The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-06
THE FALL OF AN IDOL.
BY THEODORE BRONSON.
Copyright. 1905. by Daily Story Pub
llahinor co


BY THEODORE BRONSON.
Copyright. 1905. by Daily Story Pub
fishing Coz
The two were so engrossed in each
other that they did not notice the ent-
rance of the third person. And surely
the two were fascinating enough--each
of them-to make II no wonder.
She was of the Cleopatra type and
singularly perfect in face and form and
color end grace. Her magnificent
grown was designed to show or suggest
all the beauties Of her voluptuous fig
ure. Jewels flashed from her hands
and hair and neck and ears. Her dark
eyes sparkled with passion. and her
red lips breathed love. She was a
He was tall. sinewy, alert, distinctly
handsome. with broad, intelligent
forehead--a man to attract attention
anywhere. There was something a
trife shiny about his keen eyes and
something a trifie weak about his lower
face and something tribe sensual
about his lips-but this was all inde-
Unable and apparent only upon close
analysis. AS a whole he was a fine APP
pearing man and he carried himself as
one who had won the tight with the
world.
They were talking eagerly. joyously.
and the first intimation they had OF the
ADVENT OIL tn6 LHtTO pefSOu WIS WnSh
her shadow fell across the table at
which they sat They glanced up sim.
ultaneousfy. and both looked trifie
startled at first Then the woman
looked contemptuous and triumphant
and the man looked annoyed and de-
fiant.
The third person was a woman
slight of build and her worn face was
surmounted by brown hair plainly
dressed. and was illuminated by great
gray eyes which would have been beau
tiful had they not been so sad. She
was dressed simply in black.
We'll" remarked the woman at the
table after an awkward pause, Ito
what do we owe this-this intrusion?"
. She spoke with studied insolence.
The third person neither flushed nor
shrank from the insult. She did not
look at the man at all, but kept a steady
and searching gaze upon the woman at
the table, who leaned back and famed
herself lazily with a priceless fan.
II came to see you." replied the third
person IN low distinct tones.
The woman at the table shifted I'M
easily under the steady gaze and the
self poise of the other woman. She
reached out for Jeweied paper knife
on the table,
The third person smiled sadly
You need not fear me-" she said, AT
HTst HdQ VI pcTbOual V6n-
geance, but only for a moment. am
not angry. What I have lost is prob
ably due to my own fault and you are
simply an incident in the tragedy. 1
came here for quite another purpose
''Of course you lost him through your
own fault" cried the woman at the ta-
BILE vehemently. "Oh. you cold women.
you self effacing, gloomy. passionless
wives! What. do you think men are
icebergs? No wonder they leave you.
Don't you know they are strong and
ardent and imaginative-that what they
want is love and life and joy In their
hours of leisure? Don't you know that
they hate gloom and sermons and nam
by pamby babying? They can hire their
buttons sewed on and buy their meals.
You have had your chance and you have
lost, because you were not a fit mate
for lion. He will now get his first
taste Of real life and will shudder as
he looks back at the GOODNESS of all his
early years."
Once we thought them very happy
years." replied the third person, but
maybe we were mistaken. would not
give up the memory OF them for my
souls salvation. But fear not. I did
not come to deprive you of him. Neither
you nor he could give me back what
! have lost. I merely wanted to see
you and to know what his life is to be.
terested in that life because l gave so
much to help build 1t and it has occu-
pied great place in my mind and heart
and all my thoughts and hopes and
fears. had thought to be a part of
1t, but even now that 1 am not 1 still
cannot help being interested. 1t would
help me carry my burden to the grave
to know that all the labor and sacrifice
by both of us had not been in vain,
and that all the aspirations and ambi-
lions and ideals were not to fail"
OF course l see my dreams for my
SELF were not to be. But you cannot
blame me for wanting to know IL some
or our dreams for him are not to come
true. You see we really were very
honest and we worked very hard. We
started. you know, very poor and mar
ried very young. Sometimes / have
thought 1t was a great mistake, but
again / am not sure. Because, YOU see.
he did not have much of a chance at
nome. His people did not sympathize
with his ambitions and kept him hard
at work. so he had little time to study.
Then the atmosphere of his home was
deadly to his ambition.
so we tried to make IL otherwise
we did not try to live very well. We
got along on very little. 1 was SO glad
TO practice all the little economies so
ne need work less for bread and have
more time to study. 1 tried. too. To en-
courage and stimulate him. At first I
tried to keep along with him, but with
the work l found II necessary to do so
ne could be more free, 1 could NOT keep
up. II hurt me bitterly, but 1 thought
i was doing for the best because IL was
ms career for which we were working
Ihen as he began to forge ahead and
became impatient of his limited oppor-
IunL.ies, l got in the habit of getting
WI ME 20 40 which would not interfere
wv ~i.n my Keeping the home comfortable
LOT MIN and providing for his needs. Il
earned some little money which / saved
aho was able to help him make stlll
more rapid strides at critical times. II