The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1912-03-07

What ye've taken" he amended,
I'D thank We to leave as ye go-if ye
came to steal. 'Tis little l have to
lose. -
There was no answer.
He touched the switch with an i'm
patient hand, stepped forward a single
pace. caught himself up and stopped
short, now pale and trembling who had
moment gone been flushed with
calm.
'BeatriX," he cried thickly.
Dumbly his wife lifted her rms and
offered herself TO him. ur .lterably
lovely, unspeakably radiant.
1t were worse than a waste of time
to attempt a portrait Of her as she
seemed to him. Seel through her hus-
bands eyes, her beauty was incompar-
able, immaculate, too rare and fine too
delicate thing to be bodied forth in
words, dependent upon the perfection
Of no single feature. Not in her hair,
fair as sunlight on the sea, not in her
eyes of autumnal brown, not in the
wonderful fineness Of her skin or in
the daintiness of her features, not in
the graciousness of her body, did he
find the beauty Of her that surpassed
expression, but in the love she bore
him, in the sweetness Of her inviolate
soul, in the steadfastness Of her i'm.
pregnable heart.
But it's doubtful if ever he had an
alyzed his passion for her so minute
ly. Mostly, think, at that moment Of
her abrupt disclosure to him. he long
ed unutterably for her lips and the
proffered wreath round his neck Of her
slim, round, white arms.
Yet he would not. Trembling though
he was, with every instinct and every
fiber of his being straining toward her,
with the hunger for her a keen pain in
his heart, he held himself back; or his
conception of honor held him back.
That which he had voluntarily forfeit.
ed and put away from him for his hon.
or's sake. he would not take back
though 1t were offered freely to him.
go" he said. after bit, shakily;
then pulled himself together. and
controlling his voice-"So twas your
self, after all. Beatrix! Me heart told
me no other woman could have sung
that song as ye did"
The woman dropped her arms. Your
heart, Terence?" she asked little bit.
terly.
What else? Do We doubt it ."
She shook her head sadly, wistful-
ly. Vow do know? How can teI.?
Surely, dear. no two people were ever
happier than we-yet within a year
from our wedding YOU you left
me, ran away from me. .. Why"
well ye know why, dearest. and
well ye know twas love OF We alone
that drove me from ye Gould l :et
1t be said ye had husband who was
incapable Of supporting ye? Could
let it be said that your husband lived
like a leech upon your fortunes?
Faith, didn't l have to go for your
sake?"
NO" she dissented with a second
weary shake Of her pretty head; Il
think it was love of yourself. little,
Terence-that and your pride.
Why should any OF our world
have guessed you were not the rich
man you fancied yourself when We
were married? Who would have told
them that your landed heritage in
Ireland had turned out proftless? Not
l, my dear"
IL know that" he contended stub
bornly, but know, too, sooner or
later it would have come out, and
they would have said: There she
goes with her fortune-hunter. the ad-
venturer who married her for her
money" ..
And if so? What earthly differ.
ence could it make to US, sweetheart?
What can gossip matter to us-if you
love me-"
"If!" he cried, almost angrily. "Ifl
All, but no, darling! tbs your
self knows there is no If about 1t. that
I'm sick with love Of We this very
minute-sick and mad for ye .
Then" she pleaded, with desper-
ate little break in her Incompatible
voice. and again held out her arms
to him then have pity on me, oh. my
dearest one-have pity on me If only
for little while"
And suddenly he had caught her to
him, and she lay In his arms, her
young strong body nodded to his, her
lips to his, her eyes half-veiled. the
sweet fragrance Of her-too well re-
membered-intoxicating him: lay su-
pine in his embrace, yet held him
strongly to her, and trembled In SYM
pathy with the deep. hurried pounding
Of his heart
In the south the horizon famed
livid to the zenith, revealing a great,
black wall Of cloud that had stolen
up out of Africa; beneath 1t the sea
shone momentarily with a sickly silk
en- luster. Then the dense blackness
of the night reigned again. as pro-