The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-02-23
face and smoothly braided blonde
head of Rose Shelmadeane. =

face and smoothly braided blonde
head of Rose Shelmadeane.
At last a fuffy-haired, brilliantly
complexioned-alas, that I must
write it!-middle-aged lady came for
ward to him and bowed; a lady ex-
tremely over-dressed o. ~underdressed
as you like to term it.
"I' am not aware that I have the
honor" she began, looking at him
strangely.
And then he knew her voice.
Poor Rose, if she could have seen
into her quondam lovers heart just
at that moment!
He watched her during the next
hour or so with feelings about equal
ly balanced Of disappointment and
blank surprise. Every woman's good
looks must decline after the lapse of
the twelve best years of her maturity,
and Roses had really, in the common
.a%cceptation of the phrase, worn
WE'LL" But it was not any fading due
to age, it was not times natural foot
prints on cheek or brow, that shocked
him thus; it was the absolute, start
ling, transformation of her whole
personality!
He gazed at poor Roses full-blown
charms with a sensation curiously
blent of amazement and repulsion; a
sensation, let me add, of which he
was himself heartily ashamed.
This lasted till the departure of
Roses guests left them alone. Then,
hearing more Of the old, sweet, ap-
pealing voice - no meretricious
! change had affected that-and his
eyes, it may be, growing accustomed
to the outward plastering Of his
ruined idol, Rogers heart grew
softer.
He had not really dined, Mrs.
O'Shea discovered; had arrived in
London late that afternoon, and, for
| getful of bodily ~sustenance, had
rushed away to call on her at once.
So a little supper was organized, &C
companied by a bottle of Uncle Rob-
ert's best champagne. And then this
man and woman, who had played at
love so long, began looking into each
others eyes, to talk of all that they
had suffered Tin imagination or real
ity) since they parted. And the cruel
intervening years faded away. They
were whispering beside the hippopot-
anus, they were murmuring farewell
upon the Margate beach again. And
by and by Roses hand, youthful and
white still, found its way into Cap
tain Temples. 1t. trembled; he
pressed it to reassure her. Rose, with
a sigh, made a feint of moving away.
And then, for the first time in their
lives, their lips met, and Rogers fate
was sealed.
What he thought and felt next
morning, when he had to review his
position, and Mrs. O'Shea's complex
ion by daylight, none but Roger Tenn
| pie eve knew.
He was not, it must be borne in
mind, a ladies' man, has associated
little with women during the later
years of his life, and studied them
less. And his reverence for the whole
sex was extreme-based rather on
ideal foundations, indeed, than on
face. If sometimes he felt the shame
inseparable from the position Of a
lover who loves not, you may be sure
that Rose and the world never found
it out. Rosie loved him! What mat
tiers some disparity of years if a 70
mans affections be young! When
the fruit after which a mans has
longed for years drops between his
lips at last he has a right to complain
because time has somewhat overmel-
lowed it's flavor?
So Roger would fam argue himself
into good conceit with his bargain.
so reconcile his heart to the attain
ment of it's fondest desires.
And still at times his spirit is
heavy laden; still through rouge, and
bismouth, and pearl powder, old age
will peer out at him from the face of
his betrothed, and turn his heart cold.
"You really grow more and more
foolish every day you live, my dear
Roger" Rose will remark, prettily
conscious of her own charms as she
meets his gaze. What can it be, I
wonder, that makes you look at me
as you do?"
THE years of our separation, my
love-" Is invariably Rogers answer
II have to make up now, remember,
for the dozen years during which I
never say your face"
And Rose, promptly satisfied by
any appeal to vanity, asks no more.
To be Continued.