle of sun
shine. Her face wore a look of remem-
bered pain and grief that went to his
heart. as kissing both so softly that they
did not stir, he laid note upon the pill
low and went down the stairs and out
into the street.
ITO be continued.)
Not n Blind Threat.