Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1906-01-18
shalI ] read o you n aaid I'VE,

Mvuifh, ItJu dleH you
Il don't know" she answered,
TREMENDOUSLY. II was a very happy
woman-till last spring"
'Do you know what said to the
doctor?"
She shook her head.
81 spoke of a rabbit that had
been wounded to death, whose
condition was hopeless. / said ifa
man saw that animal he would inn
mediately put it out of it's pain;
he would be thought a brute if he
didn't. The mere brutes are bet
ter off than men-they're not al
lowed to live when existence
means torture. And yet the two
cases can't be compared for suffer
ing; the brute has a certain
amount of physical pain, but that's
all; it has no imagination to paint
pictures of never-to-be had again
delight, no highly-strung nerves to
Increase its agony tenfold."
But the mere brute isn't taken
care of, nursed tenderly." said
Lyn.
That's only refinement of cru
city when there's no hope. Little
woman" he went on, gravely look
ing at her with very kind eyes,
"you married strong man, fond
of sport, full of the JOY of living, to
whom life meant health and
strength and a roaring good time;
this cripple lying on stretcher is
really stranger to you"
ooh, don't say that" she cried,
implOringly, stretching out her
hands.
at must be true. I'm stran-
ger to myself. can't imagine my
self chained to this stretcher, IN
able to move without pain. It's
not Will Godfrey who is lying here
no, Will Godfrey is the man
think about in my dreams, leaping
the bitches on a chill spring morn
ing, or marching over the grouse
moOrs with a gun-nOt this corpse
of a man dead to everything he
loved"
''But am / nothing to your"
sobbed poor Lyn, who felt that her
cup of anguish was indeed full.
pm not, so to say, a good man."
Will went on, dreamily. "Church-
going bored me, and that's the
truth. l went because yOu liked
it, darling, and because it was the
right thing for the squire at the
Hall to do, and all that, but was
cOnfOundedly bored. Pve nothing
to cheer me now. mean nothing
irreverent, though perhaps it does
not bear speaking abOut, but if
thought | was going anywhere
where they'd underestimate !
was going to a fellow who would
be sorry for me, and make me hap
py in a way that / care abOut-if-
# | might even go on dreaming
about the sport; things are deuc
eddy real in dream, Lyn. WOW
last night ] saw the meet clear and
1istinCt-the bare trees and the
hedges standing out against "A
yellOwish sky-and | was coming
Up with the rest, tearing, gallOp.
ng in a mad sort of way-and il
wasreal, Lyn, was much more than
this"
At that moment the two were
Interrupted by the entrance of
Priscilla StainfOrth, Wills aunt, |
his mothers sister. She was a ter
'ible woman, with genius for ad.
ministering spiritual consolation
% her relations and friends at su.
lreme moments in their lives.
With the best of motives, she
made herself extremely objection.
lble, and in times of trouble and
lifficulty was avoided like the
plague. She had called very often
or the purpose of seeing Will, but
lad been refused admission. On |
he present occasion she entered |
he bedroom unlimited and ad |
anced to the couch.
There bad been no time to make |
NY preparations for her arrival.
he table was strewn with papers
f sporting character, a yellow.
acked novel lay on the pillow,
4