The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-12-30
CHAPTER XVII.

%wAHE fauIOCASN ooo>' 40
hook I am going to write you,
g Louis, a letter which will
never be delivered, because |
shall burn it when 1t is finished. Yet
that will not prevent my tantahzlng
YOU about it. To the padlocked book l
can say what I want to say. To you
I must say what is ezpedient.
That is a foolish woman who does
violence to love by inordinate loving.
Yet first will tell you that I sink to
sleep saying, 'He loves me" and rise
to the surface saying, "He loves me"
and sink again saying, "He loves me-!
all night long.
The days when I see you are real
days, finished and perfect, and this IS
the best Of them all. God fore,1" bless in
paradise your mother for bearing you!
If you never had come to the world
should not have walked to life myself.
And why this is I cannot tell. The first
time I ever saw your tawny head and
tawny eyes, though you did not nouce
me. I said, whether be is the king
or not would make no difference Be
cause knew you were more than the
king to me.
Sire, you told me once you could not
understand why people took kindly to
you. There Is in you q gentle dignity
and manhood most royal. AS you come
into room sou cast your eyes about
unfearing. Your head and shoulders
are erect. You are like lion In sup
pleness and tawny color, which intiu-
ences me against my will. You inspire
confidence. Even girls like Annabel'
who feel merely at their finger ends
and are as we'll satisfied with one nus
band as another, know you to be soma
man, not the mere image Of man.
Besides these traits there IS o power
going out from you that takes hold OF
people invisibly. My father told me
there was q man at the court Of your
father who could put others to sleep
BY 8 waving Of his hands. I am not
comparing you to this charlatan, yet
when you touch my hand strange
current runs through me.
When we We're in Paris used to
dress myself every morning Ike q
priestess going to serve in a temple
And what was it for? To worship one
dear head for half an hour perhaps.
You robbed me Of the sight OF you
for two months.
Sophie Saint-Michel told me to be-
ware Of loving a man. Today he says:
81 love you! need you! l shall so
to the devil without you" Tomorrow
he turns to bis affairs. In six months
he says, s.I was fool"' Next year ne
says: sWho was it that drove me wild
for q time last year? What was her
name?"
Is love a game where men and Wo-
men try to outwit each other, and man
boasts, "She loves me"-not 81 love
herr"
You are two persons Lazarre be-
longs to me. He follows, he thinks
about me. He used to slip past my
windows at Lake George and cast his
eyes up at the panes. But Louis Is
nv sovereign. He sees and thinks and
acts without me, and his lot is apart
from mine.
We are In ship going to the side Of
the world where you are. Except that
we are going toward you it IS Ike be-
ing pushed off cliff. All my faith in
the appearances Of things is at an end
I have been juggled with. have mis-
| judged.
could have insisted that we hold
Mont-Louis as tenants. The count IS
our friend. It IS not strong mans
fault that q weak man is weak and
unfortunate Yet, seeing Cousin Phi
lippe vince, I could not put the daily
humiliation upon him. He IS like my
father come back. broken, helpless
And Paul and I, who are young, must
take care Of him where he will be
| least humbled.
was overpampered in Mont-Louis
and Paris. I like easy living, car
riages, long tailed gowns, jewels
trained servants, music and spectacles
on the stage, q park and wide lands
all my own, seclusion from people who
do not interest me, idleness in enjoy
ment
am the devil Of vanity. Annabe]
has not half the points I have. Wher
the men are around her I laugh to
think I shall be fine and firm as q
statue when she is a mass Of wrinkles
and wisp Of fuzz. When she is Q
mass Of wrinkles and wisp Of fuz2
she will be ripper and tenderer inside
But will the me1 see that? No. They
will be off after fresher Annabel. Sc
much for men. On the other hand,
had but a few months Of luxury, and
may count on the hardness that comes
Of endurance, for was an exile from
childhood. There is strength in doing
the right thing. If there were no God
If Christ had never died on the cross
I should have to do the right thing be-
cause it is right.
Why should we lay up grievances
against one another? They must dis
appear, and they only burn our hearts.
Sometimes put my arms around
Ernestine and rest her old head against
me. She revolts. People incline to
doubt the superiority Of person who
will associate with them. But the
closer our poverty rubs US the more
Ernestine insists upon class differ
ences.
There should be q colossal mother
going about the world to turn men
over her lap and give them the slip
per. They Zine FOR it
Am I helping forward the general
good, or am I only suffering natures
punishment?
A woman can fasten the bonds Of
habit on a man, giving him food from
her table, hourly strengthening his
care for her. By merely putting her
self before him every day she makes
| him think Of her, What chance has