The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1907-08-01
H LOVER and
The HUSBAND.
BY WlNIFRED GRAHAM

benolu a man n a woman. A
pathway white with the milky pallor
of the moor Shadows lurking on
every side, emblematical of their two
lives.
Lovers. Oh, yes-or why was her
cheek stained red as the roses sleep
ing within reach of her fingers, which
were locked in the mans palm? He
tried to speak, but his voice was
cboked by emotion. This was their
good-by.
The woman raised her eyes, her lips
n the anguish of parting was for
gotten in the ecstasy of a long en-
brace.
Il shall remember" she whispered;
always! You and I have been more
than all the world to each other-you
and II"
These three words were repeated in
lingering accents that faltered and
ended in a sigh.
Stay" he answered, passionately.
Life is only an hour; take all that
1T can give while love is in your soul.
Tomorrow the summer may be v
the flowers will shrivel up and we
shall be old"
And age spells DEATH" murmured
the woman, with a shudder.
The man gazed rapturously at the
beauty of her face. How pure it
looked in the pale light! What a
mask, what a .mockery!
Yet, good or evil, he loved her, and
the fragrance of the summer night
was creeping into his very being;
everything spoke Of hitherto un.
dreamed possibilities.
why must you go?" he asked,
f1ercely. "You have no tie in New
York! Your home? Bah! What is a
Woman's home before she marries?
Stay and be my wife,"
The woman withdrew her fingers
and passed them over her brow.
The grass was wet with dew, and
there were drops of agony upon her
forehead.
One word broke hoarsely from her
lips: mol"
IF you love me, why in the name
Of"
But she clasped her hands, entreat-
ing silence.
ASK no explanations. Would that
I had never come here to lose my soul
in yours. I return tomorrow; it is
inevitable have two things to seek.
Heaven only knows if 1 shall find
them"
"What?" he questioned.
REST and repentance!"
AS she spoke she broke away,
rushed wildly on till the shadows hid
her white-gowned figure and she was
lost in mystery.
The following day she departed and
the man saw her no more.
He only treasured a few parched
rose leaves and her address in New
York city.
But the fire of love burned still in
his soul, and at last he wrote to the
woman who had said mo"
II must follow you'-he penned the
lines feverishly-'to our home, dear
est, and plead again for the love you
once gave and afterward denied. Re-
member your own words: I'VE have
been all the world to each other-you
and T. Telegraph me the single sylla-
BILE, Come and as fast as the cars
will bring me l will come to kneel at
your feet"
A woman was lying dead, with
roses white and yellow in her hands.
She was beautiful in death as in life.
She had found what she sought
rest and repentance!
Beside her still image sat her hus-
band, his head bent and one hand
stretched across his face, hiding the
awful expression thereon. But the
veins on that sinewy hand seemed
bursting through the flesh, while his
parted lips we're dry and bloodless.
Between his trembling fingers he
held a letter, addressed to his dead
wife in her maiden name. He had
only just opened it.
The mornings mail made the cold
form Of marble beauty horrible in his
eyes. Vengeance was turning his soul
to gall, mingled with the intense jeal-
ousy Of the bereaved.
"He shall follow her to her home"
he muttered, crumpling her lovers let
ter with suppressed passion.
Then he wrote the telegram:
Come"
Two men stood face to face. A
lover and a husband.
One with hope in his heart, the 9TH
er maddened by his wrongs.
you have come for my wife," he
said slowly. "She is not here, but
you shall go to her."
The lover staggered back and fell
heavily with a groan to the earth.
Only a cloud of smoke rose between
his body and the woman's husband.
No horror crept through the murder
er's veins.
"They are together now" he said,
Tin the land Of falsehood and treach-
cry. Let them love there if they can"
Two days later the police received a
detailed account Of tho crimo writ,