Show These Women Were Friends In a room half study half bed room two women were talking They were both young both moderately good looking and both in a different way had inteligent bright eyes that observed ob-served much and betrayed little One woman was a small passionate little person with a delicate mounth and she was called Isabel The other woman was a small passionate pas-sionate person with full pale lips and an aggressive chin She was called Lilian Lian I was a cool summer evening after dinner but the room seemed hot to both of them owing to the point in discusion Isabel spoke Yes I have done with him altogether alto-gether Are you really surprised No not in tne least I was surprised sur-prised at the beginning of your friendship friend-ship but I was quite prepared for the end You never understood each other Thats just i and In consequence continually quarrellsd And continual contin-ual argument is so tiresome I assure as-sure you for months I have felt quite worn out And he Oh he The womans face soft ened I am very sorry but I fear I must have been a trial Lilian I alternated al-ternated between trying to act up to his idea of me and ruthlessly tearing it down The curious fact is that he never had any instinctive recognition of my real self Were you Lilian straightened her small person and arched the pretty pert chinwere you ever really engaged en-gaged Isabel The other answered rapidly Oh no How could we be I am so poor and he earns very little Now if i had been you with all your money mon-ey it might have been different Still I did look forward to marriage when he would be jealous no longer and I should be all his And then I was jealous too You Who were you jealous of dearWasnt Wasnt it absurb Lilian of you andf others Well I did know him long before you < youYes Yes and you were very great friends Oh ne consulted me about every thing me Isabel trembling a little About meWell tel yes about you sometimes How horrid of him There was a pause Isabel paced the room and large tears appeared in her gray eyes which she did not allow al-low to fall Lilian had two malicious dimples at the corners of her mouth and in distinct contradiction to their presence she sighed You see Isabel dear you were not suited How could we be broke out the other passionately In all his love for me he had no trust in all my love for him there was a certain amount of fear I am morbidly sensitive and he wounded me day by day He is sensitive sen-sitive too in a different way and my wish to have him all < to myself to rob him from his too numerous lady friends seemed absurb in his thinking He refused to believe in the depths of my feelings because I was timid of expressing them I wanted him to understand un-derstand me by instinct and a man so often lacks that He is very clever and has plenty of tact Isabel stopped short and faced her companion Tact is an elastic thing In his case i was onesided and only applied to his dealings with certain natures As I said he made a mistake mis-take about mine Well Lilian smiled and then sighed again Its all over Is al now And I remember continued contnued the other as if she had not heard The first time I saw him I remember the curious thrill the curious certainty that came over me that he would play some large part in my life I wonder if he remembers too I wonder won-der i he remembers his first impression impress-ion of me I was horribly shyand I know he thought me pretty He is a great admirer of female dryly beauty certainly admitted Lilian drylyWill drylyWl you shall you see him much now Surely my dear Isabel you cant expect me to give up an old friend just because you haye quarrelled with him himBut still he might talk of me I dont think so And i he did I se can decline to discuss the subject The other suddenly knelt down beside her friend In her small face in her gray eyes there was a hungry wistful expression that Lilian could not be blind to and i gave her an uneasy pang pangLU Li dear tell me Do you think I have been very unwise No Why Because my heart is aching till I can scarcely breathe Because I am longing to know just what he is doing not to b wholly shut out of his life Because II am miserable Oh This is only for tonight You will soo get oyer i With childlike submission the other asked simply Shall I Of course you will wil Lil do you think I should be very stupid if I tried to make it up Her friend laughed harshly and a little said nervously Quite mad she saidDo Do you I am not sure I am so terribly lonely He seemed my destiny des-tiny I miss him every hour of the day and his letters by every post You are quite maudlin Isabel What The woman sprang to her feet What did you say I meant that you are too ridiculous over this man who didnt love you and who never will who never understood un-derstood you and who was never appreciated ap-preciated by you in return The sooner soon-er you forget him the better I cant forget him You must There was another pause Isabel walked to the window drew back the curtain and threw it open I am suffocating she cried The other arose and stealthily siezed her cloak from the bed I cant forget him Isabel repeated I love him I want him now always al-ways I must write to him at once I must Lilian what is the matter You are a little fool The man is trick of you You cant have him back Why how do you know What do you mean How dare you I mean that he proposed to me today to-day and I accepted him She slipped on her cloak and tripped down stairs and the other woman who had been her friend knelt silently by the open window with a face that seemed to be slowly growing old London Lon-don Black and White |