Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1914-04-30

{ He cleared mis- throat and his voice
was husky when he spoke Shirley
/ doesn't know?'
Certainly not. She mustn't" And
then, in sudden sharpness: ''You
shan't tell her, Monty. You wouldn't
! dare,"
No. indeed he assured her quick
/ Iy. of course not"
IT'S just among US three, Doctor
/ SouthaT and you and me. We three
have had our secrets before, Ell, Mon.
ty?"
Yes, Judith, we have"
| She bent toward him, her hands
tightening on the cane. After all
/ it's true. Today l am getting old.
may look only fifty, but I feel sixty
and I'll admit to seventy-fve It's
/ joy that keeps US young, and I didn't
/ get my fair share of that, Monty
For just one little week my heart had
( it alI-aII-and then-well. then il
was finished Il was finished long. be
! fore I married Tom cambridge. It
isn't that I'm empty-headed. It's that
I've been an empty-hearted woman,
Monty-as empty and dusty and desc
late as the old house over yOnder on
the ridge
7 know, Judith, I know"
You've been empty in way, too, -
she said. But it's been a different
way You were never in love-really
in love, l mean. Certainly not with
me, Monty, though you tried to make
me think so once upon a time, before
Sassoon came along, and-Beauty Va
| liant"
The major blinked, suddenly
startled. It was out, the one name
neither had spoken to the other for
thirty years! He looked at her lit
tie guilty; but her eyes had turned
away. Everything changed then, -
she continued dreamily, "everything. 1"
| The majors fingers strayed across
his waistcoat, fumbling uncertainty
| for his eyeglasses. For an instant
he, too. was back in the long-ago
past, when he and Valiant had been
comrades. It had been a curious
/ three sided affaiT-he, and Valiant and
! Sassoon. Sassoop with his dissipated
/ flair and ungovernable temper and
| strange fits Of recklessness; clean,
/ high-idealed, straight-away Valiant;
and he-a Bristow, neither better nor
worse than the rest of his name. He
remembered that mad strained season
when he had grimly recognized his
/ own cause as hopeless, and with burn
/ ing eyes had watched SassOOn and
/ Valiant racing abreast. He remem-
! beTed that glittering prodigal dance
/ when lie had come upon Valiant and
| Judith standing in the shrubbery, the
/ candle-light from some open door en-
! goldening their faces: hers smiling, a
little fippant perhaps, and conscious
of her spell; his grave and earnest
! yet wistful
You promise, John?''
q give my sacred word. What
ever the provocation, I will not lift
my hand against him. Never, neverH
Then the same voice, vibrant, appeal
ing. Judith! 1t isn't because-be
cause-you care for him?"
He had plunged away in the dark
ness before her answer came. What
had it mattered then to him what she
had replied? And that very night had
befallen the fatal QUARREL
The major started How that name
had blown away the dust! That's
a long time ago, Judith.
Thirty years ago tomorrow they
fought" she said softly. Valiant ant
Sassocn. Every woman has her one
anniversary, l suppose, and tomor
rows mine. Do you know what
do, every fourteenth Of May, Monty
I keep my room and spend the day
always the same way. There's a little
book I read. And there's an old hair
| cloth trunk that I've had since l was
a girl. Down in the bottom of it are
something's. that I take out and SCI
| round the room and there
is a handful of old letters I go over
from first to last. They're almos
worn out now, but I could repeat then
all with my eyes shut. Then there's {
tiny old straw basket with a yellow
wisp in it that once was a bunch O.
! cape jessamines. | wore them to tina
last balI-the night before it hap
pened, The fourteenth of May used tt
be sad, but now, do you know, I looI
forward to it I always have a lot o
jessamines that particular day-TI
have Shirley. get me some tomorrow
and in the evening, when go down
stairs, the house is full of the seen
Of them. All summer long it's roses
but on the fourteenth of May it hai
to be jessamines. Shirley must thinl
me whimsical old woman, but in
sist on being hUmored."
He smiled, little bleakly, ant
cleared his throat.
Isn't it strange for me to be talk
ing this way now!" she said present
". Another proof that I'm gettin.
old. But the date brings it very close
! It seems, somehow, closer than eve
this year.-Monty. weren't you tire
mendously surprised when married
Tom Dandridge?"
Z certainly was"
III tell you a secret. I was. toe
I suppose I did it because of a sneak
ing feeling that some people were feel
/ ing sorry for ne, which I never couIt
stand. Well, he was man any on
might honor. I've always thought
woman ought to have two husbands
one to love and cherish, and the othe
to honor and obey. I had the latter
at any rate"
And you've lived, Judith" he said
! strikes me as absurd-reminds me. il