The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-08-02
BY FRANCES WILSON.

her protestations the shadow of the
day was upon her. There was no get
ting away from the fact that if the
past was accommodating the future was
diminishing. Most of her friends, she
recalled, were married and settled, and
the fact brought pertinent question
to her mind. Could il be that she
was unmarried-and settled?
AS Nora brought in her tray she
espied several letters upon il, one OF
which she recognized afar off as we'd
ding invitation. Taking up a silver
stiletto, she ran 1t slowly under the
! flap OF the envelope. specializing as to
whose 1T might be. When she had read
it she remained motionless for several
minutes, gazing out of the window
with puzzled little frown on her fore
head.
She could discover no logical reason
why this wedding invitation of a dis
carded lover should send pang
through her heart, but it did. It
touched upon a chord already made
sensitive by exposure to a thirty sixth
or seventh birthday and brought home
to her the Supplying fact that she, who
still felt herself on the threshold of
life, was in reality a last leaf
At the thought she was seized by a
panic in which the fine aplomb of the
ject despair of the old maid. She had a
serio-comic impression that the last
train for Domesticvile had departed
leaving her alone on the platform, the
invitation in her hand figuring as a
hooking farewell waved from the rear
platform of the last car.
For the first time she faced the pros
pect of a spinsterhood that should en-
dure to the end and saw herself ply
. no Of
down vista of years ending at a
neat, maidenly tombstone on which she
could plainly decipher the inscription
"Georgiana Brant, Spinster. Aged 50
Years"
The perception of the underlying hu-
NOR of this situation temporarily re-
stored her natural gayety and life be-
gan to assume its usual aspect.
"A bas with datesr' she scoffed as
she poured her coffee. Dates are re-
sponsible for all the old age in the
old age would soon disappear" With
this astute observation, she turned to
the perusal of her mail.
There are days when one can feel
the stir of spring even in stonebound
New York, when there comes a new VI
vacity into the pickering of the SPAR
rows, apprising the listener that their
long, violent conversations have to do
with nests and the rearing of young
Here and there a tree, graciousiy per-
mitted TO thrust itself upward through
a loophole in the sidewalk, timidly
shows signs of putting forth leaves,
though with a stealthy air. as if fully
realizing the danger of doing so in a
city where the hurdy-gurdy allows no
one to forget the fearful risk that lies
IN the wearing of the green
Before Georgiana had gone a block
she felt the news that was in the air
spreading like wildfire through. her
veins. The memory of other SPRING
times brought back the bygone days
when she and Helen wore their hair in
pigtails and beguiled the time by plan
ming their future lives down to the last,
small detail.
Helen's dreams had partially come
true. She had married a tall, dark
man." though she had failed to become
the mother of three dashing sons and
an equal number of daughters all
strikingly beautiful in different styles,
the naming OF whom had cost her an
exhausting amount of mental wear and
tear.
She had been the first one of their
set TO marry and her house had be-
come her idol. She was at that point
between comfort and affluence where
possessions become a dead weight to
the possessor. She was not poor
enough to be content with simple
things, nor rich enough to transfer the
responsibility of expensive ones to the
shoulders of hirelings.
AS Georgiana now assembled the steps
of the handsome residence, whose win
dows were yelled with heavy Russian
lace, she smiled inWardly. Having
committed the extravaganza of those
curtains. Mrs. Updegraft paid for IT by
keeping them in repair with her own
hands. Moreover, the size of her house
made six servants necessary; but since
she could not afford a housekeeper to
act as u buffer between herself and
them, she lived in a continual state of
Year by year, the hunted
lcok in her eyes deepened. Once Geor-
giana expostulated with her.
Helen, why do you keep buying
things when they're such a nuisance
to you? You never have a moments
time to read, hear music or look at