Evening star., 1903-07-09

came my heart had changed and
my only wish was to forget his
existence. And 1 did forget it-al-
most. 1 rode and danced with you and
went hither and yon, lavishng money and
time and heart on the frivolities which
came in my way, calling myself Veronica
and striving by these means to crush out
every remembrance Of the days when
was known as Antoinette and Antoinette
only. For the Klondike was far and its
weather bitter, and men were dying there
every day, and no letters came q used to
thank God for this), and need not think
not yet-whither 1 was tending. One thing
only made me recall my real position. That
was when your eyes turned on mfne-your
true eyes. so bright with confidence and
pride. l wanted to meet them full, and
when I could not 1 suddenly knew why,
and suffered.
do you remember the night when we
stood together on the balcony at the Ocean
View House and you laid your hand on my
arm and wondered why persisted in look
ing at the moon instead of into your
expectant face? 1t was because the music
then being played within recalled another
night and the pressure Of another hand on
my arm-a hand whose touch / hoped never
to feel again, but which at that moment
was so much more palpable than yours
that came near screaming aloud and tell
ing you in one rush of maddened emotion
my whole abominable secret.
Il did not accept your attentions nor
agree to marry you. without a struggle
l..
else can, how I held back and asked for
time and still for time thus grieving you
and tearing my own breast till day came
you remember the day when you found
me laughing like a mad woman In circle
of astonisheG friends? You drew me aside
and said words which hardly waited for
you to finish. for at last was free to love
you, free to love and free to say so. Ihe
morning paper had brought news A tele-
graphic dispatch from Seattle told how a
man had struggled into Nome. frozen,
bleeding and without accOuterments or
companion. 1t was with difficulty he had
kept his feet and turned in at the first
tent he came to. Indeed, he had only
time to speak his name before ne fell
dead This name was what made this dis
patch important to me. 1t was William
Pfeifrer For me there was but one Will
liam Pfeiffer in the klondike--my husband
and he was dead! That was why you
found me laughing. But not In mirth l
am not so bad as that; but because l could
breathe again without feeling clutch
about my throat / did not know till then
now nearly I had been stified.
We . were not long ;arrif,aa IN marrying at ing
contradiction of the report which had given
this glorious release, but because dreaded
reach you and dim the pride with which
you regarded me. 1 wanted to feel myself
yours so closely and so dearly that you
would not mind If any one told you that
haQ once cared, OF tnOuBnt ndu Cafcu Ao1
another. The week of our marriage came:
I was mad with gaiety and ecstatic with
hope. Nothing had occurred to mar my
prospects. No letter from Denyer-no me
mento from the Klondike. no word even
from Wallace. who had gone north with
his brother. Soon 1 should be called wife
again, but by lips I loved, and to whose
language my heart thrilled. The past. al
ways vague. would soon be no more than q
forgotten dream-an episode quite closed
could afford from this moment on to view
life like other girls and rejoice in my youth
and the love which every day was becom-
ing more and more to me.
But God had His eye upon me, and in
the midst Of my happiness and the hurry of
our final preparations His bolt fell. 1t
struck me while l was at the-don't laugh;
rather shudder-at the dressmaker's SHOP in
14th street I was leaning over a table.
chattering like q magpie over the way /
wanted a gown trimmed. when my eye fell
on scrap of newspaper In which some
thing had come rolled to madame. 1t was
torn at the edge, but on the bit lying under
my eyes saw my husbands name. William
Pfeiffer. and that the paper was Denver
one. There was but one William Pfeiffer in
Denver-and he was my husband. And /
read-feeling nothing. Then l read again,
and the world my world went from under
my feet; for the man who had fallen dead
in the camp at Nome was Wallace, Will
liams brother. and not William himself
William had been left behind on the road
by his more energetic brother who had
pushed on for succor through the worst
storm and under the worst conditions pos
sible even in that God-forsaken region.
With the lost one in mind. the one woIo
that Wallace uttered In sight of rescue was
William. A hope was expressed OF finding
the latter alive and q party had started
out-did read more? do not think so.
Perhaps there was no moro to read; here