The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-04-07
THE GEISHA.
BY c. F. M.
(COncluded.)

In due time Mayors letter to Mrs.
Wendes arrived, but the good lady
carefully guarded against any knoWl-
edge of it's reaching her son. why,
the very idea thought she, Mr.
Mayer writes as if 0 Fana were the
wife of my son. But she is no such
thing. 0 Fana is a pagan, Henry is
a Catholic; therefore there cannot be
lawful marriage, and hence Henry
is not obliged to wed her, as Mayer
would have me believe. In case of
any complication arising We will OBJ
tain a decree of divorce in Japan and
that will suffice. Henry will settle
a life pension, or alimony if you wish,
upon her, and then, each for him
SELF This profound reasoning diff
fused sweet peace and calm
throughout the soul OF the pious old
lady, and she now enjoyed to the
full the sweets OF a victory won by
her. own strategy and diplomacy.
To be just, Henry had yielded to
the wiles of the astute Charlotte
only after long and painful strug
gle. After he finally became aware
of the plot to entrap him he would
willingly have fled from Cologne, for
his conscience left him no peace
when he thought of the villainous
conduct that had characterized him
in abandoning 0 Fana. But alas.
the net was drawing tighter and
more tight around his heart every
day, and he was pOWerless to free
himself from its meshes. The .Wiles
and alIuring manners of the young
damseI, the entreaties of the mother,
the arguments of his relatives, the
advice of persons whom he looked
up to as paragons of virtue and judg-
ment, all helped to make him a
prisoner, by convincing his mind,
and captivating his affections. Japan,
his life with o F'ana, his ardent love
for her, even his little son began to
appear as a something without real
ity, mere dream, a. phantasma void
of substance. Away far away in the
extreme Orient, in the LAND of the
rising sun, the land of the chrysan-
themum, the camelia, and the camp
hire, o Fana considered herself the
wife of Henry Wendes; but Henry,
in Cologne, living the, life of gentle
man of leisure, speaking naught but
his mother tongue, was no longer the
stranger, the merchant of Toxic.
THE times have changed, and we
have changed with them, = thought
the youth. In the large group of
Asia, of Japan, Henry and 0 Fana
figured well; in Europe, and espe-
.cially in the limited space of a city
like Cologne, they were entirely ont
tof harmony. What therefore, could
disturb the peace Of conscience that
he so ardently desired? Away with
sall scruples, yield to the strength of
ia mothers prayers, and the vehement
glove of a Charlotte Kelleri If the
Spiety of a woman like his mother
Gould discover nothing u wrong. In
abandoning a girl like OsFana, why
should he fear 2? And then Charlotte2
After he had encouraged her in her
S0HIeTpfIS6, Was HG ~ ~ ,uSily LII oelIssO
her now that she was really and sim
cerely in love with ,hin?ss Thus it
was that the old love for q Fana was
about to give way4<to another that
was closer, more attractive, more
natural and certainly more rational.
For the first time in his whole life
Henry Wendes was now about to be-
come traitor in breaking the solemn
promises that he had so often made
to o Fana. rs
One evening after a pleasant stroll
with Charlotte to the Botanical Gar
dens, on, returning home he found a
cablegram awaiting him. lie retired
to his own apartments, and there
read the message. was the fiery