Evening star., 1912-07-21
But before she slept / knew that Con-
stance would come to tell me. and at last

But before she slept knew that Con-
stance would come to tell me. and at last
she came
She seemed almost mystically radiant
when she came into the room. but she
said nothing until she had come to sit
by me.
II thought it would interest YOU she
smiled. quietly. Ito know that l am alb
solutely happy"
could not forbear a cry of delight that
she had put it SO. and for a moment j
felt absolved
Isn't it an unheard-of thing?' she
went on. Look at me. ! am not young.
am not pretty: am rather stupid. and
l am ill. And yet this wonder has come
about. We are to be married, Sidney
Fennell and T.
And you are happy" pressed her
superfiuously. hungry for her reiteration.
Tonight I feel that all the happiness
Of the world is centered in me- can
hardly bear it,
seemed scarcely an exaggeration. The
years with their anXieties and fears
seemed to have slipped from her. and the
withered petals Of her youth seemed
again freshly to enfold her. Yet. what
she had was beyond the knowledge Of
youth: for deepening her bliss was the
sense of contract that life had taught
her. the mature knowledge Of pain. l
looked at her in delight was very far
from da ring to express Whatever might
happen afterward. could it be a crime
that had won for her this fneffable thing?
1t may have been that being a woman,
/ was a sentimentalist: or 1t may have
been that had a strain of essential Wis
DOM At all events, the thing that did
is long since irreparable, and shall never
know.
/ saw little OF Sidney Fennell after this
had happened. But Constance, when
Sidney was not with her, stayed with
me almost all the time. Her whole being
seemed bathed in delight now that the
bonds were lOosed that she had worn so
long She could talk frankly of Sidney
cence on my part quite contented her. IT
is my solace now to remember that she
was during those few weeks-and, of
course. afterward, also. though ! did
not see her then-the happiest woman
have ever known. The two things that
I feared would trouble her. a doubt of
Sidney's love and too depressing con-
sciousness of her own physical condi-
ton. seemed not at all 10 enter into
her state OF mind. This was. / knew.
because it was not in her nature 20 resist
happiness; JOY, having entered in. was
at home with her. She did not fear any
thing that was to come. far less lamen,
anything that was past: she swan in an
when they Were married, and Sidney
was to take her to some warm dry
mountain spot where We pretended to
hope she would get well. A few mo-
mentS before she left she took me apart
and kissed me.
Il wish you would always remember.
she said that ! feel toward you es l feel
toward no one else in the world. You
have been SO good a friend-in some
my sterious way it seems as though |
owed my happiness to you. And / shall
always bless YOU.
So with the memory of that, and of
the gladness ] had so abundant'y seen in
her. 7 have to be content. And in the
moments when l can recall them most
viyidly. ! cannot be sorry that ! did not
save her life.
1t was u year later that Sidney Fen
neil came back to town. He has become
more or a musician than we had thought
was in him. But | see him very seldom
now And we do not speak Of her.
Copyright. i9O9 by Harper & Brothers All
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