Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-07-25


Grantley Graham leaned over the
steamers rail and regarded the city
with a frown He hated the water, so
the distant pier promised relief from
the disquiet he always felt when he
was on a ship, yet every beat of the
powerful engines, every revolution Of
the huge propellers that pushed the
nose of the liner into the very drizzle
of a summer rain, brought him nearer
to the dreaded dreariness of his own
home.
With an almost self commiseratiOn
he looked back upon the last few
months and contrasted their brilliancy
with the life that lay before him, and
his soul revolted at the thought of re-
turning to take up the dull monotony
Of the home life he had always known.
Presently they would dock at the
pier. There would be the usual diff
Guilty with the customs which seems to
be reserved for the American citizen.
The carriages would be waiting. and
In a little while he would find himself
before the sOmber brownstone prison
that in earlier days had stood to him
for all that was elegant and refined.
Jean, his wife. would come out on
the high stoop at the sound of the car
riage. She would offer her cheek to be
kissed. She would ask If he had had
pleasant trip. And then she would fol-
low him into the house and with the
closing Of the door would be shut out
all the social possibilities of the past
Nothing, however, could deprive him
Of the thought that he had lived for
once. For six weeks in London he had
dwelt in a fairyland of fancy. He had
mingled with men and women of the
world, and almost he had learned to
say my lord" and 'Your grace" with
out feeling his knees weak at the real
ization that he was speaking to a men,
Der Of the nobility.
During the year just passed he had
accomplished a triumph of engineering
and had beaten the British masters at
their own craft. They had given up the
problem which TO Graham had seemed
simple enough, and when he had ac-
national hero for a day. The Ameri-
can colony had dihed him, and he had
been presented to the king, and he had
received many invitations to country
house parties. all part OF the fairy
dream.
Graham had married early, and as
soon as he left college he had plunged
into his work with never thought of
play. This had been his first real va
cation, and he had mingled in English
society with a delight that was wholly
unworthy of his country and his gen
ius.
He had had no time for society in
his own land because the work that
made him what he was had prevented
relaxation. Then, too, Mrs. Graham,
proud of his achievements, had been
content to share his isolation and find
reward for her remuneration OF society
in the pleasure of removing from his
path the hundred petty cares of daily
life
Jean had grown somewhat stout
with the passing of the years, and the
complexion which had been her great
est charm in her girlhoOd had faded.
At first while abroad Graham had
missed her for a time, but in the end
he was glad she had not come.
He contraSted her placid content
with the feverish brfIliancy OF the wO-
men he had met, and he knew that
they and she never could have mixed.
For the first time he felt an actual
dissatisfaction with his wife and wish
ed that she might be more like those
butterfly creatures.
As he thought of them while the car
riage rolled uptown he felt more and
more a distaste for the wife awaiting
him, and when she came to the door
to greet him he contraSted the portly
figure in its sober dress with the sien-
derness of the smartly gowned women
of title who had amused themselves by
turning the head of the clever Ameri-
can for a few weeks.
Yet Graham was astonished to find
that he was glad to see Jean Her
Kiss of greeting was less perfunctory
than he had anticipated. There had
been one moment abroad that now he
would like to forget. 1t was at q pan.
The lights, the music and a stronger
punch than he was used to had all
gone to his head.
For one delirious moment he had
held a slender, yielding figure in his
arms. The next instant Lady Eleanor
had accepted the impetuOus embrace
as a graceful excuse for ending boy
ish Irritation that promised to grow
embarrassingly serious instead OF
merely amusing. The memory of that
kiss had not been pleasant to Graham,
for he was a clean minded man, and
he had shuddered at the brink upon
which he had found himself.
He followed Jean up the narrow
stairway, contrasting it with the great
staircases Inc had seen abroad, and