The Wagner post. (Wagner, Charles Mix County, S.D.) 1912-current, 1912-04-19
THE HEART OF A WOMAN
BY BARONESS ORGY.
Author Of "The Scarlet PimpsrnsL" .Pstieoat Rule" Etc
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER /.
WHICH TELLS OF A VERY CON-
M0NPI ICE INCIDEN

WHICH TELLS OF A VERY CON-
MONPLICE INCIDENT.
No! No! She was not going to gush!
not even though there was nothing
In the room at his TO stand
up afterward before her as dumb wit
ness to a moments possible weakness.
Less than nothing in fact; space might
nave spoken and recalled that mo-
ment . . infinite nothingness might
at some future time nave brought
back the memory Of 1t p. . but these
dumb, impassive objects! . . the
fountain pen between her fingers! The
dull, embarrassing hotel furniture COW
cred in red velvet-an uninviting red
that repealed dreaminess and peace!
The ormolu clock which had ceased
long ago to mark the passage of time,
wearied-as it no doubt was. poor thing
by the monotonous burden OF a
bronze Psyche gazing on her shiny
brown charms, in an utterly blank and
unrefiective bronze mirror, while OBJ
viously bemoaning the fracture Of one
of her smooth bronze thighs! Indeed
Louisa might well have given way to
that overmastering feeling Of excite
ment before all these things. They
would neither see nor hear. They
would never deride, for they could new
er remember.
But a wood fire cracked on the small
oHN . Az NtAOSO SlN1oA
colored carnations were favorite flow
ers of his . . and his picture did
stand on the top of that ugly little
Louis Philippe bureau . No! No!
1t would new do to gush, for these
things would see . . and. though they
might not remember, they would re-
mind.
And Louisa counted herself one Of
the strong ones Of this earth. Just
think Of her name. Have you ever
known a Louisa who gushed? Who
called herself the happiest woman IN
earth? Who thought of a man-just
an ordinary man, mind you-as the
best, the handsomest. the truest, the
most perfect hero Of omanc that ever
threw a radiance over the entire prosy
world Of the goth century?
Louisas, believe me, 10 no such
things. The Mays and the F1oras, the
Lady Barbaras and Lady Edithas, look
beatifc and charming when. clasping
their lily-white hands together and
raising violet eyes to the patterned
ceiling paper above them. they exclaim:
"Oh, my hero and my king!"
But Louisas would only look ridicul-
ous If they behaved like that . .
Louisa Harris. 90! . . Louisa, the
eldest of three sisters, the daughter of
q wealthy English gentleman with q
fine estate in Kent. an assured position,
no troubles, no cares, nothing in her
life to make 1T sad, or sordid or inter
esting . . . Louisa Harris and ro-
nance! . Why, she was not even
pretty. She had neither violet eyes nor
hair of ruddy gold. The latter was
brown n the former were gray. .
How could romance come in the way of
gray eyes. and Of a girl named Louisa?
Can you conceive, for instance, one
Of those adorable detrimentals Of low
degree and empty pocket who have a
way OF arousfng love in the hearts of
the beautiful daughters Of irascible mil
honatres, can o conceive such an In
teresting parsonage, I say, falling in
love with Louisa Harris?
1 confess that 1 cannot. To begin
with, dear, kin Squire Harris was not
altogether a millionaire, and not at all
ir~ascible, and penniless owners of ro-
mantle personalities were not on his
visiting list.
Therefore Louisa, living a prosy life
OF luxury, got up every morning, ate
a copious breakfast, walked out with
the dogs, hunted in the autumn, skated
In the winter, did the London season
n played tennis in the summer, Just
as hundreds and hundreds of other
well born, well bred English girls Of
average means. average positions, aver
age educations, hunt, dance, and play
tennis throughout the length and
breadth of this country.
There was no room for romance in
such a life, no time for 1t. The life
itself was so full already-so full Of the
tasks, that the heart which beat with
such ordinary regularity In the SEEM
ingly ordinary breast of a very ordinary
girl did so all unconscious Of the in
tense pathos which underlay this very
ordinary existence.
Vaguely Louisa knew that some
where, beyond even the land of dreams,
there lay, all unknown. all mysterious.
q glorious world Of romance: a uni
verse peopled by girlish imaginings,
and the sensitive, creating thoughts of
poets, by the gailoping phantasies of
s~uper-excfted brains, n the vague
longings Of ambitious souls; a universe
wherein dwelt alike the memories of
those who have owed and the hopes
OF those who suffer. But when she
thought of it all, she did so as one who
from the arid plain gazes on the cool
streams and golden minarets which the
fairy Fate Morgana conjures on the
horizon far away She looked on it as
all unreal n altogether beyond her
ken. She shut her eyes to the beautiful
mirage, her heart against It's childish
yearnings.
Such things did not exist. They
were not for her-Louisa Harris. The
little kitchen maid at the court who, on
Sunday evenings, went off giggling, her
chubby face glowing with pride and the
result Of recent additions, on the arm
of Jim the third gardener. knew more
about that world Of romance than we'll
bred. well born young ladies ever
dreamed Of in their commonplace
philosophy.
And Louisa Harris had always shut
down the book which spoke Of such
impossible things, and counted herself
one of the strong ones of the earth.
Therefore now, with Luke's letter in
her hand, in which he tells her in a
very few words that he loves her be-
yond anything on earth, and that he
only waits the day when he can call
her his own. his very ovid dearly loved
wife, why should Louisa-prosy, healthy
minded. healthy bodied Louisa-sud-
denly imagine that the whole world is
TRANSPORTED ?-that the hotel room is a
kind of ante-chamber to THAI
the red velvet, uncompromising chairs
are clouds Of a roseate hue and that
the bronze Psyche with the broken
thigh is the elusive fairy who. with
Morgana-like wand. hath conjured up
this mirage of glorious visions which
u,ar-han u-nr,id vanish aUaip hoforc