Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1906-07-28
Deia's Diary
(der Final Entry
By cERTIE DE S. wENTw0RTH-JANEs
lCopyright. BY Joseph B. Bowles.]

am thirty to-day go! xxx!D, and
since our marriage,) is lying on the
writing table in the sunshine.
Thirteen years ago he gave me a
heart-a little simple gold thing and
to-day he gives me yet another!
But this one is set with diamonds,
diamonds that shine with emblematical
fires of HAWKES. purity.
1t is wonderfully sweet that my
birthday gift shall still be a heart-at
thirty!
Five years ago feared the mirror,
but to-day 1 sit before it bravely, and
without a pain
This morning Dolf woke me with
kiss
Wake up, my birthday wife, he
whispered, standing tall, bronzed and
tweed-clad by the bedside.
For a moment 1 could not quite rea-
lie things, but then suddenly remem-
bered which birthday this was.
'.Dolf, Dolf," 1 murmured, with my
face buried in his neck Chat dear
brown bit between his nearly curling
hair and collar), II am thirty to-
day."
Thirty? And we were married just
after you were twenty-five! Well, thank
God, only four years of our life to-
gether have gone by so far, sweet
hearth
Dolf never mentions the old love-
story, of which he knows nothing
(not even a name, nor an incidenD ex-
cept that 1 was-jilted! But some
times when l look up suddenly and see
his eyes fixed wistfully upon my face,
I feel that he is mutely asking if his
rival still lives in a sacred place called
MemOry-land.
1 wish 1 could answer him, but
cannot-quite! 1 think 1 know, but it
is so dangerous to be sure!
A woman's heart is such an indefi-
mite thing; she can never be certain
of it as long as the elusiveness of re-
membrance alone separates the past
from the present.
Tonight we are giving a little "dou-
zaine dinner" because Dolf will never
allow my birthday to go by without
some celebration. (To me it seems
such childish ideal Why fete peo-
pie because of events over which they
had no control? But then, dear big
bronzed men are always childishD
Erica and Oscar are coming (Erica's
beginning to love dinnersD, Aimee
Belleby and Oh! a telegram! Par
don, one moment, my Birthday Diary.
Only from Dolf saying that as David
Hexton is up at the club with a
sprained ankle, he will bring another
man in his place.
How vexing! 1 do dislike strangers
at dinner!
Never mind, the man is sure to be
dineable, or else Dolf wouldn't bring
him home, and 1 expect everyone else
was engaged. Another Interruption
The dressmaker this time. My Birth
day Diary, will return to you later.
1870 p. m.
The Birthday dinner is over, the peo-
pie have gone, and 1 am sitting with
the summer night breeZes stealing
through the open window of my bou-
doir-ruff1ing the lace and roses on my
| breast.
How strange, how Infinitely strange
it is to think that less than IL hours
ago 1 was wondering, and now-I
know!
1 want to write it all down, in case
| forget anything of this wonderful
peace-giving evening; / want to al
| ways remember, SO that there can
never be any doubt. again.
Dolf,s train was late, so did not see
him until we were all sitting in the
drawing room waiting for the chimes
| to sound.
Della" he said, coming to my side
and laying his hand on my shoulder in
| a way that always makes me feel sorry
| for lonely women; Della, let me in
troduce Mr.. Dullimore-great friend of
| Charlie Bensted's, and a scratch golf
man. Dullimore, my wife!"
And thus, after eight years, touched
youth out OF my heart!
MIR. Dullimore and 1 have met be-
| FORE said, finding it strangely easy
to be cordial, and to speak without a
tremor in my voice.
George bowed low over my hand, and
1 couldn't help noticing his head.
mad SO adored its sickness; but now
| Well. it wasn't greasy, of cou,n"! I.
must be that 1 had got SO used to
Dolf's insistent tendency towards sup
pressed curls and avoidance of gela-
| tinei
| Five minutes later we were busy
with hors d'oeuvres and remarks that
| didn't matter, while George (who sat
at my 1eft) and 1 probed the past with
/ a long, almost dissecting look
/ At last, after we had waded through
| unnecessary and unwanted courses, 1
SHARED Lady Stormont's eye, and we