Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1905-09-01

| friends said good-by to the Yorkshire
| watering place, Felicia paid the last BILL
and they packed up their boxes and mi
grated southwark together.
| CHAPTER XIII.
It was September when Kitten was
married in Frierly village church. 1t is
May when Mr.. and Mrs. Brian Des-
mond take up their abode in the newly
decorated town house in Lowndes square.
All these months the happy pair have
| spent abroad. Kitten has learned and
| seen more than she had ever dreamed OF
! III her whole life before. She has been
| taken to Paris and Vienna and to Rome.
She has been dressed by Partisan dress
makers and presented at foreign courts;
she has become self-possessed and con-
versational; she has learned to talk glib
| ly about the old masters, and to under
| stand the difference between modern and
| antique brica- brac; she is quite a con-
| nOisseur in old laces, and already pos
sesses a valuable collection of her own,
of Venetian and Genoese point, and she
| has gained that undefnable something,
| that charm Of manner, that grace Of Ian
| guage, that trick of good society in which
she was possibly somewhat lacking in
| the old childish days when she sat up
| aloft in the cherry tree and studied
Pope's Essay on Man. with the all
| devout worship of her earnest young
soul.
| But all this time has she been happy?
Has Brian indeed taught her that love
and joy are one, and that happiness
| can be caught and embraced and tightly
| held captive between the clinging arms
of answering affection?
At first she believed that it was So
TO be with him daily, to share his life,
to sun herself forever in his smile and
in the glances of his eyes, was sufficient
for her for a time. AS her love grew
and increased in depth and intensity, so
| did the blindness of her self-devotion
render her at first unconscious of all
save the delight of her own alteration.
! But as the days and weeks went by,
she began vaguely to feel a faint chill of
disappointment Sometimes the ardor of
her love seemed even in her own eyes
to meet with but an inadequate response.
Once or twice it happened that she pour
ed out her thoughts and her fancies, and
that he hardly understood her. At times
he was distracted and thoughtful, and
if she rallied him upon his gravity he
would rouse himself with an effort. smile
upon her, stroke her hair, kiss her pout-
ing lips and tell her lightly that he was
thinking of business
Then, one day, there came an awaken
ing. It was a wet afternoon. They were
at Dresden, and were slowly wandering
| homeward to England. They had ex-
hausted the picture galleries and the
green vaults had listened to the organ
in the church till they were tired of it.
and wandered about the narrow streets
| and hung over the bridge across the
Elbe until they knew them all by heart,
It was their last afternoon, and it was
raining heavily. Brian got sick of the
dreary grandeur Of the hotel sitting room,
and clothing himself in a long waterproof
coat went off by himself for walk.
Presently, from sheer idleness, she be-
gan touching the trifes upon her hus-
bands table-his silver cigarette case.
his writing case, the little collection of
silver topped bottles and ivory toilet i'm
plements. She fingered them with loving
tenderness, as things which, for their
owners sake, were dear to her. His
dressing bag stood wide open upon a
chair, and just inside it was a small
square morocco case Kitten felt a vague
wonderment that she had never before
noticed this article. She took it up and
turned it about curiously. Apparently
it was locked but presently, quite acci.
dentaly, her finger touched upon a
spring, and the case few open suddenly,
1t was lined with faded satin. Kittens
heart began to beat with a strange and
sickening sensation, for what was the
meaning of these things which lay inside :?
Ia crumpled white glove bunch of
dead violets, tiny lace bordered cam
brio handkerchief with the faint odor of
perfume still lingering about it, an oval
locket, which, with a wild amazement.
she found to contain a soft, thick curl
of dark brown hair, and then. beneath
everything else, folded letter, yellow
and faded, with written words that were
pale with time and blotted with tears
creased and crumpled out of all original
shape and smoothness. Half mad with
Il something terrible which seemed to
sti1e and choke her, Brian's wife read
the opening words in the dim, faded ink
that had been dry for years. MY darl-
ing" is what she saw-then no more,
for there came heavy footstep behind
her, a rough hand that snatched the pa
per from hers, and hoarse, angry voice
that spoke her name
How dare you.' said Brian, in a
voice of suppressed fury. He pushed her
back, snatched the case and its contents
away, bundled them all back and sanp-
ped the spring of the box, and thrust it
back into the dressing bag. Then he
turned around to his wife again. Never
had Kitten seen that look of black rage
before upon the face she loved so well.
She covered and shrank before him,
with white, drawn features and horror
sticken eyes that widened into terror as
they met him.
But she was brave, too, and she knew
that as his wife she had a right to
know.
81 am sorry" she said, "sorry to have
annarod = 7