The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-12-22
THE UEwoRrHIEEss OF JOHN.
By J. J. BELL

lands, shortly. rising from the tea
table and filling his pipe from to-
bacco jar on the mantelp piece.
He bent down as he spoke and
kissed the bright curls of his little
daughter, Daisy.
"Where you goin' r. she inquired,
holding on to a button of his jacket.
At that moment it was on John
Langlands' tongue to say: "To the
devil" but the clear eyes of his child
checked the bitter reply, and he simply
answered "Going out, dearie.' .
''Santa Claus comm tonight, Dad
dy," she informed him, irrelevantly,
her eyes beginning to dance and
sparkle.
"Is he really, Daisy?" said her
father, for want of better remark.
Course he is. Not know that,
poor Daddy1"
"Well, hope he'll bring you all
you want, pet, said John. unloosen-
ing the small. plump hand from his
coat and kissing her cheek.
"Good night, Daisy"
kiss muvver, too p cried the
cherub.
Johns face went stern and white.
He stepped round the table to where
his wife sat.
Goodnight, Katie" he said,
softly and almostly humbly. Then
he stopped as if to kiss her. But her
face was hard and her eyes repellant,
and without another word, John
Strengthened himselfand left the room.
A moment later Daisy slipped off her
chair and sought her mothers knee.
"Want to be cuddled-fee1 bad, "
she said.
"Oh, but you shouldn't feel bad,
dear. Santa Claus is coming tonight,
you know"
"Not care-feel bad" And so
there was some weeping and much
petting and comforting, till presently
Daisy, who could not put her trouble
in words, sat up on her mothers
knee and expressed herself as being
kite better now"
And then followed a glorious hunt
through the house, with the object Of
finding a stocking large enough to
accommodate all that Daisy expected
from the saint. With ecstatic shrieks
she at last discovered in "a cupboard
pair of her fathers waterproof "wa-
ders," which he used on his fishing
excursions. One of these bel n g
promptly annexed, 1t was trailed to
her room and suspended in triumph
at the foot of her crib.
Kate put her cherub to bed, and,
after watching beside her for half an
hour, betook herself down stairs to
the parlor. The room, with its glow
ing fire, crimson. shaded lamp and
cozy hangings, looked an ideal cham
Der of comfort, and Kate sat down in
one of the big chairs which stood on
either side of the bright fire and
opened her workbag.
She was an injured woman-in-
jured beyond her forgiveness by the
man whose name she bore. And yet,
John Langlands had never proved
aught but faithful and loving and
tender to his wife. His sin had been
committed long ere he met Kate for
the first time, but it had been con.
cealed from her all through the five
years of her welded life. Indeed,
having suffered for and repented of
his misdeed at the time, Johns con-
science and memory had troubled him
but little afterward. Six months ago,
however, some one-a friend
had thought fit to open the cupboard
of his past and disclose the ugly skele.
ton to his wife.
To Kate, whom everyday people
called "a dreadfully good woman,
the wrong appeared magni6ed by its
concealment, and she was quite blind
to the extenuating circumstances, oi
which there were not few. She was
possessed of the feeling that she had
right to her husbands past, and
argued-rather unfairly-that now
there could be no further trust on hei
side.
John endured indescribable shame
and sorrow in confessing the truth tc
his wife, but he never doubted hel
womanly gentleness and forgiveness
When these were withheld, and wher
she refused him her hands and lips il
token of confidence and pardon, the
man felt, not unreasonably, that hi:
wife's love had been a poor affection
from the very beginning.
"You are unjust, Kate" he said
"God himself does not refuse mar
a second chance. 1 never pretended
to be saint, but I've tried to keep {
straight course since the day ! saw
you first. I have kept straigh
course"
He waited in vain for her to speak
and then he went on: "Why cam
you forgive? tell you I love yot
more than ever, even though I have
been shamed in your sight. Goot
God could I bear to stand before yol
if love did not hold me? Think
Can't my love be my salvation