The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1911-02-03
CHAPTER XI
The Gauntlet.

cleS." To Eleanor herself, taught
to regard 'matrimony as a means
to the widening of her social hori-
zon, the marriage seemed a mat
ter of course; Gilbert was merely
a not unpleasant incident. Her
uncle alone, of all her intimates,
opposed the match. But as mat
rimony was recognized as within
his wife's sphere of influence, his
opposition was ineffective.
When Eleanor Sanger was mar
ried, she was bright, rather
highly strung and decidedly spoil
ed girl of nineteen. Marriage
proved a bitter awakening. Six
months, revealing to her both in
their own intimate relations and
| in what she learned of his other
life the weak sensuality of her
husband, sufficed to transform
her into cold, self-contained
woman, of an aciduous cynicism
startling in one of her years. 1t
was the weakness of the man,
more than his immortality, that
repealed her. She herself came of
an active, sturdy stock whose
virility and power of resistance
had not been destroyed by genera
tons of self-indulgence. Her ex-
perience discovered to her the ex-
istence of inherited ideals hereto
fore dormant in her. In the APP
parent impossibility of seeing
those ideals realized in her own
life, she was becoming bitter and
reckless, when the incubus on her
life was suddenly removed, two
years after her marriage, by the
pistol of a jealous Vienese courte-
Zan.
Her experience Immediately fol-
lowing Gilbert's murder must
have hardened or broken the spirit
of any woman. For two weeks
she lived as in nightmare. Prac-
tically without acquaintance in
the Austrian capital, whittier she
had been carried by one of her
husbands caprices, she was COM
PEELED to bear alone the burden of
the squalid tragedy and its attend
ant notoriety. When her uncle
reached her, he found a stony
eyed, icy woman who laughed
bitterly at his proffered sympathy
but acquiesced indifferently in
whatever he proposed.
Then he atoned in part for his
unwise guidance of her youth.
The management of his great
business interests he placed in the
competent hands of Henry Sanger,
jr., Eleanor's brother, and devot-
ed himself entirely to her. For
three years they Travelled as her
whims dictated. Mr.. Sanger,
anxiously watching, saw the nat
ural resiliency of youth gradually
breaking down her hardness of
spirit. In time the unwholesome
effects of her married life disap-
Ipeared, save a slight superficial
lcynicism and restlessnes of spirit
which made mental excitement a
necessity to her. At twenty-five
she was a brilliant, self-contained
woman, with a taste for the I'M
conventional which was not the
least of her charms. Selfish she
remained, as was the logical result
of a lack of definite purpose in
life other than to amuse herself
and to forget.
Then Mr.. Sanger died, leaving
the bulk of his fortune to Henry
Sanger, jr., to Eleanor a compare
tive pittance. This curtailment of
her Inheritance was at her request.
A quiet year in Germany. spent
studying music, followed, and
then she returned to the Steel
City-to play her part in the MAX
ing OF Robert McAdoo.
H Late In the afternoon, the day
of Bob's talk with Paul concern
ing her, Mrs. Gilbert sat before a
luxurious log fire in her own par
ticular den. In box by her side
was an armful of roses, which
she was arranging in a huge glass
bowl. When the roses were be-
lstowed to her satisfaction she re-
read the note that had accompan-
led them, smiling at some senti.
ment expressed by the writer.
You poor, romantic boy!" she
said aloud. Zone expects every
minute that your conversation
and letters will break into blank
verse. wish-I don't know what
| WISH" she concluded resentfully.
She arose from her comfortable
seat before the glowing logs and
went to a window, where she
stood gazing discontentedly out
on the snowy lawn and street.
That is what makes life such
a tumble for me-" she continued.
her gaze becoming very wistful.
1T don't know what / want, but
Whatever 1t is. it's fairly certain
that 1 can't have 1t. / should
never have come back to this city,
where ] have no interests. Just
las / thought I had achieved con-
|ltent. / meet two men-~absolutel
|lout Of my sphere. And the one
|lstirs up the old, uncertain long
|lings, which he can't satisfy. And
1.-THE other stfre up the old, wicked
III 900 .5.ln H.