Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1907-07-12
CONSOLATION.
BY Nellie X. BIIsse't.

10, I1dlICy SdlU, VIII a 5AoA1(O W liz
girl beside him, Il hear we've behaved
splendidly"
The girl poked the gravel with the
point of her parasol, and avoided his
eye.
II wonder" she reflected, slowly.
whether you find it consolation"
"I'm wondering" he retorted,
whether you do"
But what else," she questioned with
touch of contempt, could we have
done?
1t was Harley's turn to poke the
gravel.
well, the chief point in our favor,
he explained, seems to be that we
didn't mope-in the middle of the sea-
son, with so many anxious hostesses
depending upon the support of our bril-
liant and successful presence. We
showed pluck. We didn't wear our
mangled and bleeding hearts upon our
sleeves, and retire into a corner to be-
wall our forsaken lot. Every one adj
mits, with extraordinary generosity,
that we had every right to do so-but
we didn't. No, we said-in effect
Hang the faithless pair! They're not
worth our tears'-and society is CRATE
full to us accordingly"
He paused and looked at her with in
terest. She continued to poke the
gravel.
after ALL" she answered, "moping
wasn't much good, under the circum77
stances They were married. And
supposing things hadn't gone so far as
that-they didn't want us. They took
their own way out of the difficulty
without consulting us. l think it
would have been better if they had
given us a chance of surrendering our
rights to them willingly, but that's
mere detail"
She fell upon the gravel with re-
newed vigor. Harley watched her.
would you," he said at last, "have
surrendered your-rights-in such
spirit of self-sacrificing readiness?
81 wasn't Archie Lovell's jailer,"
she retorted, little haughtily. 81 was
merely the girl he was engaged to-"
Exactly" he rejoined with warmth.
That's what l told Angela Coventry
mean, of course, Mrs. Lowell. They
might at least have given us the chance
of being generous
'They chose" she said coldly, ITO
consider us their jailers. They chose
to make a violent escape from our
our custody. They assumed bolts and
bars. l always used to think elop-
ments so romantic-in books. That
was because l never considered the
feelings of the people left behind.
Now" she added, with a laugh, 1--WE
been left behind myself know what
it feels like"
at isn't" Harley suggested, 1.-THE
most gratifying of sensations.
1T isn't. And our only consolation
she declared with irony, sis to be told
that we've behaved splendidly-we
haven't moped!"
The gravel flew before the tip of
her parasol, Harley looked thoughtful
ly at the ruin she was making.
ut hasn't" he admitted presentely.
"been my only consolation. l had an
other consolation, too"
What was that?" she inquired with
interest.
the fact that you were taking it so
pluckily. If it hadn't been for your
example''-there was the ghost of d
twinkle in his eye-"I almost think l
should have been tempted to NOPE.
Think of that!'
my example!"
Precisely You carried it off so
well that 1 had to play up. We were
both in the same dilemma-we were
both cast for the ignominous role Of
The Forsaken. And | imagined, natu-
rally, that it would be worse for you. !"
He cast sharp glance at her. She
looked fixedly at the gravel.
"It was worse for you-naturally, y
he repeated, with emphasis.
81 don't see exactly why" she said,
in low voice go on"
"And / felt myself responsible, too,
In way l felt that if had been able
to hold Angela, you wouldn't have lost
Archie But l wasn't able. If she
ever cared for me, l wasn't able to
make her keep on caring. :. There
was something wrong somewhere.
wasn't there?"
He paused for an answer She shook
her head.
IT don't believe" she said, with
sudden frankness, that she was half
good enough for you'll never did"
That's odd" he said with a laugh,
because I've always doubted whether
Archie was half good enough for you. "
1.-The point u.s. the girl said seri-
ously. mot that a persons good
enough for you, but that you want him
OR her. Isn't that it?"
1.-THE point isl he returned. that
as you said just now-they didn't want
u.s."
But you wanted her." she persisted.
He reflected for moment.
eat any rate" he admitted cauti-
ously, 81 thought / did. l don't know
whether ought to ask, but you you
really did him the honor to want
him?"
'T-oh, thought | did, too," she
answered, eff 1t comes to that"
There was brief silence.
81 WONDER" he remarked suddenly,
"why we're not both heartbroken ?
We ought to be, you know Hasn't II
occurred to you as odd that we're
not?"
aren't we?'' she said, with rather
elaborate indifference
Personally, I'm not-not a bit.
was at first. For "a hours was aw-
fully hard hit. 1t isn't a nice trick to
play man. you know. to bolt with his
best friend fortnight before the we'd
ding?"
at was, perhaps, BETTER" she sug
gested, than boiling fortnight after
the wedding"
"You couldn't expect me-" he pro