The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1909-02-05
WIR AN y
WIR Z l. T. IS
BY LYDIA Andrews.

" MOnd Wdyldlu LHdl every pdSSSAf
ger aboard had friends to say good
by except herself.
The thought only served to increase
her bitterness of spirit. though she
had carefully planned to conceal her
departure that there might be no one
at the dock to see her off.
Friends at such a time could only
serve to %accentuate the self-pity that
had sustained her yer since she had
read that fateful telegram.
This was to have been her wedding
tourney. She and Graham Temple had
planned to take the trip. 1t was to
have been Graham's first visit abroad,
and they had laid out a tour that
should over the whole continent.
Then Temple had been called to
New Mexico to look after some min
ing interests, and presently the pa
pers had reported his marriage to
Sonora Mendoz, who owned the mines
adjacent to his and who was reported
to be worth several millions.
Harry Vieland had often joked Ora
ham about his conquest of the Next
can woman, but Mona had not taken
1t seriously. When the Geographic
dispatch appeared in all the papers
and Graham had not written in two
weeks, she faced what she thought
was the bitter truth.
Unable to bear the sympathy of her
friends, Mona had arranged to slip
quietly off to Europe. Her aunt would
join her in London, and by the time
they returned the broken romance
would have been forgotten.
She sat quietly in the shadow of
the tunnels on the upper deck and idly
watched the preparations for depart
are through tear-dimmed eyes.
There were few on the upper deck.
Most of the passengers were crowd
ing the lower rails to catch last
glimpses of their friends as the huge
ship backed slowly out of the slip
and with the help of the noisy, pant
ing tug headed for the opening pam
Drama.
Slowly the impressive panorama OF
the harbor slipped past the wonderful
skyline of the city, the villa dotted
shores of Staten Island and the more
populous Long Island shore, but Mona
gave nc heed. She was lost in her
thoughts and her thoughts were far
from pleasant.
She had loved Temple with an in
tensity that sometimes frightened her,
and her disappointment was the more
keen because she had trusted him so
fnoDlinit1u Etar ,narl,- xraa~ fl@,v
had planned for their marriage, and
when he had wed another without
even a word to her, both love and
pride were sorely hurt.
She would not stay at home and
let others condole with her. 1t was
less than a week since the item had
appeared, yet it seemed to her that
years had passed since her father had
passed her the paper at the break
fast table.
The bugler blew the luncheon call,
the notes sounding soft and clear as
they f1oated up from the main deck,
but Mona gave no heed. She wanted
only to be let alone, to sit back in her
chair and watch the fading of the
Hand, comparing it with the dying of
her hopes.
In review she brought all of the in.
lcidents of the year of their engage
sment, recalling all their tender inter-
;course and trying to deaden her feel
dngs with the thought that it was all
!~tnsincere and that Temple had forgot
ten his tender VOWS in the thought
.Of the material advantage to be gained
through the marriage with the owner
ycf the adjoining mines.
She had thought by this mean she
might succeed In deadening the bitter
tpangs of her heart, but instead every
memory but increased her suffering,
land at last, unable to bear her pain,
she rose and descended to the lower
deck in the hope that she might find
abstraction in company of other pas
hsengers.
AS she reached the other deck the
passengers We're coming up from
lunch and a boy was pacing the decks
looking for her. Mechanically she
stretched out her hand for the en-
velope he held and tore 1t open.
For an instant her heart seemed to
stop beating as she caught sight of
the signature, but she steadied her
self with al effort and read the mes
sage through.
1t was a long one from Temple, and
told Of his arrival in the city just too
late to find her. His telegram had
been DELAYED during the strike and
the first knowledge of his reported
marriage was when his friends had
jOkingly congratulated l.aA
A hurried inquiry developed the fact
<hat yieland's cousin war an operator
handling the Press association dis.
patches, and that he had changed the
name of the groom, probably at Vie,
lands instigation.
In a flash Mona saw the plan. 1t
was to offer her his sympathy. She
had wondered then at his suggestion
49, Il - ..Aa =.