Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1905-06-15
A Mood
By KEITH GORDON
Copyright. 1905. by 7. c. Mcclure

ances, had the dumps. A despairing
sky looked gloomily down on de-
spondent earth through an atmosphere
as damp and chilling as n wet blanket
With little shiver of discomfort at the
aspect of things. Katherine laid the
book face downward on her lap in the
way that one should not and. picking
up the poker, gave the fire a thrust or
so as ii rider SPURS his horse to greater
effort
Ugh! What Il day. her thoughts
ran. One would think Joy were dead
Fire won't burn, sun won't shine, even
the sparrows huddle together lumpish-
ly without energy enough to scrap"
She picked up the book again and re-
read the last sentence, And no man
can forctell what the future has in
store for him. This time she closed
the book and placed ii on the table be-
side her. Decidedly she was in no
mood for reading. and with hands
clasped idly in her lap she sat staring
into the fire. But that last sentence
logged her thoughts. The past, with its
smiles and tears. was left behind The
present seemed momcntarily Il thing TO
be endured as one might. But the flu
ture
At this point her eyes turned from
| the CRATE and fixed themselves upon
the ring that she wore upon the third
finger of her left hand 1t was a beau
tiful ring-a pink pearl that reminded
one of tender dawns flanlled by two
| diamonds-her cngG cement ring. Ordi-
narily she could not look at ii without
Il kindlng Of the heart Il thrill Of
warmth and happiness. Today she eyed
it with languid, restless interest.
That, then, represented her future.
1t was as fixed and ilrcvo cabic as TIE
past itself How well she knew what
| it would be Ike. Had She not seen
dozens of her friends marry. bubble
blissfully To-; Il b:i2f year OF so and
| then subsidc into the stale beer OF do
nestle existence? If she had ever
thought that with Jack and her it
would be different the illusion had van
ished in the bleak li4,at of this all re-
vealing day, which thought out every
sordid detail of existence with bitter
emphasis.
Different? OF course they would not
be different. There would be the brief,
dazzling happiness of the honeymC on,
the glamour OF new possessions, and
then some day they would both sud
denly tire Of the play and see each 9th
fnt A mi
would squint his eyes critically and
discover that she was not the most
beautiful woman IN the world after all
though, OF course he would he too
well bred to say anything. He would
simply be Il trifle bored at the let-down
and plunge iuto business to forget, kiss
Ing her abSently in the morning and
evening as II mere form-a matter Of
habit
And she! Well, She would rub her
eyes about the same time and see to
her amaZement that he was just a
plain, ordinary, average man, without
a single godlike attribute and with a
painful aud unmistakahle tendency to
grow bald and stout. But she, too,
| would be politely reticent and hold up
| her face for that perfunctory kiss and
| try TO forget it all in feverish en-
| thusasm over house and gowns. And
| they would grow more and more 81
| lent toward each other, conversing
| mostly IN monosyllables Never would
| they quarrel-her lips closed a trifle
| more firmly at the mere thought-but
| each would withdraw farther and far
| ther into his own little world, and they
would communicate with each other
| through small wickets, as the ticket
sellers at the theaters do with the pub
| lie.
The details Of this gloomy picture
were as clearly visible to her mind as
| though she saw them with her eyes,
| and she laughed ruefully. Was this
| sort Of thing necessary: How did she
know that Jack was the man. Might
not the real person still be imhedded
in the future, like a fly in amber:
AT the thought she caught her breath
| and, leaning forward dropped her face
| upon her hands and gazed into the fire
with a new intensity 1t was a ire
| mendous thought but what guarantee
had she that he was her ideal? He
seemed so, perhaps, merely because he
approached it more nearly than any
man she had yet met, but no one could
tell what the future had in store for
him. There was the rub.
She proceeded to develop the thought
with applications Enthusiastically femi-
nine, Like an index finger her mind
pointed backward to the day when big
sleeves had seemed the most entranc-
ingly becoming things a woman could
wear. Then inexorably it pointed again
this time TO the sleeves she was then
wearing, tight above the elbow. hut
with great pouches sagging below. And
these We're now chic. and the others
impossible The poor old fashions of
yesteryear-h how ugly and deformng
they appeared, Could 1t be that by any
possibility the likings, the loves OF to-
day would
With a rush It came over her that
ones loves did change There was
Prissy Clemens, whom she had wor-
SHIPPED when she Wore her hair In pig
tails and. now could not endure There
was Aunt Grace whom as a child she
had considered cold and severe, and