Show kathleen norris says this woman wed faultless man dell bell Syn syndicate dicato service WS 6 i k jav 0 X 0 f A V V ay 10 0 6 1 lay jay my lormer former sweetheart has a lovely daughter who is a 4 pupil in the school hoot where I 1 teach so I 1 have seen jay again once or twice 11 he has all his old chann arm and high spirits by KATHLEEN NORRIS NE of the most awkward 0 ONE questions that youth can ask age is the one a girl named vera asks me this morning veras letter comes from a georgia town she evidently belongs to a somewhat prominent family for she was given four years at an expensive pennsylvania college and also tells me that she has had two visits in california where mother and dad usually go every winter veras problem Is this when she was 19 sho she had a love aff affair air entirely unknown to the family and extremely serious for three months the she and her sweetheart were pas lovers then veras feeling waned and she had bad an uncomfortable time extricating herself from tays jays still exacting devotion dont think I 1 pay for my early foolishness writes vera 1 I did when it came time to try to break engagements with jay to cut down on letters and meetings to make him see that I 1 was through the day ho he came to me and said that he realized at last that it was all over and would trouble me no more was actually one of the hap of my life two years later when I 1 was glorying in college days jay married marbled and I 1 felt nothing but utter relief novels for generations have talked of the shame and danger of love ova affairs but my real di and tragedy instead of being that of trying to hold my lover was that of getting rid of him fell in love again 1 I am now 27 last year I 1 met a man whose fineness dignity intelligence ll made me feel that he was set apart from the ordinary run of men we are deeply in love and were to have been married this june robert is a church member indeed once studied for orders and has an almost fanatic sense of honor meanwhile jays wife has died and he had a lovely daughter of five who Is one oho of the pupils in the school where I 1 teach so that I 1 have seen him again once or twice tie ile is much developed from the impulsive boy I 1 knew eight years ago with all his old charm and high spirits As roberts wife I 1 would have wealth position and the companionship of a man who Is bound some my lay to be conspicuously successful in n his profession joy jay la Is just one business man among many but jay wants to marry me and robert feels that it might be right perhaps the path I 1 should take teems smooth and obvious to you out aut I 1 can assure you I 1 am harassed ind undecided to the point of almost going out of my mind it has never seemed to me possible that any woman vonian could be in any doubt about arkich man she wants but the clr cit lum turn stances here are lecul peculiar bior thanks lo 10 my little girl tolly folly and I 1 really lont know what to do robert says ie aiu leave it entirely to my con science ici ence and that he knows I 1 will leilda rightly and yet while that nay make you smile with the idea hat he mind getting out of t entirely himself I 1 know that at to 10 he be has never cared for any worn wom in but me and would be deeply it ricken at losing me robert worries his brother tells me he cannot dileep nights tor for worrying over this hing the brother know all ho he circum circumstances stances robert has had bad he e old house completely modern modem zed ke he has talked to me of our lie ife together as though it were a tream too precious ever to bereal iced and it if I 1 decide to marry jay it may embitter him tor for life A hundred times ho he has said to me oh ob why why why does it have to be this way why you of all women of course that Is what my own heart echoes but twice lately robert has used the expression 1 if I you feel you must pay the debt will you teu tell me what you think and help one more distracted woman to peace judging from your letter vera I 1 would say any that ufa life with robert might be a rather rigid affair it seems plain that this self controlled conscientious man Is having the sort of battle between the spirit and the flesh that comes only to religious persons ile he is in love with you and it Is his first love and so overwhelm ing and painful robert undoubtedly thinks that joy jay has a claim upon you that you pledged him wifehood when you yielded to him in that early affair and that nagging conviction will grow stronger after marriage when the first wild glamour dies and he discovers that you are human and can make mistakes and be trouble some and disappointing like any other wife so I 1 marry robert if ff I 1 were you if the more easygoing easy going cheerful joy jay Is sympathetic to you and you can imagine yourself as making a good mother to his child caff d and working out a happy normal life for yourself as his wife then why not tell robert once and for all that you see the justice of his attitude and that you have determined to make the only reparation in your power tor for your youthful mistake e this will make him feel heroic and that you both are committed to the dutiful and self sacrificing course success rests bests with vera vcr but if your decision meets with violent opposition from robert and he implores you to forget the past and go on with him into a more honorable future then of course you might relent and accept the more distinguished destiny A faultless husband Is a fearful and wonderful thing so be sure cure that you y ou are re luct antly talked over if you decide to be talked over it might be that in the future you will be glad to re mind him that your decision was made to marry jay when robert persuaded you otherwise with either man the success or failure of the marriage rests with you with jay you probably would have cheerful companionship more laughter more of the unexpected than with robert but with robert you would have wealth position the power a young wife with both can wield and the knowledge very much to your credit that you did not conceal anything from him and that he contracted this marriage with his eyes open to your early history |