Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1903-07-16
Barbara Bretton's
~~Ambitions.~

dawn would come the dread thought
that perhaps you might turn away
from me, and 30 I dared not. For the
first time in long years my heart
awakened from It's 1ethargy, and
sprang into such glorious life that |
thought God had not forgotten me. /
almost blessed him. Then came cold
ness. the winters chill, and my little
struggling heart blossoms blightad in
its breath. I sought to win you back.
All, from others lips you had heard
the story the world tells Of my life--a
story I hadl thought buried In the past
"a story resurrected TO turn the fruit
of happiness into ashes at my touch.
Even then | would have gone to you.
and at your feet pleaded to be even
your slave, but that the baby fingers of
my dead child held me back. Would
you believe me when I told you of that
fatal night when, mad with horror, I
took her in my arms and fed, / knew
not whittier. until the gates of La
Madeleine burst upon my sight, and,
knowing she would be safe and cared
for. I laid her down upon its steps?
l was mad indeed, the madness wom-
en- know from men and treachery. I
married him for his gold, he said. IL
was a liei I loved him with the blind,
unreasoning passion of a girls hearti
Then / strove never TO love again, TO
treat men as my playthiags, to make
ambition my god. kept my vow until
you crossed my pathway. Then I
broke IL and laid my heart at your feet.
You ask me why I did this thing last
night-why ! linked my life with a
weak boy, who was to me but as the
dog that ticks my hand. Because I
returned to my god again-ambition-
and because you drove me there!"
The magnetism of Barbara Bretton's
acting. which had yer held men spell
bound. so held her listener now, New
err had she been more beautiful, more
resistIess: for 1t was truth, not acting,
which swayed her.
"You drove me to IT..
What Nemesis was In her words,
that on every side his should prove the
hand to plunge his friend to ruin? A
groan escaped him. 1t was her only
answer; but as, freighted with misery,
it reached her ear, she sank on her
knees to the floor. clinging with both
hands 10 his arm.
Milton. save me from myself" she
pleaded. Take me with you-any-
where-anywhere! VIII be your
slave IL needs be. so that n word OF
love may be mine. Say you love me
still in spite OF the cruel fate which
has pursued mel"
Her voice foated over his senses;
her touch thrilled him; her hair
brushed his hand. Ii was as though he
gazed, fascinated, upon the enhancing
colors of a serpent. Then, with a
nightly effort, he Embossed her cling
ing hold.
Barbara" he said, though you
never may lay claim to the title. /
know you as my friends wife. I am
here as his messenger, ami the mes
sage bring is this: Each month at
his bankers you will find a sum pro-
pcrtionate to his income for your sup
port. Willingly he will eve see you
again. and at any attempt on your part
to make public your claim to his name,
he will expose your past and apply to
the courts for instant release from a
now hated bondage. As to what you
have said to-day, we will both forget
II. I no longer love, I loathe you!"
$50 be it," springing once more
erect TO her feet, and raising aloft her
hand. "Tnus you have answered my
prayer. But beware OF the woman
you put In the place I once hoped TO
hold. All, your face Pushes! You re-
member that little dark-eyed girl
whose poisoning gives promise OF
such radiant beauty, whose perfect
flower you hope to possess. whose very
name you deem polluted by my lips.
Take care; for by the gods above. Mil
ton Lennon, I will strike through her
at your heart. even as you have struck
OF mine. I lay no claim al yet to the
Meredith name, the Meredith fortune.
I bide my time and wait!"
Then her finger fell until 1t pointed
to the door, and with a white face, as
though some curse had fallen upon his
head, Travis Meredith's messenger
bowed himself from her presence. m
needing the man who assembled even as
he descended the steps, and whom
Feline announced the next moment to
his mistress as DR.. Richard Hayes.
The vast crowd which a few hours
later threaded their way to see the
goddess OF the public heart were met
at the theater by closed doors and the
certificate of Miss Bretton's sudden
and dangerous illness, which would
necessitate her Indefinite withdrawal
from the stage-a certificate to which
that sudden faint the night before lent
weight, and to which was appended
the wellknown name OF Richard
Hayes. M. d.
CHAPTER X.