The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-05-22

stitutional dilettante, unstable by ma
ture. playful, and in way that was
forever to be adorable to Adeline, de-
pendent upon her for decision.
Then, too, he loved her. There was
no doubt of that. This volatile
Frenchman, full of traditions that were
alien to the very life and being Of
Adeline, had one quality Of stability
that was impeccable.
He loved Adeline.
1t was curious, but within that
household, slowly, surely, steadily. as
relentlessly as the progress of a Greek
drama, unspoken plans for the destiny
of Adeline Stendhal began to shape
themselves in the mind of Martha
Crandall and her husband Deeping
Johnson.
This catastrophe that had come to
them was not to be borne. This frail,
blond, volatile, young outsider, with
the stage-like name of Jacques Stend-
hal, music teacher, was not to be en-
dured within the substantial walls of
the Crandall mansion.
And it must be admitted, that as
time marched on, Jacques himself
gave justification to their enormous
resentmentS against him. He twad-
died away his days. After his mar
riage, his slight income from the teach
ing of piano, fell off entirely. 1t was
nothing for him to spend hours on end
in the narrow strip of garden behind
the Crandall house, dandling his baby
girl on his knees.
In vain Adeline, as if she sensed the
menace that was forming between them,
pleaded with him to stabilize his life;
to either resume his own profession
of piano instruction, or adapt himself
to some form of work in her fathers
vast cotton organizations.
1t was no use. To all intents and
purposes, Adeline had married ne'er-
do-well.
When the baby was three years old,
a phantom of delight if ever there
was one, affairs in that household be-
gan to shape themselves toward a eli
max. For thirty months Jacques
Stendhal had not turned his hand in
an earning capacity, the threats, the
aspersions, the adherence Of his par.
ents-in-law Notwithstanding.
For thirty months, until her sweet
eyes were trimmed with weeping, Adj
cline had impOrtuned, begged, cOaxed.
And to what end? To the end that
after these impOrtunings, Jacques, re-
mOrseful for the moment, would prom
Use, and the scene would end in one
of play; the young father, the young
mother, their child between them
romping in their youth and vitality
through the somber rooms of the SOM
Der mansion.
1t was at the end of the fourth year,
however. that the older Crandalls did
succeed in creating a Schism. 1t was
finally borne in upon even Adeline her.
self that life with this play boy was
uncomfortable; 1t was not only unfair
to herself and to her parents, but to
the youngster at their knees, to con-
tinue as his wife.
Just why 1t was unfair, Adeline new
er stopped to ask herself, except, that
according to all the traditions of the
Crandalls and the Johnsons, every man
must produce. 1t never occurred to
Adeline that the fact that the Gran
dall-JOhnsons had seven millions
should be more than sufficient to off
set the congenital shortcomings of
Jacques.
When the little girl was four years
to the day, Adeline consented to the
divorce. Curious, but the reality of
the situation never seemed to come
home to Jacques. He could not take
seriously the fact that this sweet girl
of his life and heart was about to walk
out of them. And yet she did.
One year after Adeline's incredible
acquiescence to divorce Jacques
found himself back in his humble stu
dio as piano teacher, pounding out his
living at the keyboard.
The situation in the Crandall-J Ohm
son house had progressed. With an
acquiescence which seemed to denote
that the strength for conflict had
flowed out Of her heart, Adeline re-
sumed life according to the dictates
Of her parents. Not even the prospect
of their designs for an approaching
marriage with Donald Dugan seemed
to penetrate the icy stolidity that had
encased her since her official separa-
tiop from IocouoS StaOdhol
Life resumed it's even flow. She had
her child, a small beauty, who was
permitted by court agreement, to visit
her father once every month, and
Donald Dugan as eager as ever to
marry her was reconciled to taking the
little step-daughter along with his
marriage contract to Adeline.
Two nights before the wedding Ad-
cline, still in what seemed to be her
icy mantle of reserve, walked out of
the Crandall-Johnson household with
her child in her arms. At ten o'clock
that same night she eloped with
Jacques Stendhal and was remarked
to him in the Office of a local magis-
trate.
The Stendhals, there are five of them
by now, are playful, unstable, hilari-
Gus group. There are pair of solemn
brown doors that remain closed
against them.
The Stendhals, both Jacques and
Adeline, try to feel solemn about that.
Somehow they cannot.