The daily Alaskan., 1917-02-03
TEN YEARS
 AFTER
By SADIE OLCoTT

neys family of Bentons. They were wealthy, while the Witneys were in moderate circumstances. Alma Benton, an only child, was about Algy's age, and the two children were playmates. Alma was a delicate child and was very much petted. When Algy reached an age to think of marriage his mother noticed that be and Alma were begin ! ming to look upon each other in a diff ferent light from what they did as children. One day she said to her son:
 q wish you to understand that on no account will I consent to your marry ing Alma Benton"
 'Why not, mother"
 '"That don't care to tell you. If you see her ten or fifteen years from now you will know without my having told you"
 Algy was somewhat surprised at bis mothers objection. The Bentons being wealthy and Alma being the sole heir to their property, he had supposed that his mother, who seemed to have keen eye to pecuniary advantages, would | have urged rather than opposed the match. Alma was just the kind of girl to please a young man of nine teen. All her motions, her words, her acts, were subdued. Even her laugh was delicate Despite his mother's warning, Algy lost his heart to her.
 There was another girl in the neigh borhood that Algy met occasionally, but did not fancy at all, whom he reckoned his mother would be pleased to see him marry. Martha Bonfeld was next door to homely, but she was barely sixteen, and some girls when passing from childhood into woman hood are like a grub changing into a ] butterfly.
 Martha inherited from her mother a good deal of hard sense. But this was 1 lost on Algy. The pink and white com | plexiOn, the coral lips of Alma were quite enough with him to outweigh all the common sense of a dozen girls. But when Martha's red hair and freckles were considered the compan- son was especially odiOus.
 There was trouble for the young lov- CTS on both sides of the house. The Benton family were as much opposed i to the match as the Witneys. They de signed their daughter for a rich hus- I band. A taste for riches Is growing 1 taste-the more we have the more we want
 The upshot of it all was that Alma was dominated by her mother. Her lover had the manliness to choose for himself. But since the girl he wanted would not marry him without her par ents' consent he was obliged to content himself without her.
 Several years passed. Alma Benton, under her mothers leadership, made matrimonial campaign abroad, but came back to America unmarried. AL gernon Witney after her departure found nothing to remember about her any more than a figure painted on | china, and, though he struggled hard to make himself believe that he was uSdELDIOhSu, uG vas AuoiAJ NSAA AAAN- that, though he could never love again, he was not suffering,
 Meanwhile Martha Bonfeld's hair had turned from its original dull red to au- | burn. and her freckles had disappear ed. When Witney felt bored he used to | go to see her for an evenings chat | Some of his romance had evaporated, and he was entering upon an age when l a career interested him. When he fell into romance Martha shut up like clam; when be talked in a practical vein she occasionally said something that struck him fOrCibly. One day he said to his mother:
 Mother, 1 have always believed that you would like to see me make match with Martha Bonfeld. have decided that if Martha is willing l am ready to accede to your wishes"
 "Nonsense! You're not going to ac- cede to my wishes at all You have discovered that there's something in Martha that you want"
 This turned out to be true. AIgernon 1 Witney, without fortune, married Martha Bonfeld, without a cent Wit ney became interested in money mak- ing, and in his wife he found a good manager, who was interested in money saving. The two got on together well enough till they saved enough money to work with, then began to accumu' late fortune. ..
 Ten years passed. A good deal may happen in ten years. The Witneys were now well to do and paid some at- tention to social life. One evening when at function Witney was intro duced to Mrs. Hetherington, scrawny woman of about thirty, whose scantily covered collar bones did not deter her from wearing a deconete costume. Witney was about to move on to avoid getting tied up with this unprepossessing bunch of skin and bones when she said:
 "Algyp
 He looked at her, vainly trying to place her.
 Gan 1t be that you have forgotten l mo A1pVw