Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1907-09-13

you wonder why why you are re- |
pellent to me. Haven't you learned
that, though may have been made In
10 moral coward. I'm not physical
coward? Don't bully and threaten.
It's useless"
put my hand strongly on her
shoulder--taunts and jeers do not
turn me aside. What did you
mean" l repeated
Take your hand of me-" she COM
manded.
What did you mean?" / repeated
sternly. Don't be afraid to answer"
She was very young-so the taunt
stung her. Il was about to tell you,
said she, when you began to make
it impossible"
took advantage of this to extri-
cate myself from the awkward po-
sition in which she had put me-l
took my hand from her shoulder.
Il am going to leave" she an
nouneed.
You forgot that you are my wife,"
said I.
II am not your wife," was her an
swer, and If she had not looked so
childlike, there in the moonlight all
in white, could not have held myself
in check so insolent was the tone and
SO helpless of ever being able to win
her did she make me feel.
you are my wife and you will stay
here with me-" | reiterated, my brain
on fire.
Il am my own. and / shall go where
please, and do what please" was
her contemptuous retort. why won't
you be reasonable? Why won't you
see how utterly unsuited we are?
don't ask you to be a gentleman-but
just a man, and be ashamed even to
wish to detain a woman against bar
will"
| drew up a chair SO close to her
that to retreat, she was forced to sit
in the broad window-seat. Then
seated myself. by all means. let
us be reasonable" said /. Nov, let
me explain my position. | have heard
you and your friends discussing the
views of marriage you've just been
expressing Their views may be
right, maybe more civilized. more
advanced than mine. No matter
They are not mine. / hold by the
old standards-and you are my wife
mine Do you understand" AL
this as TRANQUILITY as IL we were dis
Sussing fair weather. And you will
live up to the obligation which the
marriage service has put upon you
She might have been a marble stat
ne pedestaled in that window seat.
"You married me of your own free
will-for you could have protested tc
the preacher and he would have sus
tanned you. You tacitly put certain con
ditions on our marriage. / assented tC
them. I have respected them.
shall continue to respect them. Blu
when you married me, you didn'
marry dawdling dude chattering
advanced ideas with his head full
of libertinism. You married a man
And that man is your husband"
waited, but she made no common
not even by gesture or movement
She simply sat, her hands interlacet
In her lap, her eyes straight upoI
mine.
you say let US be reasonable"
went on. well, let us be reasonable
There may come q time when womal
can be free and independent, hu
that time is q long way on yet. Tn
world is organized on the baisis o
every woman's having a protector
of every decent woman's having
husband, unless she remains in tn
~ s4f hor la4f In
There may be women strong enoug
TO set the world at defiance. But yo
are not one of them-and you know i
You have shown it to yourself agai
and again in the last fofty-eight hour
Your bringing-up has kept you a chill
in real knowledge of real life, q
distinguished from life In that fasI
ionable dollhouse II you tried to Al
sert your so-called independence, 20
would be the easy prey OF scouni
rel or scoundrels. When I, who hay
lived In the thick of the fight all m
life, who have learned by many a su
prise and defeat never to sleep e
cept with the sword and gun in ham
and one eye oDen-when | have bee
trapped as Roebuck and Langdo
have just trapped me-what chans
would woman like you have?"
She did not answer or change e
preston.
is what / say reasonable OF a
reasonable?" l asked gently.
Reasonable = from your stan
point" she said.
She gazed out into the moonIigh
NJ into the sky. Asd at the look
laer face. the primeEaI savage In n
strained to close round that sIendi
white throat OF hers and crush q
crush unGl It had killed In her Il
thought of that other man which ":
transforming her from marble to nes
that glowed and blood that surged.
pushed back my chair with a sudds
noise; by the way she trembled
@nvad how tense her narvaa raues =