The Marshall republican., 1909-12-31

not have guessed that they were more
than good comrades. Only, nov and
then. q word. half.breathed, az he sat
watching her move about the studio,
would speak volumes and bridge over
hours OF commonplace. Then again
there would be days when they would
talk OF their love Al Of any accepted
fact OF common interest.
Perhaps nowhere but In the art
world could such q friendship have OK
listed without danger Of misunder.
standing. At the boarding house they
had instinctively remained mere table
acquaintances, But among the artists
they came and went with Platonic
freedom. No n criticised. No one
watched with malicious eyes. Here.
as wherever artists meet, life was too
busy for petty spying. Or is II, after
all, not Indifference or preoccupation,
but the inherent purity OF an appar.
emily careless life, that makes artists
slow to think evil OF each other? In
any case. these two were safe among
them from fear of misunderstanding
and Derrlng was In the studio when.
ever his work, or leisure, gave him OPP.
portunity.
~ always knew you must be some.
where" he said n day. He had
finished writing and sat leaning back,
his hands clasred behind his head, II
had been half an hour since he I'm
lshcd work and no word had broken
the silence till he spoke.
Il never dared believe I should find
you, though" he continued,
She was turning her head to one
side and leaning back. with hGlf'ciosed
eyes, to get Il view Of The last wash.
YES, you were n good while finding
It out" She gave critical touches
here and there with the extended
brush.
He started suddenly forward to an
upright position, What do you
mean? Did you know--or care?"
THAT Ia another strange thing"
she said, smiling a little to him, the
woman always knows first, But she
must wait patiently until the mans
numbering intelligence finds IL out"
But ] eve dreamed" he persisted,
coming hack to the concrete case,
You seemed 80 indifferent"
"of course. II wouldn't have been
modest not to, And, besides, did
not want you to find out. ] didn't
suppose any man could be generous
enough to understand how a woman
might feel"
1T isn't that we don't understand,
Any one can see how unfair marriage
Is to a woman--that II compels her to
give up everything and offers her
nothing, We see II plainly enough,
But what can we do? We love you,
and most Of us see no way out Of II
but marriage"
Nov II is you who are hard" she
returned. "rhe fault cannot all lie
on side, Marriage. In itself, 10 nc
harder for q woman to-day, ] suppose,
than II has always been. The differ
ence Ia that so many other ways OF
happiness are open TO her; and when
she hnds her marriage a failure, she
does not try TO make the best OF II,
without protest as the only thing
open TO her, She Is more FESTIVE In
der her own mistake than when fate
left her no choice, So everything
gets into q nice tangle and they don't
live happy forever afterwards" she
finished l~aughingly.
Gradually he came 10 understand
that her determination not to marry
him was influenced BY something
stronger than u more personal shrink
Ing from a false marriage, She would
not marry, because abe would not take
a selhsh happiness at the expense OF
her mother and those that depended
on her, but more than that. and deep
or. she would not BY q rash promise
add n 0 70 the marriages that
end In vain regret or divorce.