Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-06-02

that look OF pride, OF pride in owner
ship, of understanding that told him
she had forgiven the vulgar item in
the paper, that she was willing to
forgive much more than
Clear. ringing. sweet toned as any
bell holding the audience speilboupd.
with eyes aglow the voice of Merwin
rang out. And then the song died in
mid-air, seemed to halt upon Its
course. The singers hand clutched
at his throat, clutched desperately
there as though by sheer brute
strength he would force out the
sounds that the vocal chords refused
10 give. His lips opaned and closed,
closed and opened. A mute he stood
there, a ludicrous mute. saving the
air with his hands. desperately. Wild
ly-
A laugh hurtled from the gallery,
the laugh that was sufficient to guide
the mob. 1t grew III volume, grew %
that its sound penetrated the heavy
curtain as it slowly descended upon q
wild-eyed, sobbing tenor. who glared
pneously at the back of a laughing
woman in the box at the head Of the
diamond horseshoe.
With the ready eftervescent SYM
pathy of the Romance people the Di-
rector pillowed the head OF his great
find" upon his shoulder. But over
that head his eyes sought those Of DR..
Holbrook, the worlds renowned
throat specialist, who had been treat
ing Merwin now for months. And .
hard expression. a look of flint was in
the Directors eyes as the specialist
shook his head to indicate the death
CT another voice.
"It is the fault of the atmosphere,
the early training" coolly declared
the impressario later that evening to
the reporters. "Now, Merwin, With
the proper, early training would have
proved the greatest tenor of our
time"
Ann Merw1n's hands still gripped
tightly the newspaper with which she
had fled from her attorneys offioe, the
newspaper whose startling head had
caught her eye even as her hand re-
ceived the final decree of divorce.
eyes as she lunged through the crowd
ed traffic of the streets toward the city
hospital where the story said Henry
had been taken.
Forgotten the document In her
handbag, forgotten the bitterness with
which he had treated her. She only
remembered that he was the father of
loved-the man she loved still
Voiceless, forsaken by friends, an
object of pity and contempt, q vagrant
succumbing to exposure at the dark
waterside where he might have con-
templated making his final resting
place-he was still her husband just
az he always had been.
She did not heed the curious glances
of the nurses nor the internes as she
demanded admittance to his bedside.
That the story of the celebrity's down.
fall, the divorce and attendant scandal
belonged to the world meant nothing
to her. A queen-she demanded the
right to be with her husband in his
hour of need.
{ She did not shrink away from the
poor creatures upon the cots in the
wards through which they passed The
lflotsam and jetsam of a great city was
there but that mattered nothing 30 her,
That her husband was just such an
other dependant upon a city's charity
meant nothing to her
She felt a little pain in her heart e.
the inferno paused beside a snowy cot,
hesitated a second before approaching
the delirious man, tossing and tumbl-
ing upon that cot then bravely moved
forward again. The inferno rested his
hanl upon her arm. She looked into
his face with surprise and saw nothing
ONt oJ duo ~
avoid harm coming to her. She
brushed him aside and then a voice
reached out to her, voice wild and
hoarse, throbbing with the insanity of
delirium yet witt the longing Of q
world in it, voice she would have
known from all the voices OF the
world
"Olga-Olga-Ol
She held her head proudly, defiant
ly as the superintendent of the hospital
tried to suppress the pity in his look
with which he accepted the money she
had placed upon his desk, when she
fled from that ward. fled from thai
voice.
when he is WELL" she said quietly,
'give him this monev. Say it is from
IA friend"
But"
"From-a-friend," she repeated
softly. a faint smile upon her lips
She rose suddenly for the scent OF
roses was in her nostrils. the vision
of far-flung hills in her eyes, with a
tiny white cottage nesting at the foot
of them.
Perhaps he may go back" she
Imurmured to herself as she left the
place. Perhaps he may go back
lhome-and be glad-glad the home
didn't go when everything else waA
lpaid-paid. Who Pays?"
END OF THE FIRST STORY.
The second story. "Tbe Pursuit OF
VoIaosura Oov,.unonNaa in nuP uowA