The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-02-10

for Kittie.
At this point log on the brass
andirons turned and broke and the
blaze shot upward as IL to mark a
new act in the pictured drama, with
new scenes and new faces. The
woman in the chair rose abruptly and
walked to the window as if to Danish
the world within by the sight OF the
world without. A gray sky reached
down to meet gray earth, and the
long vista of asphalted boulevard in
which automobiles whirled and honked.
seemed to stretch away to a gray
unknown. But the pictures were still
before her, out there in the murky,
mist-laden street, and she returned to
the chair before the fire.
kittie dropping and, pale, plainly
needed a change, and Dan, who loved
her with all his heart, drew out his
savings from the bank and sent her
and the baby to the mountains. 60
and have good time, you and the
kid only wish could 60 with you!"
The flames somehow gave back Dams
words and Dams laugh as he thrust
the bills and drafts into Kittie's eager
hands.
In the mountains, at the quiet little
hotel where Kittie had elected to stay,
was Ralph Eliot, the fascinating man
of the great world He had known
kittie just week when he dared to
say, You are the most beautiful thing
the Lord ever made!" Before month
had passed he asked her to be his
wife. The fact that she already had a
husband did not seem to present it.
self to his mind as serious obstacle
to his desires.
my dear girl, marriage is a social
contract" he had rejoined to her
tremulous protests. ariel and Cali
ban are often united, for Fate must
have her little jest; but when Ariers
real mate comes along she takes the
gifts the gods provide-and a precious
fool she would be if she did not"
The pair were seated together on a
huge boulder little distance from
the hotel when he voiced his ethical
code; and the mountains, tall, grim,
unchanging, seemed to catch on the
words and hurl them contemptuously
down the fathomless canon beyond.
Kittie had shivered, although the day
was warm.
"You love me, you don't love your
husband-I can give you the life you
want, the environment that such
beauty as yours was meant to adorn.
You might as well say yes now as
later" the voice continued. II always
get what want in the end, and just
now l want you more than I have
ever wanted anything else in the
world" Before she realized the full
import of the words he had taken her
in his arms and kissed her. I'VE will go
to Europe, next summer, Katherine"
He had never called her Kittie, and
the stately new name somehow seemed
to prefgure the dazzling new life that
lay SO temptingly before her-a life
with all that her widest fights of
ambition had painted, a life that
dwarfed and made hateful the humble
joys that had bound the horizon of
Kittie Keegan, Kittie and Dan.
Ralph Eliot, the master of men,
found it an easy task to dominate the
weak young wife. He arranged the
details of the divorce. Her horror of
the step, her Withdrawals, her half
fearful protests, he brushed aside
as the scruples of ignorance and a
cramping environment, the veriest
thistledown of conscience.
The flames were not very clear in
their pictures of the fight to Sioux
Falls and the preliminaries Of the
divorce; but they missed no detail of
scene that had followed-the scene
with Dan who had answered in per-
son the tremulous letter, inspired if
not dictated by Ralph Eliot, in which
Kittie had written to Dan to say
that their marriage was wretched
mistake, and that they would be
happier apart, and the avowal that
she meant to live her life in her own
way for the future.
Dan Keegan was in the throes of a
murder0us rage when he reached Kit
tie, brought on by laundering visit
from Eliot's lawyer in which good
position had been limited at as a
''quid pro quo'' il Dan would see the
matter "sensibly."
1.-TWO hundred dollars month for
the likes Of you!" he had hurled at
Kittie as he stalked up and down
the little clearinghouse parlor in
Sioux Falls, whittier he had tracked
his errant wife. 1T would be like
playing with marked cards, or cheat
ing a tenderfoot. The market price
for women of your stamp amt high
only it just happens that my wife
isn't for sale! I suppose when Eliot
is tired of you he will let you 60 to
the highest bidder-youn be a right
badly damaged piece of goods by that