The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-11-29

sailed for San Francisco with a weak
and shaky, but convalescent owner. on
her quarter deck.
The departure of Katharine Brenton
with Valentine Langford had made a
great sensation, but 1t was nothing to
the sensation which ragged when it be-
came known that Valentine Langford
had returned without her. She was
a woman of too much Importance, she
had played too large part in the af-
fairs OF the world, civilization had
manifested too much interest in her,
to allow her to drop out of its sight
/ without 1t least making an effort to
find her. The position of Mr.. valen-
tine Langford became Interestingly
difficult in the face of storm of in.
quiry. Mr.. Langford's previous mar
rage was. fortunately for him, un-
known, but the world had had a COM
plete and adequate idea of the terms
OF the union which had been entered
upon SO blithely between Langford and
Miss Brenton that the first question
that met him when he came back alone
was as to which one had repeated.
Had the woman come to her senses.
had the man grown tired Of her, had
they parted, and where was the wom-
an! These were queries which were
put to him with the direct simplicity of
the American public through its impe-
rlous representatives, the reporters.
ana to these questions Mr.. Langford
could return no adequate answer what
ever except the truth, which he could
not bring himself to tell. He de-
clared that she had left the yacht in
toe South seas, that he did not know
her present whereabouts, and refused
10 say anything further privately or
In public. Miss Brenton had no near
relations; what was everybody's bust
ness was nobody's, and presently pub
lie interest in her declined She and
her philosophy were practically for.
gotten by all but Langford himself.
Fortune, which had done him some
evil turns, here, however, interposed to
his advantage. The lady who legally
bore his name departed this life and
left him free man. Brute though he
mad been, Langford was not without
some strong idea of honor and de-
cency. Indeed. he had enjoyed long
and undistributed hours of meditation
upon his sins of omission and commits
sion during his period Of GONZALES
cence, and the calm consideration of
character and career had done him
good. At heart. in spite OF his brutal
conduct {nh Ill
been responsible, he was a gentleman,
and capable Of things fine and high
under the stimulus of some really
great emotion. He had come to real
lie, to put it mildly, what an awful
1901 ne had been to say nothing of his
villainy. What had led him to this
realization had been the remembrance
OF the hours he had passed with Kath-
arine BSantou before the clouds had
arisen which had eliminated in that
awful storm, the recollection of which
fairly made him shudder. However
he had deceived her by professed ad-
herence to her wild theories and i'm
possible PHILOSOPHERS, he had honestly
loved her. and association with her
L
only had not given away to his tenn
per and his appetite! If it had not
been for his former obligation
He had married his wife in a mo-
ment OF boyish infatuation. The union
had been impossible almost from the
first. She was little more than an
adventures, much older than he, who
had entrapped him for his money.
There had been a separation on lib
eral financial basis, to which the wom-
an had readily, even cheerfully,
agreed, and he had no lingering re-
mains of affection to hold him back.
Her death was only a relief to him.
He felt that he owed reparation to
Katherine Brenton, and he was more
willing to pay the debt because he was
honestly and genuinely in love with
her so far as man of his tempera-
ment could be in love with a woman.
He wanted to make amends for his
treatment. He would have given any
thing he possessed to have been able