The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1903-03-05
THE CACTUS
~ srnNpr ruRfEH.

HE most notable thing aboal
~ Time i, that it is 80 purely rcla-
tive. A large amount of rem.
iniscencc is, by common consent, con.
coded To the drowning man: aud it is
not past belief that one may review an
entire cuurl.hip while removing ones
glove,
That i, what Trysdalc was doing,
standing 10y table in his bachelor
apartments On the table stood -
singular looking green plant in red
carthcn jar The plant was one OF
the species Of cacli aud wa, provided
with long, lcnlncuar leaves that per.
pelually >waycd with the slightest
breeze with a peculiar bcckoning mo
ton.
Try,dalc's friend, the brother of the
bride, stood ut Switchboard complain
ing At being allowed to drink alone.
Both men were IN evening dress.
White favor, like stars upon ihcir
coats ,honc through the gloom Of the
apartment.
As he slowly unbu,roncd his gloves,
there passed through Try,dac's mind
4 swift, Scariiying retrospect of the
last few hours. It seemed that in hi,
nostriIs WIS still the scent Of the flow
crs that had been banked in odcrJu,
MASSES about the church, aud in hi'
ears the low pitched hum OF thous.
aud wcll-hrcl voices, the rustic of
crisp garments, and most insislentIy
recurring, the drawing words of the
minister rrc,ocahIy binding her to
another.
From lhi, last, hopeless point of
view he still ,troyc, rs if It had be-
come q habit OF his mind, to reach
some conjecture as to why and how
he had lost her Shaken rudcly by
the uncompromising fact, he had
suddenly found himself confronted by
A thing he had never before faced
his own inncfmosl, unmlligatcd and
unbcdcckrd self lie saw all the garbs
Of prctcnsc aud cgo,m that he had
worn now turn 10 rags OF folly. He
shuddcrcd at the thought that to 9th
crs, before now, the garments Of
his soul must have appeared sorry and
thrcadbarc. Vanity aud conceit!
These were the joints in his armor.
Aud how free from either she had al
ways been! But why
As she had slowly moved up the
aisle toward the altar he had felt An
unworthy, sulIcn cNullation that had
served to support him. He had told
himself that her palcness was from
thoughts of another than the man To
whom she was about to give herself
but even that poor consolation had
been wrcnchcd from him For, when
he saw that swift, limpid, upward
look that she gave the man when he
took her hand, he knew himself to be
forgotten. Once that same look had
been raised to him, and he had gagged
its meaning. Indeed, his couceit had
crumblcd; its last prop was gone
Why had it ended thus? There had
been no quarrel between them, moth
ing
For the thousandth time he remar-
shailcd in his MUD the events of those
last few days before the tide had so
suddenly turned.
She had always insist cd upon plac-
ing him upon pedestal, and he had
accepted her homage with royal gran
deur. 1t had been n very sweet in
cense that she had burned before him;
so modest Che told himselD, so child
like and worshipiul, and (he would
once have sworn) so sincere. She
had invested him with an almost SUI
pernatural number of high attributes
and exccllcncics and talents, and he
had absorbed the oblaiion as desert
drinks tho rain that can coax from il
no promise of blossom or fruit.
As Trysdale grimly wrcnched apart
the seam Of his last glove, the crown
ing instance of his fatuous and tardily
mourned cgoism came wildly back to
him.
The scene was the night when he
had asked her to come upon his ped
estal with him and share his greatness.