Middletown transcript., 1906-07-14
THE OLD LOVE DIETH NOT
ny EDITH ii. NICHOLL

sFt
part for eight years With some
distinction in the great world she
found herself in a somewhat am
biguous situation. Endowed with
a fine figure and charming face,
keenly alive intellectually. and
barely in her tl1irties, she was
uncomfortable surprised to learn
that her age, socially speaking,
laid her on the shelf In The
eyes of a society composed of
recently emancipated schoolgirls
and boys she pastd perforee as
disappointed old maid This vas
amusing, in view of tie actuul
facts but it was also tiresome.
Her girlhoodss friend, George
Carroll, was her elder by several
years, although he was still safely
on the right side of forty-;tt
which age, in crude social circles,
a man yerges on decrepitnde.
However, he maintained his high
standing as a bachelor of repute.
owing to the fact that he had
been recently appointed one Of
the youngest judges on the bench
and to the rumor that his abilities
and his ambition would shortly
translate him to wider sphere;
otherwise, in a community in
which marriage is the chief Guty
of man as well as Of woman, he
might have lost caste. That he
had in the past been engaged to
Alicia Deane was an occurrence
which, in accordance with CON
ventional traditions. had never
transpired therefore that She,
in the natural restlessness of
gifted youth, had discarded him,
remained equally. Of course, uns
known.
Miss Deane's ostensible reason
for tearing herself away from
her numerous friends and ad-
mirers was that in this rural re-
treat she might the more conyen-
isntly await the long-delayed
settlement of her fathers affairs.
For some months after his death
she wasa prey TO what she told
herself was homesickAess, and
whether this was its real name
or no, it is certain that she was.
conscious of a pIeasurable excite
ment as she stepped off the train
to be welcomed, not only by The
elderly kinswoman inhabiiing the
Deane home, but also by select
cipcle of old friends, Judge Car
roll included
Not long thereafter ensued the
reaction. In addition there were
other discomforts. Miss Deane
was an excellent housekeeper,
but exhaustive discussions on The
subject wearied her. She en-
joyed the companionship of
bright children. but not tie too
minute relations of their teeth
and stomach troubles, and of
their infectious diseases. She
entertained a regard for her own
sex, but was not habituated to.
open and detailed descriptions of
its physical Ills. She was re-
plete with human interests, but
would have made poor reporter
for village paper Accustomed
to intelligent and impersonal in.
tercourse with both sexes, she
was now to discover that any
kind of intercourse, however inn
personal, with a married man
was promptly followed by a hur-
ried and suspicious tightening of
the domestic apron strings. Any
attempt at a like association with
the few still extant bachelors Of
her own generation resulted
equally promptly either in matri-
monial symptoms on their part,
or in eager or critical expectancy
of such on the part of the village
Mrs. Grundy She also found
that her experience Of the world
and her inalienable interestin 10 lis
affairs gave rise TO a vague dis.
trust of her wemanliness.'' liz
short, like other women before
and since, she partook Of all the
disadvantages increasing years
without single one Of its advan
tages.
All these things should, with
Miss Deane's humorous DISPOSE
tion, have merely amused her.
She was shocked and confounded
to find that they hurt her For
them--and for something else
she had rot been entirely pre-
pared.
Judge Carroll called upon her
at respectful intervals, LII the
summers of the past they had
strolled or sat beside the running
creek at the foot of the grove. /