The Starkville news. (Starkville, Miss.) 1902-1960, 1904-05-20

nave uO UuSlueSS dpdil
| LAS to your sister" forestalling her
unspoken thought and again using al
NEST the same words as Jim Benson, ito
| dream of sacrificing our happiness for
| her sake would be foolish and unneceS-
sary | should be glad to have her share
| our home, always, SO she would not miss
your companionship. For the rest, she
is fully occupied with her philanthropic
work and charities, she has her own life
to live She does not really need you,
dearest-and / do!"
He, too, went away with murmured
reminder of 'to-morrow--to-m morrow
EVENING"" And the woman left behind,
! glad that Alice had retired early, so left
her a fine chance to think Quitely,
found this not easy to do.
Her mind ran back, uneasily, to the
far days when she and Alice had been
young girls, happy and thoughtless.
Then. suddenly, had come the loss Of
parents, luxlIries, everything TO which
they had been always accustomed, the
necessity of doing battle with the outer
world. She had faced this world rather
than Alice, who had been very i'll that
summer, and Alice, although neither
would have so expressed the situation,
had lost her liberty, her opportunity to
shape life as she would have it, before
ever this opportunity had been placed
within her grasp.
Stately, brilliant, commanding, au-
dacious, afraid of nothing, she had re-
covered partial health to find herseT
reiegated, by the more timid and retir-
ing Laura'S overmastering tenderness
and solicitude. to niche she by no means
fitted. from which she longed TO escape.
Gradually she became partially recon-
ciled to her position of housekeeper and
homemaker for the firm" as Laura
merrily called their association, she had
never allowed Laura to suspect that she,
too, would have loved to enter the bread
winning arena, to become happily self
supporting.
With the coming Of success to Laura
her life had grown less physically ardu-
Gus. She no longer performed the prac-
tical work of housekeeping or darned
stockings But she had known no in
creased happiness because of the un-
wonted ease and indulgence. And with
the advent of the little fortune that had
placed both beyond the need of financial
restrictions or limitations, her occupa
tion had finally vanished. She was no
longer necessary, even to Laura, who
might now order gowns and furniture
without thought of economy, whose time
was now at her own disposal. Hence
forth she devoted her efforts to phllan-
thropic endeavor and was very useful
but no happier. And her thoughts, not
unnaturally. turned back to Jim Benson
now and then.
He had been her first and only lover.
Her first, because he had loved her from
childhood. her only lover because she
would, allow no other. And Laura, as he
had said, had quietly but potently kept
them apart.
Little, eccentric, almost absurd in ap-
pearance and manner, hampered by un-
desirable relatives and connections, it
had seemed to Laura that for her stately,
beautiful sister to marry him would be
little less than sacrilege. She believed
that her kindly, unvarying. half-joking
ridicule had disposed Alice to place poor
Jim outside her matrimonial horizon.
But, in reality, Alice had for Id years re-
fused to allow Jim to speak because she
would not leave Laura. 1t was the
thought of Laura's long tenderness and
the inevitable loneliness consequent
upon her own possible marriage that
had bathed her pillow in tears to-nlght.
Time. meanwhile, had done much for
Jim Benson. The unfortunate relatives
had disappeared from sight and cognlz-
ance. he had successfully combated pow
erty and misfortune. He had even won
renown as a war hero. But none OF
these changes, while perfectly apparent
to Laura's intellect, had touched ner
heart in the slightest.
She. herself, had been long untouched
by playful Cupid. Her whole soul and
heart had been bent to the work OF pro-
viding splendidly for Alice, OF winning
professional success The coming OF the
money that had lifted her beyond the re-
sions of struggle had also caused her real
disappointment, since Alice no longer
needed her devoted ministratlons. Ihe
firm and determined resolve to keep
Arthur Huntley at distance-for the
sake of Alice-had taken the place OF the
earlier idea of self-sacrifice. But never
until tonight had she dreamed that her
heart had suffered unknowing impllca-
ton. Tonight, leaning back in the
low chair over which he had bent in
leaving, she knew that she was in lore.
"To think of it," she sighed and smiled,
half satirically "In love at 35, and for