Show WOMAN OF HONOR dy ay MAY ENDICOTT my wife sai dJohn andrews to hla his stenographer la is a good woman ind and it would break tier her heart to realize what I 1 havo have long since realized that we were never meant tor for each cach other esther sinclair made no reply but bunt bent over liar her notes only tho the heightened color in liar her face revealed her emotion she bho did not like to hear liar her employer speak slightingly of the pretty simple little woman who had bad once come into his spoken kindly to tier her and chattered in tier her irresponsible way until it was time for liar her husband to take lier her homo home yet after nil esther had long ago realized that there could be little in common between liar her und andrews whose forceful personality demanded that sympathetic understanding which etwas it was not mildred andrews to give they two had been associated together in andrews work for nearly six months she had liked him instinctively the moment she sot set eyes on him and lie ho had singled her out from among a host of applicants apparently par antly ly without a moments omenta in li hesitation lie he trusted in liar her completely in her share of tho the difficult work which he ha performed as secretary to the chemical company coni pany dut but liar her womans comans instinct had surely told old liar her during recent weeks that something more than esteem was growing up between them this was tho hrat first occasion on which andrews had over ever hinted at domestic unhappy noss sho she know tho the depth and intensity of his nature silo she wont went homo home to pass an almost sleepless kloo pless night she reviewed all her past sho she was already thirty years of ego no lovei love worthy of tho the name mama had ever come into her life and she could not tilde from herself the knowledge that andrews and sho she were made for ono one another she could give him such X I 1 1 wie she tore andrews andrews letter into frag menta devotion as aa was his need it if once she lc let herself dwell upon the image ot at him izat diat was enshrined in her heart she fought against this awakening lovo love day after day found her on her guard lost lest by a chance word even a looksha look aha betray herself and so ao the days passed it happened at last though the struggle was waa an intense one she had not realized how it had bad depleted tier her of her strength she had fought fought in the hope of being able t to retain her position there therland the reVand and the inevitable reaction came rising to go home one evening she suddenly tell fell to the floor in a dead faint created by utter nervous exhaustion and when consciousness came back to her she found herself seated in a chair and andrews bending over her ani and his lips were pressed tb hers hea and his bis hands clasped hers tightly find and she isho too weak to resist lay there passively la in his arms at last she gathered strength to rise she stood up she looked at him and he ha at her both realized the tragic nature of the passion abslon that had couie come into their lives neither spoke tor there was nothing jo to say goodnight mr andrews she said bald at last moving with an effort to waid the door lie bowed his head bead and she went home not to rest though all night she lay in a fever and in the morning she was flushed and delirious and for many days thereafter unconscious of realities andrews had left flowers for her every day and once after she began to mend little mrs andrews called on her and spoke of how hov much her husband valued her and of tho the gap that lier her illness had created in hs his work when tho the little woman had gone esther vowed that the past should be forgotten but chii was not to be A letter came from andrews full of passionate love lova ile ho must sen sea hor her he said bald life without her had bad become unbearable their lives roust must lie together and it she tried to escape him he would follow her to the ends enda of the earth it if necessary to find her bor and claim her esther read tho the letter thoughtfully awl once again the tha memory of her love for him vaa ft aa strong within bor bar she know that sab loved him albito 0 or dishonor it was not the opinion 0 tho the world corid for which she cared card ila hut there roso rose up before her eyes tho the pie pic ture of innocent pretty pathetic lit alo mrs andrews she could no not prove a to that little n whose whole life was wrapped aroun around iia the man she loved she tore andrews letter into trag fraga 1 ments and sat bat down to compose her answer in it she eho said bald that they musa never meet again sho she acknowledged acknowledge her own lovo love for him but but silo she could not hot finish that letter sho toro tore it in pieces also then a wild idea camo came into lid hei head b born orn p perhaps of the delirium through which she had passed slid took tier her pen pan again and wrote him av an effusive foolish letter such as must sho aho know knew disgust a man of andrewss Androw ss sa depth of feeling it ran like this dear friend of mine your letter la Is no surprise to MO me 1 I too love you 0 the sacredness and mystery of such sublime love as aa oural oura I 1 have been waiting ever since I 1 saw you for you to tell mo me that you were not indifferent to me you are the most wonderful man in tho the world to me you are ray my god with your tall straight daguro arid add magnificent eyes and your hair curls in just juat the way that I 1 havo have always liked a mans hair to curl now that I 1 know you love me my heart beats so fast it makes me dizzy I 1 am looking forward a thousand times a day to our next meeting when you can idso me again like you did that time and tell me that I 1 am wholly yours for over ever no one could imagine what it cost coat esther in self respect to write that letter mia and when it was written sho she sent the land ladys daughter out to mall it lest she should be compelled to recall it it was tho the memory of 0 little mrs andrews that enabled liar hr to accomplish tier her task and when she had finished a great peace camo came into her heart sho she know knew now that it was irreparable that never again need she see sea andrews that he would seek geek and perhaps find in his bis cifes love those qualities which he be had discovered in her on the following evening a letter was waa received by her in answer in it andrews said bald briefly that lie he was sailing tor for europe with his wife upon a three months holiday lie he eu enclosed closed her K h check for her salary during that period and regretted that there would lie bo no further need for her services esther tore up tho the chock as she destroyed andrewss Andrews 8 lettero letter then she sent out for a newspaper and studied the advertisements tor for female help wanted copyright 1913 by W G chapman |