The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-10-08

slaves7 I can love you as long to,
past the injustice that threatens to
push in between us. You don It realize
this. There is just one way for man
and woman to live together and be
happy. They must trust each other
and give each other liberty. Only so
can marriage be anything but yoke
too heavy for any but the best and the
worst of women to bear. | know you
will see this some time-I believe you
have come back to tell me that you
realize it now; Our first imperfect mar.
and the glory Of this We are two
souls, two wills. Nothing but willing
union can make us one. Give me free
will. Give me power to be wife.
You have come for that-you cannot
have come for anything else. You have
other once, and of all that absence has
taught us we may be to each other
again Tiff life is not lost on US.
Her voice caught, almost. broke, on
the last phrase. She had drawn near
him, step by step, under the stress Of
passionate pleading. She paused after
every sentence, searching his face for
adid not come she hurried to the next,
as though fearing he would break in.
The beseeching in her voice became
almost uncomfortable to Ferdinand, and
when she paused to gain control of her
emotion he profted by the opportunity
to put an end to the painful scene.
j. + +
"Let us spare ourselves any further
conflict on these points, Agnes. You
yourself are my best argument for re-
fusing your own request. Whatever
sorrow our marriage has caused you
has but made you better and wiser than
you would have been without it. There
may be, as you say, two souls and two
attempted to- to deny a it. All I have cor
tended for, and still insist upon, is
that the husband and father is the head
of the family. I shall do my best to
be conscientious, in the fulflment Of my
alike, but have enough faith in you
to believe, as you do, that we yet will.
Meantime, [ must request you to give
up all expectation of change in our
financial and domestic arrangements. -
His wife looked at him without NOV
ing, and Ferdinand s eyes wavered from
hers and passed almost reluctantly over
Then he compelled himself to meet
again her gaze thru which was emercg-
ing a great obscure force which he
dimly knew to be tragic. An answer
ing impulse fared up within him, de-
faint, hostile. It was the instinct Fred
had aroused earlier that evening, to
crush, if need be, that which threatened
him in her.
He went up to her, put down the
half-protesting, half suppicating arms,
bent the dark head forward to his
breast, and held it there. After some
time he said: 'Agnes, this is my first
day h N -, Have lave you nothing else to
She raised her head, drew up her
hands, and put them against his breast
pushing him back little so that they
could see each other. He found himself
looking into two strange eyes, as
fathomless, as quiet, as the night:
"What?" he asked, bending his head
as tho she had spoken.
"Forsaking father-.and mother
rich-or poor-in sickness II
health-til1-death-us do part,' she
/ said. -"'..~ .:.s. lH.@s+
The short fall was followed by a bit
ter winter. Old inhabitants Of Winston
fell into reminiscent strain about ;
winter back in the forties when the wa
ter had frozen on the dinner table am
old Silas Ballington had lost half al
, ear walking from his kitchen door dow
to the cow barn. ~.
, Ferdinand had put a new furnace int
. his home and speculated in coal earl.
; in the winter. He made enough by tn
, latter device not only to pay, for hi
heating plant, but to present Agnes a
+ Christmas time with set of sable furE
Miss Margaret with mink, Estelle wit
, coat and cap Of Thibet lamb, and tn
[ 2-year-old Stephen with a long, straigh
garment and cap Of sealskin. He OF
!, dered for himself at the same time a
! otter ulster with seal trimmings an
cap When he presented these he aske
Agnes to collect all the old furs Of tn
I family, and these we're sent for late
= and taken away by the town furrie1
y Improvements were also made in tn
3 house. ~
+ Agnes, on her part, had started i
: their new life together with deter
mination to make a persistent effort t
n touch and broaden her husband g syn
|. pathies. She told herself that if sh
n were patient enough and tactful enoug
I she must wear. away his resistance. TIL
b course of hers was 50 quiet, so FIRE
i from feminine heart burnings an
e moods, that the current Of their HON