Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-15


ing he walked there with her
Il always knew / wasi" she said. And this is
er Look at the trees--they only cost FIVE thousand
apiece. Some people pay fifty Now aren't you sorry
you called me names?"
We'll, yes the same thns-when you wouldn't let
me have my own way"
''who ever had their own way more than your"
"oh here, may be. But you certainly have looked
out that my way should be your way" And she be-
gan to collect her fancied injuries.
''Winfred, darling, 1t has been because loved
you"
"Then wish you didn't love me so muchl" she
had exclaimed. And she disappeared down shady
alley, only to came back swiftly, laughing Then.
suddenly leaping upon garden-seat she reached up
to shake shower of rose-petals over him as he
stood wondering. oh you poor stupid darng!" she
cried. do wear your life out?"
1t when they came back to the house in town
that Winifred began to be quiet for little while.
Whether she were thoughtful or melancholy he could
not say, but there was certain sweet difference
about her that made him feel il the earth had
turned and going the other way. He had come
in and was sitting in this very chair, and she was
rearranging the roses in the tall tripod
mo dining out tonight, thank heaven" he said.
"No people coming in, please heaven
She ran and sat down on the arm Of his chair:
This is going to be the dearest night OF the season.
he added. "Just us two together"
She stopped minute, and hid her face beside his
"Just us three she whispered. And then she
had held him convulsvey moment. and had
laughed like a sprite at his Joyous amaze
Whose fault now was all that followed? He had
wished take such delicate and especial of her;
she had abandoned her quiet and insisted upon going
her own way, brookng no interference. dancing and
riding and doing as she pleased. But how inefably
lovely she was that morning when they brought him
to her. she lay there with her baby on her arm!
VT 1T is mi miracle she sighed e God IDS said Let there
be light and there light Do you suppose he will
be good?" she said "Oh If hadn't been SO worth
It was only three days later that the baby lay a
little waxen image exquisite flower.
great, feverish eyes "You will never forgive me- I
have killed your little son!'
"My child! How wildly you talk!"
mo no. If had done as you said, If had kept
uuiet-if-if-if-Oh, you wasn't ft to be trusted
with him You might as well think of butterfly
for mother. God had pity on the little man. Be-
sides, he would have inherited SO much that is bad
in me-and.and you are not perfect yoursef!,' she
In delirum; and, her life hanging by thread, he
did not know how it was saved at last.
They had gone then up the Mediterranean cruising
through the lonian waters and along the purple
brown Calabrian shores till hope and health made
them happy again: And then it was Paris, for new
gowns And Winifred had gone wild over "Peeas
and Melisande"; and her voice had grown
stronger, and she knew she could sing and play that
as well az Garden did, and although he himself had
no beauty in It. and heard no melody and she
had called him a savage, yet he could refuse her
nothing after she had been given back from the
depths OF death And SO they had delayed that she
might have some lessons from the great masters.
And then had come those accursed private the
ntricals. And all the town was ringing with report
of her beauty her dramatic fire. her voice. and Hills
Herberts plaudts rang louder than all the rest.
What night it was-that of her triumph All the
world there. The tollettes of the most mag
nifceut: diamonds flashed back the light at every
point and illumined the place with their SPLEEN
DOR the flowers thrown upon the stage filled the air
with The play called for all her espegerie
all her charm.
thing like pride, yet he had known that for all its
sembance this was not the real thing; that
ateur affair at its best was very different from the
greater achievement
But nothing had been seen by Winifred in that
s T0r her s the Il ~. oysT s,d it a Is % % her
next day, after her slurnbers, that had lasted into
the afternoon. This settles it. 1 always thought
could And now know. / am going directly to
Paris again. and l shall study with Marchesi and
with De Reszke, maybe. And you will think you are
dreaming when you me, when you hear me, as
Lucia, as Carmen, as violetta, as Saome"
Dreaming he exclaimed Il should think was
dead and damned If saw it,
''oh, Oh OIL" with both hands at her ears. "How
can you talk so! How
81 hate it, I loathe the whole thing! shivered
when | that man"
We'll if you're not too absurd"
my darling" he said presently, trying to speak
calmly. Yours is a beautiful voice always thought
1t was But 1t is not stage voice It is what they
call drawing-room voice-perfect In its place. You
can give absolute delight n @ small spaces; but in
force me to speak plainly"
But the argument in vain. There had been
other productions of the operetta-for pleasure for
charity for practice With every the charm had
grown stronger But finally there time Of
silence Of singular sweetness; and then of frequent
bursts of weeping; and at the end Hash of anger;
and she had gone back to her mother
with the life and soul gone out of the house
He had waited at first, when the shock of 1t was
over thinking she would come back. But now he
felt there hope. He must close the house and
be off.
Perhaps he could forget her-perhaps he could out
live 1t. But he knew he could not
And it all the loss of her-the loss OF life. 1t
fear of the ruin that must to her; the low
ering standards, the debased ideals. And when he
thought of her in the atmosphere ofscertain who
might be singing with her. of certain women Of all
the glitter all the shine, his heart lump
of lead, his soul ached and he bowed his head upon
his knees and groaned in a dull misery.
And then there came tmid touch upon his arm
a touch light as that of butterhy's wing upon his
hair. And all of a sudden his head was lifted and
laid on huttering heart. and kisses being
rained upon his face ooh, oh, OIL" cried a voice
like the music of the snheres to his hearing "Ynu