Morris tribune., 1909-06-19
THE TWO HUSBANDS


it impossible to resist him. He was
SO unlike Jack. Poor Jack was so
| dreadfully prosaic. He never even
i quarreled.
I Such reflections We're not new to her.
But her last library book, containing
the portrait of the heroic Adolphus,
had fired her Imagination afresh. 1t
was unlucky for Jack that he should
return from his Office at the precise
moment when the unfavorable COM
parison had reached it's climax.
Mrs. Blenkins' reverie was SO deep
that she did not hear the sound Of the
latchkey. The first intimation she re-
ceived Of her husbands presence was
when he stood before her. He was
not, certainly, a romantic object. The
| pockets Of his overcoat bulged out un-
symmetrically: from under each arm
an ungainly brown paper parcel pro-
truded
81 wish you wouldn't make such an
exhibition of yourselfv' exclaimed So
phia, with a look of intense disgust.
"It's so dreadfully bourgeois. Why
didn't you have the things sent?
Nobody saw me, I'm sure" said
Jack, putting the parcels triumphantly
down on the table, land 1 wanted to
give you a surprise"
He took out penknife and cut the
string. The first package contained
pair of warm sleeping socks. From
the second he produced a beetle trap.
81 know you suffer from cold feet" he
said land 1 heard the cook complain
Of the cockroaches this morning."
AS Jack displayed these trides one
by one he looked anxiously at his wife
in the hope of detecting gratifed
smile But Sophia's thoughts had gone
out swiftly to Adolphus de Montmo-
rency.
Take them away! How could you
buy such trashw she cried, exasper-
ated. The panied look on Jacks face
nearly drove her mad. His meekness
irritated her beyond endurance. Why
didn't he swear at her? A blow even
would be preferable to silence.
Sophia refused to wear the sleeping
socks. She declined to mollycoddle,
she said and next day she laughed at
Jack for putting comforter round his
neck. Jack had a bad throat, but to
please his wife he left the wrap at
home and went out without it. When
he came back in the evening his cold
was much worse. He wanted to go to
bed, but Sophia ridiculed the idea.
Jack would have committed suicide
to please his wife, and he did. Day
after day he carried that cold about
with him. Sophia thought it more
manly and romantic not to give way
to such trifes. Consequently Jack
caught one chill on the top Of another.
He became feverish, even delirious.
Then the doctor was sent for, but it
was too late. Jack had a severe at
tack of Inflammation Of the lungs,
from which he never recovered, and
even at the last Sophia could not help
rejecting that Adolphus would never
have given in to such disease.
Sophia became widow. She wept
over Jack, Of course, but behind her
grief there was kind of exultant
feeling that the ideal man had become,
after all, possibility.
OF course Sophia met him. The Or
binary conventional method Of making
his acquaintance was too commonplace
for her emancipated soul. It was a
case Of love at first sight, and the lat
parade. Love ripened into acquaint-
ance. His name was Eugenio Fitz
Jones. The Jones she forgave because
his mother had been an Italian.
They were married a year after
Jacks death. It made no difference to
the dead man. The flowers on his
grave had ceased within six weeks Of
the funeral. For whole fortnight
Sophia lived in the delirious atmos-
phere of two people who do not know
each other. Then her ideals began to
be realized.
Jack had always been deeply inter-
ested-in her thoughts and condolences. |
His acquiescence in her opinions and !
slavfsh admiration of her mental gifts |
had been positively sickening. Eugenfo |
would not listen to her at all. Wom- |
ems views were of no consequence !
whatever in his estimation. If she .
spoke on social questions he shut her
up in the rudest fashion.
He never brought her in a present !
when he came home from business.
Jack never failed to have something
in his pocket at least twice a week.
But Eugenio had more important mat
tiers to consider. He had his club and
his Wagner society and his golf. Ere
quently he dined out with bachelor
friends When Sophia demonstrated !
with him he told her to mind her own |
business. He even went so far as
to strike her.
Later on Eugenio began to pay !
marked attentions to other women He !
neglected his wife shamefully and
flirted openly before her face There
were even rumors of second estab-
lishment in the suburbs On one occa-
sion he disappeared for six months.