New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1903-06-17
EQUAL,
PARTNERS
By HOWARD FIELDING
TOWARD FIELDING
Copyright, 1901, BY Charles W. Hooke.
[coNTINUED.1

| E
Well. the moving finger writes and.
| having writ. moves on 1t was to be.
| Finally the gentleman announced that
q marriage under the laws Of the state
| OF Pennsylvania would meet the re-
| quirements of the situation. was a
! good deal startled by this definite sug-
| gestlon, and wrote to my mother on
! the subject for the first time. The gen
t1"man took the letter to post, and it
has not been delivered yet, thank heav-
| en-!
! Before it was time to get an answer
| sudden business Of great Importance
called my flance to Philadelphia. How
opportune! Well, Brenda, l packed a
: little hand bag and went What must
you think Of me?'
Brenda bent down gently and kissed
Elsie's hand and held it against her
| face. ..@.s<>
Il don't know the story yet she said,
but you have portrayed a thorough
scoundrel. And you have also shown
me trusting and true hearted girl who
went to be married with an innocent
heart Blessed heaven! Think of a
man for whom a young and pure girl
will go out into the world like that, as
if to walk in the fields!. Should not ev-
cry fiber Of his soul be thrilled to loyal
'ty for all his life?" ss..-
1.-The gentleman in question had no
SOUL" said Elsie. II think he will be
spared all punishment hereafter. as the
brutes are. Let us proceed, Brenda.
dear. The remainder Of, the story is
| not long. We took the II o'clock train
and reached Philadelphia in time for
luncheon. Our marriage was to be
kept secret for awhile, and there seem.
ed to be, some slight objection to the
| public dining room of the hotel where
! our hanson set us down. However.
we lunched there quite hastily, for
| had no appetite. Then we re-entered
the hanson and went to look for min.
lister. We had remarkable difficulty in
finding one, considering that Philadel:
bhia is large city full Of churches, but
we finally succeeded. Then it appeared
that we had neglected to comply with
certain 'fOrmalities, but the clergyman
was able to rectify the matter, and SC
we were married pitifully, as see it
now, with stupid old servants and a
chance laborer who happened to be at
work in the house as our witnesses.
when we got back to the hotel, it
was 6 o'clock, and was nearly fam
ished. We hurried right into the din
ing room, and my husband ordered a
great spread, with champagne. for our
miserable celebration, and now will
tell you the unromantic part. In the
midst Of that dinner, and while fan
cied that was eating with a splendid
appetite, I was suddenly seized with
the most awful pain that ever devas-
tated my poor little stomach. Yes,
Brenda, it was ~ a regular, terrible
stomach ache-just pain, without a bit
of nausea. 1 felt as if some one had
my stomach in his banda hand about
the size Of Captain Neale's-and was
crushing it to pieces.
my husband said he guessed it
would soon pass away, but it didn't,
! and so he left his dinner and ran out
| to drug store to get me something to
H.,
| and I didn't feel any worse. because
| that wasn't possible, but I certainly
! felt no better. In few minutes be-
| gan to realize that was going out Of
my wits l talked insanely and saw
| things that weren't there. The next
| thing knew we were riding up in an
elevator, and it seemed to go up for a
| Loo r.
ing me along hall and into a room,
and she began to take off my clothes in
the bedroom of little suit. stared
at her and asked her who she was. &: -.
| "'I'm the assistant housekeeper,' she
said. I belong to the hotel
'1As if she had been a piece of furni-
ture. Then I asked where my hus-
band was, and she said be had gone
out for a doctor. So she made me lie
down. Probably seemed to be there
on that bed, but in reality-my own
reality-I was playing in that old barn
| stOrming company and studying.
studying, studying on long parts that
were always changing, but sometimes
I was little girl again in town way
out in Michigan, running through the
streets, with my long legs flying and
my heels touching the back of my
head, as my mother used to say. I
stole the neighbors' flowers in the
scented June evenings and staid out
under the little whispering stars till
my 10other came, weeping with anx-
iety, to bring me home. And, strange
~ enough, right in the midst of it all
there stood the doctor, a TALL gaunt
young man. asking me how l felt
But where was my husband?
HE has not got back. said the wo-
man. was afraid to wait any lon
ger, so I got this gentleman, who is a
New York doctor stopping in the
hotel
'"Then I felt something sharp prick
/ ing my arm and afterward the pain
was easier, and my mind suddenly be-
came as clear as it is now. / heard
the doctor say that would be all
right when had had some sleep. and
then my husband appeared. looking in