The San Francisco call., 1905-01-21
-" ND no man can foretell what
the future has IL store for

~ ni@.~ sns future mas IN store '''
Nature herself, to Judge
from appearances, had the dumps. A
despairing sky looked gloomily down
on respondent earth through an at
mosphere as damp and chilling as a
wet blanket. With a 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 rider spurs
his horse to greater effort
Ugh! What 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 foretell what the future has in
store for him" This time she closed
the book and placed it on the table be-
side her, Decidedly, she was in no
mood for reading, and. with bands
clasped idly in her lap, she sat staring
into the fire. But that last sentence
dogged her thoughts. The past, with
it's smiles and tears. was left behind.
The present seemed momentarily q
thing to be endured as one might; but
the futurei
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, hanked by two
diamonds-her engagement ring. Or
dinarily she could not look at it with
out kindling of the heart, thrill Of
warmth and happiness. To-day, she
eyed 1t with languid, restless interest
| That, then, represented her future. 1t
! was as fixed and irrevocable as the past
itself. How well she knew what 1t
would be like. Had she not seen dozens
OF her friends marry, bubble blissfully
for brief year or so and then subside
into the stale beer of domestic exist
ence? If she had ever thought that
with Jack and her it would be differ
ent, the illusion had vanished in the
bleak light of this all-revealing day,
which brought 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 honey
moon, the glamour of new possessions
and then some day they would both
suddenly tire of the play and see each
other for the first time plainly. Jack
! 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 be too
: well bred to say anything. He would
simply be trifie bored at the let
down and plunge into business to for
get, kissing her absently in the morn
ing and evening as 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 god-like attribute and with
a painful and unmistakable tendency
to grow bald and stout. But she, e,-too,
would be politely reticent and hold up
her face for that perfunctory kiss and
| try to forget 1t all In q feverish en-
thusiasm over house and gowns. And
they would grow more and more
silent toward each other. conversing
mostly In monosyllables. Never would
they quarrsl-her lips closed Z tribe
more firmly at the mere thought
but each would withdraw further
and further 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 public.
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?