The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-13
THE WOMAN IN HER.
BY JEROME HARTE.
(Copyrifht, 1905, by Daily Story Fuo'

bN OEAtOiWEf A%'
 (Copyrifht. 1905, by Daily Story Pup Co.)
 Ring! ring! ring! The telephone bell had been ringing at five minute intervals all morning and the wom- ans nerves were on edge. How she hated the xery~sight of the neat. oaken telephone box and the shine with US leaden bells! It brought back un- pleasant memories; and there are some things that even woman with firm. determined chin and cold eyes will want to forget. The two men-the one whom she loved although he did not love her, and the one who loved her all though she did not love him-were un' pleasantly associated in her mind wlth the box on the wall. To the one. she had overdone the matter of telephoping kuntil she had lost his good comradeship more fool she! The other had tele- phoned her until she was tired of it. more fool he! It's a queer old world we live in!
 It was raining and the snow under foot was getting slushy and gray Thc sky was low and leaden-and the tele- phone bell kept on ringing. The woman was out of temper when she went to answer It. certain dress 1 maker was ready, now, after long wait, to finish her a gown. but the woman thought just then that she didn't care if she never again saw a new gown. She answered sharply and hung up the receiver with bang. On her desk beside the fire was a great bowl of red roses from the man who worshipped at her shrine. Beside | 1t was a letter from the man at whose shrine she worshipped She picked up the letter and read 1t again, perhaps for the dozenth time.
 My dear Miss Allen,"--it ran--"T am sorry that l think our quarrel past mending, but I suppose that 1t Is really better so. Our friendship was a source of great pleasure to me: but now that we have disagreed so persistently. that l friendship could never be the same again. We will both be happier If l continue to accept your first ultimatum and remain, as you said then, just a mere acquaintance. You are generous to take the blame so entirely upon yourself, but will not take advantage of your generosity. You will under | stand, I am sure."
 | She was clever enough to read be- | tween the lines, as he had meant that
 she should. She was young yet, but there had been many men--and she understood. She had done bratny girls earnest work in school and in college, and she had ereditably filled for two or more seasons now the po- sitlon of a clever. attractive young
 woman of society. Marriage. she had always said. was a matter of tact and
 management and, while she had been | too busy and too gayly occupied to take serious drought of the future, she had always felt that when the one
 man came to her she, she would be wiser than some other girls had been. We'll! the one man had come-and gone--and
 the fault was hers, She clenched her
 hands and laughed strained. unnatpr-
 al laugh. She could not believe it Of
 herself!
 She drew a great leather chair before
 the open fire and sat down in 1t, staring
 hard at the blazing logs. If there had
 not been two men, she told herself,
 perhaps she would not have been so
 tactless. But then, that was to be-!
 She sighed. Mentally. she was com
 pairing the two men. A vision of the
 man she loved, although he did not
 lover her, flashed before her eyes. She
 saw him in the chair opposite her, as
 she had seen him so many times in
 the days that had just slipped back.
 leaning forward in the characteristic
 easy pose that became him so well--big
 and broadshouldered and handsome,
 with a shilling sanguine face Reso-
 lutely. she turned her head and stoop-
 ing sniffed the roses on her desk. She
 summoned up a picture of the other man. He, too, was biS and broad