The Tupelo journal., 1903-11-27

= u - - IA AAe hoNoS AaNA AAN ~
saying to herself:
After my reception is over he can
go. It may disarrange our plans to
disturb him now"
But that night, as he entered his
brilliantly lighted house, a messenger
boy handed him in person. a third yell
low envelope and darted away. Before
he could open 1t his wife took it away
from him, saying: at is very likely
some household matter. Let me at
tend to it,"
A few moments later, when alone,
she opened it and read:
THE child is dying. Have you the
heart TO still remain away?"
A sudden pallor overspread her face
and for a moment she hesitated, then
with an air of desperate resolve:
IF | tell him it will spoil everything.
The moment the reception is over he
can GO"
She went about her duties %outwardly
serene. though inwar1ly much per-
turbed. AS the evening passed, the
phraseology of the message throbbed
to and fro within her brain like the
relentless swing of a pendulum. 1.-The
child is dying. Have you the heart
to still remain away?"
The reception was a social event.
In the gilded throng and polite tur-
MOL within the member from Utah
read success, and his eye kindled anew
as he saw how appropriate was its tri-
nmnh and itC moonirJ RI tho nyr6on1U
person, manners and aspirations of his
latest wife. She was the social center
OF yelled feminine jealousy, and open
masculine admiration, which under
certain conditions cannot be otherwise
thar purely ecstatic to a properly con-
stltuted female mind. sui as the even
ing progressed she grew u~naccountably
nervous. Her eyes often turned to-
ward the drawing DON portals, and
as late arrivals occasionally entered,
her face would ~momentarily grow pale.
Long after midnight, when the rooms
were thronged and the member from
Utah was feeling unusually gay and
jolly, a slight commotion in the hall
gently surged it's way towards the
vi wing IOOllIS- lutu Inc Idil, IdQSo
woman in black pushed her way for
ward, despite the decorous efforts at
detention on the part of the hired ush-
ers.
I The hostess, noting her pallid, des-
perate air, shrank aghast behind her
husband, whose CONSERVATION mani
tested itself in frowning displeasure.
R1Jt tho iptr,,lnr mould rot h. larjDl
Joseph" she said, in quick. panied
tones, the child is dead. and yet you
would not comet"
AS the dreadful meaning of her
words stabbed its way through his
comprehension, the faces of his guests
seemed to fade away, and he saw only
the two women he had wronged, who
trusted him. and hated each other.
Il did not know" he stammered.
Why did you not SEND word before?"
Three times l sen to you. Oh,
! Joseph" A sob that was half a Shrek
choked her u%tterance. declared to the
guests that grim tragedy was at hand
and that society had suddenly become
de trop.
AhC 5uColS pcSdu W 0lCdl H.
away, as the bald facts of the situa-
ton grew mistily apparent. Society
suddenly realizing what it had been
cou%ntenancing by its presence, began
to feel not unlike a detected child IN
need of a whipping.
Where are those messages?" de-
manded the member from Utah, turn
fo G, 90 xr0 onJv IN t5,a ~, ., Duy@rir n +
his side.
She fumbled at a fold of her dress,
but he impatiently thrust his hand
within and drawing them forth read
each in it's dreadful sequence, The
child is nc BETTER" THE child is
worse" THE child is dying"
Il feel as if you had murdered my
boy" he groaned, staring he!plessly at
his latest wife.
Your only son; my only child"
said the woman in black. "Oh, Jo-
seph!" she walled again.
Then her face hardened as the form
of the other woman, still covering in
her splendid evening draperies. pre-
scented itself to her despairing gaze.
She pointed towards the door. where
the latest guest was already disappear
ing.
"Go!" she commanded in a tom ir-
reSistable with the accumulated
wrongs of years.
And the other went without a word.
The member from Utah, crushed under
the strenuous and complicated agony
of the situation, stared helplessly.
81 alone am your lawful wife," said
the m in black. "The body of the
child awaits us. Come"
And she led him forth, while the
lights still flared threught the deserted
drawing rooms and the servants,
Struggling their shoulders, wondered.