Show I H I On the Bridge n no WHEN I tell you my only friend to whom I so rarely write and whom l more rarely see that my lonely life has I Inot not been without love for woman you you ou will perhaps laugh or doubt II What you will say II that gaunt old specter in his attic with his books his his' tobacco and his three flower pots He would not know that there is is- such a word as love did he not encounter it now and then in his reading It True I have divided my days between the the- books in a rich mans man's counting room and those in my attic True again I have never been more than merely passable passable pass passable pass pass- able to look at even in my best days Yet I have loved loveda a woman During the five years when my elder brother lay in the hospital across the river where he died it was my custom to visit him every Sunday I enjoyed the afternoon walk to the suburbs where the air has more of nature in it especially that portion of the walk which lay upon the bridge More life than was usual upon the bridge moved there on Sunday Then the cars were crowded with ith people seeking the parks Many crossed on foot stopping to look idly down at the dark and sluggish water One afternoon as I stood thus leaning leaning leaning lean lean- ing over the parapet the sound of a womans woman's gentle laugh caused me to turn and inquire its source The woman and a man were approaching At the side of the woman walked soberly a handsome dog dog dog-a a collie There was that in their appearance and manner which plainly told me that they were husband and wife of the middle class intelligent but poor out for a stroll That t they ey were quite devoted to each other was easily discoverable The man looked about bout thirty years of age age age- was tall slender and with neither strong nor handsome but amiable face He was doubtless a clerk fit to be something better The woman was perhaps twenty She was not quite beautiful yet she was more than pretty She bhe he was of good size and figure and the short plush coat that she wore and the manner manner manner man man- ner in which she kept her hands thrust in the pockets thereof gave to her a dauntless air which the quiet and affectionate affectionate affectionate expression of her face softened She was a brunette her eyes being large and distinctly dark brown her face having that peculiar complexion which is most quickly affected by any change in health The color of her cheeks the dark rim under her eyes and other indefinable signs indicated some radical ailment In Inthe Inthe Inthe the quick glance that I had of that pair while the woman was smiling a feeling of pity came over me I have never detected the exact cause of that emotion Perhaps in the womans woman's face I read the trace of past bodily and mental mental mental men men- tal suffering perhaps a subtle mark that death had already set there Neither the woman nor her husband noticed me as they passed The dog regarded me c cautiously with the corner of his eye I probably would never have thought of the three again had I Inot Inot Inot not seen them upon the bridge u under der exactly the same circumstances on the next Sunday So these thes young and then happy people walked here every Sunday I thought This perhaps was an event looked forward to throughout the week The husband doubtless was kept a prisoner and slave at his d desk sk from Monday morning until Saturday night with respite only for eating and sleep sleep- p- p ing Such cases are common even with 1 people who can think and who have i isome some taste for luxury and who are not I devoid of love for the beautiful ij The sight of happiness which exists despite the cruelty of fate and man and which is temporarily unconscious of its own liability to interruption and extinction invariably fills me with sad sad- ness And the sadness which arose at atthe atthe atthe the contemplation of these two beings begat in me a strange sympathy for and interest in them On Sundays thereafter I would go early to the bridge and wait until they passed for it proved that this was their habitual Sunday walk Sometimes they would pause and join those who gazed down at the black river I would now and again resume my journey toward the hospital while they thus stood and andI I would look back from a distance The would then bridge appear to mean me an abrupt ascent rising to the dense ci city ty- ty and their two figures would stand standout out clearly against the background It became a matter of care to me to observe each Sunday whether the health of either had varied during the previous week The husband always pale and slight showed little change and that infrequently But the fluctuations of of the woman as indicated by complexion gait expression and otherwise were numerous and pronounced Often she looked brighter and more robust than on the preceding Sunday Her face would be then rounded out and the dark crescents beneath her eyes would be less marked Then I found myself elated But on the next Sunday the cheeks had receded slightly the healthy luster of the eyes had given way to an ominous glow the warning of death had returned Then my heart and sighing I would murmur inaudibly t f J This is one of the bad Sundays r There came a time w when h en every S Sunday Sunday Sun Sun- un- un day was a bad one What made me love this woman Simply the unmistakable completeness and constancy of her devotion to her husband the husband the absorption of the woman in the wife Had the strange ways of chance ever made known to her my feeling and had she swerved from that devotion even to render me back love for love then my own adoration for her would surely have departed Yes Yeb I loved her her if if to fill ones one's life with thoughts of a woman if in fancy to see her face by day and night if to have the will to die for her or to bear pain for her her if if these and many more things mean love My ri richest hest joy was to see her content with her husband and the darkest woe of my life was to anticipate the termination termination termination nation of their happiness So the Sundays passed One afternoon afternoon afternoon after after- noon I waited until almost dusk yet the couple did not appear For seven Sundays in succession I Idid Idid Idid did not meet them upon their wonted walk On the eighth Sunday I saw the dog first then the man The latter was looking over the railing The woman was not with him Apprehensively I sought with my eyes his face Much grief and loneliness were depicted there Was Was' Was Was-he he or I the greater mourner I wonder I suppose two years passed after that day ere I again beheld the widower widower- wh whose se name I do not and probably never never shall know know- upon know upon the bridge The dog was not with him this time It was wasa a fine sunny sunny afternoon in M May y Grief was was no longer in his face By his side was a very pretty animated rosy little woman whom I had never neverseen neverseen neverseen seen before They walked close to each other and she looked with the utmost utmost utmost ut ut- most tenderness into his face She evidently was not yet entirely accustomed accustomed tomed tamed to the wedding ring which I I observed upon her finger I think that tears came to my eyes at this sight Those great brown eyes the plush sack the lovely face that had borne the impress of sorrow and so speedily had felt death these death these might never have existed so soon had they been forgotten by the one being in the world for whom that face had worn worn the aspect of a perfect love Yet one upon whom those eyes never rested has remembered And s surely rely the memory of her is mine to wed sin since e he whose right it was to cherish it had allowed himself to be divorced from it itin itin itin in so brief a time The memory of her is with me meal al always ways fills my soul beautifies my life makes green and radiant this existence h all ll who know me think cold bleak em empty pty repellent You will not laugh then my friend when I tell you that love is not riot to tome me a athing athing athing thing unknown on |