Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-06-05
Love
Pardon

drdOn !.
b.s.s..s.s.o..s.s.s.e.s.s.a
The matter was settled yesterday at
Nesle. 81, q
The very mayor who married. us
eight years before had pronounced US
divorced, in the same room and be.
fore the same witnesses.
Ny wife was accompanied by her
father, her mother, and two friends,
while my two old comrades, who had
assisted at the tying of my pretty
loye-knot, came, with saddened faces,
\ TO witness the severing of the bond
A stfff bow. exchanged at the be.
ginning and the end of the ceremony,
was the only farewell between two
beings who for years had never had
q thought that was NOT. shared. We
sat on bench, where, five minutes
before. had been a smiling bridal pair,
and felt within me an agitation that
was painful, there seemed to be a
tension at my heart, as If my whole
being were about to be racked with
torture. Was it possible tha. my COM
panion and cone.lant, The woman who
had consoled and encouraged me in
all my trials, the woman l had loved
30 long and SO dearly, could witness
without regret, without a thought Of
the sweet past. the sundering of the
bond that had united US.
My glance wandered round the
room, from the ugly moulding of the
ceiling to the pictures on the wall; !
but suddenly 1t rested on graceful
head, with Its soft dark hair, and,
through the meshes Of my wife's veil
I saw two sparkling teardrops.
She, too. remembers and regrets"
/ thought. Perhaps she could for.
give.''
Alas! II we two could but have been
alone at that moment: Bat close be-
side her was the pale, stern face Of
her father, and the determined one
of her mother: those two had, from
the very beginning of the trouble,
watched her jealousy. l had tried
every means of having an Interview
with Helen: but my letters had been
intercepted, my messengers turned
away, and our only meeting had been
In the presence of a magistrate, an
utter stranger, who, with the best in
tensions. had by his cold formality
made matters even worse.
since that day have not entered
my nome. But now, on leaving the
mayors once, I went to the house
70 pack up my clothes. i knew that
! could not live there alone among the
memories OF my vanished happiness.
20 ! resolved TO travel, and thus fly
from all that could remind me Of my
Wle and home.
A mutual friend arranged the de-
talis OF the matter; was tesspend the
night IN the house, and the next morn.
ing bapette, my only child, would
pc allowed to come and breakfast with
me. Al three o'clock ! was to leaves
AZ four, Helen would come to take
away her belongings; and twenty-four
hours later the house would be-"To
Let, party OF workmen would
come and put 1t In order for the next
tenant and then 1t would be left
empty ana desolate an image Of my
I me. 8
stopped In the midst. of my pack
Ing to order breakfast such as
would please my little Babette; held
. consultation with Lucas. my old SER
want and we chose those dishes thIt
the child was fond of. / also put
ASIDE Tor ner two little trinkets, a
pretty portebonheur. and a locket con-
tanning my own likeness.
POOR little Babetteh She was bless
60 with the happy Ignorance of a
enid OF seven, and yet she was pre-
cocious enough to understand, in her
own way, that there was something
serious the matter between papa and
mamma.
. AT ten o'clock precisely she came.
.e eco by my mother-in-law's