The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1907-01-17

at Will Surely Be in Another Month,
Daddy-Perhars Next Week."
then she was the woman, soft and
timid, %hesitating in moments of de-
licious doubt, yet almost fearful of her
: power to misunderstanding to be
persuaded, half-frightened lest she
yield.
When the moment of surrender
came, she became both of them; and,
when they parted, it was as if her
heart went in twain, a half with each,
both to ache until they were reunited.
Between the acts she awoke to reality,
only to say to herself: so much 1
shall have to think about-so much-I5
shall never be able to think about it
enough"
Feverishly she followed the heart
breaking tragedy to it's close, suffer
ing ~poignantly the grief of each lover,
suffering death for each, and feeling
her life desolated when the end came.
But Wien the dull curtain shut her
back into her own little world, where
EILciS TSNo ~ IoVC LINZ LldL, Civ ~
side the little bert man she went out
into the night.
The next morning had cc.na a
further Delight, an Invitation to a ball
from Brigham. Most Of the day WAS
spent in one of tie shops, choosing
a gown Of wondrous beauty, and hay
ing it fitted to her. When she looked
;1a 49, ~ 1i++I> anoa1-oIN ,:,,o, +l,+
night, she saw a strange new fare and
figure: and, when she entered the ball
room, she felt that others noted the
same strangeness, for many looked at
her until she felt her chee,1s burn.
Then Brigham arose from a sofa,
where he had been tsittiEg with his
first wife and his last, and cane gal
lantly toward her; Brigham, whom
she knew to be the most favored Of
God on earth and the absolute ruler of
all the realm about her,-an affable,
unpretentious yet d:gnifed gentleman
of TO-, who took her hand warmly in
both his own, looked her over with his
kindly blue eyes, and welcomed her
to Zion in words of a fatherly gentle
ness. Later, when he had danced with
some of his wives, Brigham came to
dance with her, light of foot and full
of zest for the measure as any youth.
Others danced with her, but during
1t all she kept finding herself back be-
fore the magic square that framed the
land where a man loved but one
woman. She remembered that Brig
| hono hoJ cot g will 49,, - l;r, ,r;,,o
in one of the boxes, enthusiastically
applauding that portrayal of a single
love. AS the picture came back to
her now, there seemed to have been
something incongruous in this spec
tacle. She observed the scanned and
hardened features of his earliest wife,
who kept to the sofa during the even
ing beside the better favored Amelia,
whom the good man had last married,
and she thought Of his score or SO of
wives between them.
Then she knew that what she had
seen the night before had been the
truth; that she could love no man who
did not love her alone. She tried to
imagine the lover in the play going
from balcony to balcony, signing the
same impassioned love-tale to woman
after woman; or. to imagine him with
many wives at home, to whom would
be taken the news Of his death in the
tomb of his last. So she thought of
the play and not of the ball, stepping
the dances absently, and, when it was
all over, she fell asleep, rejoicing that,
before their death, the two dear lovers
had been sealed for time and eternity,
so that they could awaken together
in the Kingdom.
They went home the next day, driv-
ing down the valley that rolled in bill
lows Of green between the broken
ranges of the Wasatch and the
Oquirrh. It was no longer Of the King
dom she thought, nor of Brigham and
his wives; only Of a clean-limbed
youth in doublet and hose, a plumed
cap, and a silken cloak, who, in a
voice that brought the tears back of
her eyes, told of his undying love for
one woman-and of the soft, tender
woman in the moonlight, who had
trusted him and let herself go to him
in life and in death.
The world had not ended. She
thought that, in truth, it could not
have ended yet; for had she not a life
to live?
CHAPTER XVI.