The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-07-10
A sAINTLY SINNER.

nounced to his sister his engagement to Marian Harding she, being dis i erect woman only lifted an eyebrow and asked him if he was quite sure his choice was a wise one. The girl be- longed to a very different world from the gay, fashionable, pleasure-seeA- ing one in which they were such con- spicuous figures. Still, Jack was old enough to know his own tastes ana mind. and, when all is said man mar ries for himself and not for his sister.
 In truth, the girls unlikeness to all the other women he knew had been lhe first thing that attracted him to her. He had met her at big crush at fashionable house, where she had been present by virtue of being a far-away cousin of the hostess, and in her simple white frock, among all the gut ter and spangles and flash Of JeWels and bold display of white, bare should CTS and arms, she made him think of a wild flower suddenly transplanted amidst the overblown roses in a con- serVatory.
 Then somebody had asked her to sing, and she startled even that blaze assemblage with a voice so pure, so sweet and true and with such passion of expression in its tones that it had made the simple little ballad she sung like a cry from heart to heart. There was a minutes silence when she was done, and then woman standing near Orton exclaimed:
 Fancy any one with voice like that wasting her life in teaching, mis- erable little children! They say she has fabulous offers from opera man agers to go on the stage, but that hor- rible old Puritan of father of hers has brought her up to believe that the theater is the very door to perdition. Go on the stage!" repeated Orton, still with his eyes on the pure little face. Heaven forbid!"
 The woman dropped her lorgnette and gave him an amused stare. Jack Orton, and after all that story about him and the little comic opera girl! i Really men were too absurd
 After that evening the acquaintance 1 between the demure little music teacher and the fashionable man of the world had flown smoothly enough and soon ripened into love. .- To Mar | ian, Jack, with his gay ways, his ele gancies and extravagances, was like a being from different sphere, and one of whose moral standard she was not a little doubtful.
 She had been brought up in hard and narrow school, and it seemed to her almost pagan for one to enjoy things frankly and openly, while to love life and laughter, the delights cf a good diner and glass of sparkling wine and the smile of a woman's fair face seemed to her nothing less than a sinful pandering to the lust of the flesh,
 l It is, however, the province of earth Iy angels to always judge their fellow creatures harshly, and Marian deliv- cred many sermon to Jack on his worldliness and wickedness, which the bighearted, loving, generous fellow re- ceived with outward meekness and in- ward mirth. She really looked very delicious with that little earnest frown on her face, and it pleased him to think she was considering his soul instead of the diamonds he would give her.
 After all, though, one does not care Ito be always spoken to from the I heights of superior spirituality, and there began to be jafTing notes.f He discovered that Marian was provincially prejudiced against things of which she knew nothing, and that in many ways she was intolerant and bigoted. Her own life had been so removed from all temptation that she had f1o sympathy. as wiser people have, with those who have been sore pressed and have failed.
 Finally they quarreled over some question about woman whom Jack defended, and the girl had given him back his ring, quoting self-rfghteousl something about being unequally yok- ed with an unbeliever. .D
 It takes saint to be urforgiving. Jack, who loved the girl, with all the great soul, would have kissed and made Iup, but Marian refused to see him the next day, and after making various fruitless efforts he buried himself and his troubles in the depths of a conti- mental tour.
 After he left evil days fell on the lit- tie household. The old father became i'll, and nurses and doctors ate up Marian's little bank account, and her cheek grew wan and thin trying to
 make one pound do the work of three
 It had always been her custom to go lon Sunday afternoons to the hospital to sing to the patients, and it chanced at this time there was lad there in whom she took a great interest. He was a jockey who had been badly hurt in hurdle race, and who was slowly recovering from his injuries. To him, Marian, with her pretty face and glor- ious voice, was the one bright spot in the dreary days of convalescence, and he literally lived upon her visits.
 One afternoon, just as things were lat their worst, when she had only a lsoverign left, she went to see him, land he greeted her with shining eyes
 Miss" he said, "Ben-he's in our stable-he was here yesterday, an he gave me straight tip, an I'll put you on. Anita's a dead snip"
 "Anita-who's she?" inquired Mar ian, vaguely.
 The boy gasped.