Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-02-22

I liikesSa III u IL
Mrs. Tendenntng.
strung. 81 cannot-I simply cannot!
How can you love me and listen to
such wickedness? How can you still
care for such a girl as l am-worse
than mercenary because have a heart
or had until you took it? Keep it.
1t is the only part of me not all ig-
noble"
81 will keep it-in trust" he said.
"until you give yourself with it."
But she only shook her head YEARLY,
withdrawing her hands from his, and
for a time they sat silent, eyes apart.
Then-"There is another reason" she
said wistfully.
He looked at her, hesitated, and
'My habits?" he asked simply.
eyes"
81 have them in check"
care you certain?"
ST think may be-now"
"Yet," she said timidly, 'you lost one
fight-since you knew me-"
The dull red mantling his face wrung
her heart. She turned impulsively and
laid both hands on his shoulders
''That chance l would take, with all it's
uncertainty. all the dread inheritance
you have come into. / love you enough
for that. And if it turned out that
that you could not stem the tide even
with me to face it with you, and If the
pity of it. the grief of it, killed me
would take that chance if you loved
me through it all. But there is some
thing else HuShi Let me have my
say while find the words-something
else you do not understand. Turn your
face a little. Please don't look at me-
This is what you do not know-that in
three generations every woman of my
race has-gone wrong! Every one
And am beginning with such a mar
riage, deliberately, selfshly, shameless
ly, perfectly conscious of the frivolous
erratic blood in me, aware of the race
record behind me!
"Once when / knew nothing-before
II met you'll believed such mar
riage would not only permit me men
tai tranquility, but safely anchor me
in the harbor Of convention, leaving me
free to become what am fashioned tt
become-autocrat and arbiter in my
own world. And now! And now!
don't know-truly l don't know what
may become. Your love forces my
hand. am displaying all the shallow
ness, falseness, pettiness, all the near
and cruel and callous character which
must be truly my real self. Only
shall not marry you! You are not tt
run the risk Of what l might prove t.
be when / remember in bitterness al
/ have renowned. If / married you
should remember, unreconciled, what
you cost me. Better for you and fol
me that / marry him and let him bear
with me when remember that he cost
me you"
Suddenly deep within him something
seemed to fail, die out, perhaps a tiny
newly lighted fame of unaccustomed
purity, the dawning flicker Of aspifa
ton to better things. Whatever it was
material, spiritual, was gone now, and
where it had glimmered for a night
the old accustomed twilit doubt crept
in--the same dull acquiescence, the
same uncertainty Of self, the familiar
lack of will, of incentive, the congenia
tendency to drift, and with it came
WEAKNESS, perhaps reaction from the
recent skirmishes with that master
vice.
81 suppose" he said in a dull voice
''you are right"
''No; l am wrong-wrong!' she said
lifting her lovely face and heavy eyes
"But have chosen my path. And you
will forget"
81 hope So" he said simply.
''If you hope so, you WILL"
Mortimer, peeping down at them
over the thicket above, yawned impa-
tiently and glanced about him for the
most convenient avenue Of self efface-
ment when the time arrived.