The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-02-11
THE EVENING STORY
Her Hastx Jndernent.

Her Hasty Judgment
(By Antoinette Patterson.)
Isabel Stevens had been out of board
Ing school somewhat less than year
when she married Fred Darlington, q
man some years older than herself. but
Of care and anxiety that HIS cotrtship
of Isabel had been, as she was never
tired of having him tell her. the very
first romance Of his Hfe- Fred, wit
all his appreciation OF Tsabefs intensity
Of nature, would have been greatly sur
prised had he fully known how much
this meant to the girl. She felt perfect
ly sure of the future; such was her
trust in her husbands loyalty and de-
votion, but that even the past held for
her no rival, or no tender memory for
Fred to look back upon, had for her q
meaning that words could not ade-
quateIy express.
And now what was 1t that had hap
pened to make Isabers pretty, fair face
look years and years older. and had
marked 1t with the lines etched only
by breaking heart
1t was summer. and they had been
having lovely month in the new house
f-Fred's poverty was now thing of the
past. They had built this house on the
New England coast. Suddenly, affairs
of urgent Importance, connected with
an estate Of which he was executor,
called Fred to Philadelphia for a few
grip OF a hot wave, SO In spite of her
pleading, Fred simply would not hear
of his young wife'S accompanying him;
and, as it was the first separation they
had ever known in their married life of
two years, it was regarded by Isabel as
something only a little short Of
tragedy.
After Fred had gone she locked her
self in her room, and. silly. childish
thing that she was, cried for a whole
hour. Afterward, but only because she
had promised Fred, she went to the
next house and spent the rest Of the
day with the charming friends who
were her neighbors, also.
The next morning Isabel, more lonely
than ever, realized the best thing she
could do would be to find some active
employment. There was an old desk
which had come down to Fred by in
heritance from the colonial days and
which had been shipped with all its con-
tents straight from his bachelor quar-
tiers to this new house, since 1t was too
big for their apartment in the city.
Nothing would be more absorbing Isa-
bel concluded, since it was so intimate
ly associated with Fred, than to give
this desk a thorough cleaning out. Fred
he was different from most men in
this respect, as in every other--would
be so pleased when he should return 10
find everything in app1e-pie order. She
knew where the keys were, and the
morning had passed very happily. The
old desk had assumed rejuvenated ap-
pearance-al1 but one drawer-when
something happened that took the sum
shine out of everything for Isabel.
In this last drawer. stuffed away
lick, she had come across photo
graph IF a ballet danceri And. more
agitating still. there was written across
it, F'red's name and a silly sentimental
message. Also there was a date. which
Isabel realized with horror coincided TO
within a few months of their wedding.
And SO this was the truth, and it
had been but a fools paradise in
which she had been living these two
years. She picked up the hateful pic
ture and forced herself to look at 1t.
There was no denying that the face
with it's wealth of fluffy blonde hair
was pretty. But she took positive
comfort in the fact that the feet We're
decidedly big in spite of the tight,
pointed slippers. And then the cos
tume--what there was OF It. How
could any woman appear in such a
dress, much less be photographed in
it? And how dared she send it to
Fred?
that Fred had not only received 1t.
but had cherished it all this time.
And had kept 1t in place where she
would be most unlikely ever to see it,
OF course everything was perfectly
clear new-the visit to Philadelphia
v
man, and the heat but a f1in1sy pretext
to keep her from going, too. She
though of suicide; she pictured Fred
coming home and finding her lying
cold and still across the threshold OF
their room, the fatal picture clasped
in her stiffening fingers, and the little
heart-shaped pin he had given her on
her last birthday lying broken in two
halves by her sides
But. on second thought, that would
1T n at al ms n a
it possible for him to marry the dam
Ger. And divorce would have identi-
cally the same advantage. No; she
must live out her life somehow. bear
ing to the silent grave this terrible
knowledge. Scraps Of do1eful poetry,
from Byron, of course, now began to
float through IsabeFs mind--1ines she
had not recalled since her morbid
school girl days. How true, how abb
so1utely true, were the words
My days are in the yellow leaf,
The flowers and fruits Of love are gone;
The worm. the canker and the grief
Are mine alone.
And the tears are now flowing
oopiously-
Fare thee we1lt-thus disunited,
Torn from every nearer tie.
More than this I scarce can die.
AT this moment. and while she was as
surfing herself that thus the heart will
break, yet brokenly live on there was
knock. But nobody must see. her until
she had time to compose herself, so she
asked what was wanted without opening
the door. The maid said a letter had
just come, and this Isabel told her to
slip under the door. Tt was one with a
special delivery stamp, from the faith
less Fred.
In spite of her laeerated feelings. she
| tore open the enevelope with most I'M
seemly haste and read:
6MV Darling BELLE. T will write
a long letter tonight, but this is just
line to ask you to look through that
old desk of mine and see IL you cannot
Bob johnson. He was a member of the
Mask and Wig club. and had that picture
taken long ago. Bob has just become en-
gagged and wants the photograph to play
joke with-jokes were always so dear to
his heart. But am forgetting to say the