Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1924-09-12
JOSSELYN'S WIFE

1
brief moment Of terror and shock they
had laughed over and so quickly for
| gotten? Suppose he said to himself
that he was sorry, and 1t was pity
and nothing more7 Then she would
lose not only the future, but the bright
and precious memory of the past.
/ Again, he might respond to the little
| appeal with all the generous ardor
that she knew was in him, waiting to
be stirred. He might come straight
down TO the house in Main street
| To find Aunt Elsie, opening the door.
suspicious Of his errand, and find the
dining room overheated and unaired,
and find Joe's boots oiled and drying
by the alright stove, and adding their
odor to the other odors-
And to find Ellen, his rosy COM
panion of the furs and the laughter,
small white-faced thing under patch
work quilt, with brown leather straps
under her chin
| Reaching this point In her thoughts,
Ellen would give little shudder. Bet
ter that he should never know. Better
that she had never crossed his path,
or he hers. But for that memorable
weekend she might be going to the
Yacht club dance with Villa, Bobby
Carnival, and the Henshaws tonight,
she might be in the Mardi Gras Ker-
mess that was to convulse and en-
chant the village next week. And
summer was coming, summer with
out driving and tennis and swimming
for Ellen.
She must lie still, the old physical
| Joy in living gone, and the old peace
of mind gone, too. For Bobby and the
Henshaws seemed changed now, and
In the back Of her heart and the back
of her mind there fingered the dis
turbing vision that had displaced
them: the memory of cultivated
voice; of deep kind eyes, and silver
hair; of clever, groomed hands There
fingered the hurting knowledge that
certain doors were closed to Ellen
Latimer, that certain lips spoke Ian
guage she could not understand, that
there was a world, so near her own,
where her mere youngness and good
ness and willingness to learn could
win her no place. Other keys were
needed for those doors, and through
no fault of her own, Ellen had not
those keys.
Mrs. Rose had gone to Bermuda.
| The check for Ellen's expenses had
arrived promptly during the first week
of the year, however, and had been
the cause of some serious debate In
the Latimer house.
Ellen wished to send It back, with
note explaining the circumstances.
The warm-hearted Mrs. Rose might
show her sympathy in some decided
way, might even mention Ellen's sad
situation in some quarter through
which 1t would reach Gibbs Josselyn.
But Mrs. Baldwin, quite unsus-
picious of this vague thought in her
| niece's mind, suggested that the check
simply be banked for the time when
Ellen could use 1t. No use distressing
her generous friend with a tale of
misery for which she was indirectly
responsible, and which she could not
help.
Ellen agreed to this somewhat re-
luctantly. The girl hungered for the
romantic and dramatic; life thrust her
back resolutely into the commonplace
do what she might. But she was learn
Ing patience and self-control, coming
to believe that what made for happi-
ness and harmony here, in the old
hnnQ0 hn.s Arc
April was rainy, and May was rainy,
but the miracle of the year went on
despite the rain. A film Of green
showed on the hard dark earth of the
garden and against the bare limbs Of
the trees, and sweet wild winds swept
over the world with the odor of damp
turned soil and bursting buds In their
wake.
Then suddenly there were still hot
days. All the windows were open, and
scent Of lilacs drifted through the
house
Ellen, a little thin and limp, but
dressed and radiant had a comfortable
chair under the lilac tree, and waved
now and then at friendly passers-by
in the street. She had book, but
often she sat dreaming blissfully, with
the pages unturned, for hours at a
time. No book was half so exciting
as was slow walk to the gate with
stop on the way back to gather her
self a dozen violets, or a plume of
lilac. Spring had never seemed half
so lovely, or the world so kind.