Show LIFES PUPPETS by LOOTS LOUIS J STELLMAN copyright 1902 by DAILY STORY PraL ISHINO COMPANY it was vas past midnight long past it though not yet dawn but the two mee mew who sat in the wine room of the little nil till night cafe did not know it and anil old not care one drank incessantly and icalla from a brown bottle but his eyes were bright and clear and arid hard with the steely hardness ol 01 him who laughs and hides a wound the other wreathed himself in great white clouds of smoke tilting his chin now and then to alowa thin white stream ur wards through his teeth and halt half I 1 closed lips with an artistic precision i Ls though the process involved his entire and concentrated thought I 1 wonder how long it will take spoke the first holding his glass aloft to let the light shine through they say it kills idlis this stuff I 1 im in drinking bah bahl it might a fool it t eyen dull my senses they say a drunken man Is happy he sings he cries or laughs and then he sleeps like some besotted beast I 1 cannot do these things I 1 can see nothing but her dead face and feel that she Is gone that my heart is gone my soul evereth ng and yet I 1 live and ache I 1 move about just as I 1 used to do men speak to me as usual they do not see the change he laughed you would have sworn it was some merry jibe it its a tunny funny gregory it his companion paused to flick the ash from his cigar before replying in a way it a funny yes he an there is a comical side to everything even this A grim humor ill grant but humor nevertheless your wife Is dead you want her back and god wont won t let you have her youve always had your way with your wealth and that cent brain of yours which whisky cannot dull with your magnetism your strength ath and that beauty a god might ery and now you youre re thwart ip ed for ae first time what hurts you edward you have had all things always and now one Is taken eway away you think your heart Is dead it isn t it its s sound and well and capable of many loves but a new experience has come into your life defeat you will NOR never be quite the tame same again tor for resignation der works a mighty change in such as you but the humor of it all lies in your babbling of a broken heart yes it Is tunny funny the other man sat motionless with the glass still raised not a muscle quivered but his eyes were fixed on the speaker with a strange intensity my god gody broke out the one ad dressed as edward I 1 wonder it rou you are right I 1 wonder why I 1 sat here quietly and let you tell me this it must be true rue something within me must have told me that or I 1 d have chok ed the words down your throat he ile hesitated esita ted a moment bewildered what can you know ot of human hearts of love or grief you to whom all men and women are but so much flesh and blood you analyze hem them as a chemist divides some sub stance into elementary parts or dig dis sect them by a sort ot of mental sur em Z A they say it kills hills this stuff im I 1 m drinking bah bahl ae gery ry we have always been comrades after a fashion gregory but I 1 never understood you like other men no said the other sadly that has been my curse to mask my real self from all the world ive I 1 ve been a sort of emotional detective I 1 ve pried into the hearts of men and women to see them beat tor for others never for or myself since childhood I 1 have craved tor for love and understanding never has it come they said he Is a strange boy so different from the rest I 1 felt myself an outcast and began to shun my former play mates ashamed I 1 knew not why I 1 tried to act like the others but was too young to play a part people saw the trick and I 1 felt it ever like a felon in disguise some were indof ferent I 1 did not mind that some disliked me with the distrust of ignorance for aught that Is strange I 1 grew accustomed to this in time still others pitied and it cut me like a knife I 1 writhed a while and then grew strong enough to bear it with out a sign but always I 1 searched and studied and peered into the cran nies I 1 of the human heart to find 10 go on said edward read it through wherein the difference lay between me and my fellows all about me were the things for which I 1 craved human love and the sympathy of understanding they were beautiful tul to me the sun the wine the music of my life they grew U within athin my boul soul and made me glad only to sea see them but they only added to the hunger which I 1 dared not show sometimes edward when no one else is by every fibre of my being cries aloud tor for the touch of a woman a hand the look of trust the tender message the many little things thin as which other men possess but which ch have never come to me no one but you will ever know this you at least have tried to understand me you and margaret who is dead I 1 tell you this because I 1 loved her perhaps you ought to know although she never guessed it I 1 loved her better than the soul within me than god himself not with the passion which drives men mad but with that deeper which Is repressed and throbs in fn mighty silence through every thought and purpose while life lasts yes ye you hid it from us both said edward dimly vaguely and I 1 think I 1 understand he arose and began to pace the room his face was working now with some unfathomed conflict the calm was gone after a time he stopped before the others chair and regarded him intently ill have to ten you now he said sald hoarsely you have the right to know you thought that margaret died of heart disease all the world thinks so it does not know the truth but you shall read this gregory took the letter from the others hand and spread it out before him he started as the first line met his glance and turned to his corn coin panion go on said edward read it through 1 alq and gregory with a white and silent face turned to the page again it ran as follows my husband it Is not tor for you or other men to judge me for the deed I 1 am about to do that is for god who knows the frailties of wo men s hearts nor Is mine the fault that I 1 have not the a benl renith th longer to fight the passion I 1 have hid from you thus far you are so strong so independent of d a life like mine you bill nill not miss me as a weaker mar might do nor will you blame me when you know the truth I 1 am cast ing away my life in a little phial now within my hand there rests a sure and rapid cure tor for earthly ills and one which gives no sign it draws no lines of agony upon the fact face one merely sleeps and it Is over my father was a chemist he taught me somewhat of his craft and ol 01 this berry borry which steeped in wine give gives I 1 bace to weary hearts and now the secret which causes me to take this step it is a thing which came into ray my life anasi ed something stronger than myself tho the love of ai other man your dour friend it was destiny that inde ou bring hint him to our home one do ou re tt L k cpr toi member the quiet man whose face was placid and whose heart was full of unshed tears he talked of corn com mon place evea s and tried to hide his real nature iram me with light words a nature so grand so beautiful so rich in finer things it thrilled my being with celestial melodies you did not know and he he thought me but a foolish girl who could not understand thank god my husband that he was honor tible ble or that he did not see for had he bidden me I 1 should have fallen at bis his feet I 1 should may bap hap have brought dishonor to your name tor for love like this Is greater than the things of earth you brought him many times to me and after he had gone I 1 tossed about and grappled with my duty and my soul lest I 1 should follow him and beg that he might take me in his arms for one brief moment and then to let me die they were terrible those battles in the night they sapped my strength until you thought me III if you could ever know the struggle that it cost to greet him then again with smiling face to still the beating of my heart and play the friend as I 1 have done with other men if you could only guess the fierce wild agony of that unspoken love you would not blame me for this deed nor for unfaithfulness in thought to you and for my sake you must not blame him either he did not know it and it Is no fault of his that wo men love him god made it so try to understand him better edward I 1 ook beneath the surface and you will love him too good bye my husband do not sorrow for this little life of mine so frail and full of faults that it was but a burden to your own seek out some other woman more worthy and more grateful than myself and think of me sometimes as one who tried to do her duty but tailed failed because she was weak good bye ga god bless and make niale you happy always MARGARET |