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Show BB H 'i "Jxl p t yi ft ' '" " I & Comedy of Broken Hearts. I I . Dy ,L.i PARRY TRUSCOTT. I fi - , r I TT flEY ucie both very young, jtieineinloudy In love, nnil '. 'nstonlshlpcly Inexperienced. Ami lo this, la Itself, Mif- flelently d toll casing inlxttiro of youth BB nndjlovo nnil luc.pt'vlciicc blio added I n wprldl.v'-niliuled mother, nnil ho the BB vciy, smallest' tfilng th.it could pos- BB IMy. be called nn Income. ANo BB' they heaped the measure oC their BB Joint uiihappluess villi stub trlllfK its mifnlllliK oliedleiKe to ilia luillrrilill HB voice, u lellnnce that aviih chlld- j 'n " t,l( mntumnl vhiloui, n HK I selljjilpprccittiiig tvfii' of liuvllnc a ))c- B 1 1 Cjl kJ b J co t , a n it nil koi'Ih of ninliluiily. H i mnOi;eiitIeiiimily scniiiles buhlml (lie' H HK(';'lnit not by miy iiicmih less fresh B ' muswct for ,tlmt The.v hmlu't tlio B ' suspicion of n lce, u felllfli thought K belu'een them, mid lliey urc bo oli- M' vIotif.l-i null cnjlii'ly .nipio for ouch I otherJIMt wfth, froiti'thb flMf", qlilte1 IK ' lncvlfnblpMhnt tli&y shonhl'be pnrtod. H' They proved, lndroil, only tos onuy B'. to pnrt. i:en the worUl-inliulcd ft J niolher would hnvo, been better i-nlls- ' , ' fiod with n. victory not no quickly "won. J ' Her d.iiiKhtcr'a te.irp luirdly niocd her J , more tbmi the youui; lnan'.s Kentle, HB end-fneed reiiHoiinbleiies.s, mid o?ethrr J ' they almost persunded her to ovolloolc B the microscopic Income, thoURli neither B ' made any but the most passive efforts B to dChlee that fo denheil end, B Hut she hn'stlly miniinoiied Iter woild- B u ly-ililndednehs: nndliy lis hid decided, BB once' for nil, that It would be n pity BB to disturb their iimiellj ipslmintlon for BB, i Ihejjahqpf ti jioor and pu-postcrously BB i commonplncc liinrrlajje'., And she urged BB tliCjUinii to accept n post that had been BB ' offered hi in' In India with n voice so BB tciiderlylllceherilmigliler'sthnt he very BB , ncnr)y refused to comply he missed BB from It the Ktlnj;, goading to snctlllce, BBi '" which he had lately come to associate BB' with' himself mid Fate. BB I However, ho did comply.. The offered BB ' ( vork held out hopes ot ndvnnconicnt, BB- l of moderate but snlllelent wealth, In BB J tho.vaRiiu middle dlxtancc of life. And BB. who can tell what other imul hopen BBT J 'were, bred of, that, solitary Iiope, BB 1 wedded 'to desire. In the mind of'n man BB r j very, young, vory li)i.-pmlciippd ver BB A i nn,!1 ln 1('vo' Illit h(j lid hot say iln'y. BB 1 1 thlnp to the filrl nbout waltlnc; for him BB t j nnil Ids futmii foif lines, lie hufl proin- Bfl lsedjlier mother' tibt to.'nn'd lie was the BB J very, pattern of an houornblo youth. BB if! 'AndUlma tin,- Rill, while, he wia away, BB Hi 'wasjhurilod Into n maril.iKP wuirli she BB1)!'1 toldjheif-plf would break her broken BBtjf1 heart afiosh. At any rate. It broke her !H1). eplrjt. Itut. then, she had never been BB "rl conspicuously splilleih S' ACT Ii. I 'J He'reln lies a story often told already. I; So jnany times "vrlttpu so ninny times i .iil that the greatest indulgence of iv S' . render and wilier r.'lkp aio surely BB j craved for It. She, tricked liy,n mjs- BB " takcu Idea Injo n niiutliiKtt "much BB 's iiKnlnst her lucllmitlou, to become, a BB,4 ' peir,erfae(m:ljlut';ivverliilrfestliig wife, BB.JfK thofpnlp inolherTof pale elilldrcjit He. BB if ( i jmiorhiit for years' of Hie fiill extent of BBJhm the hauler dividing' them, lured by a BBlS forlorn hope across half n lonely life- BB ! ; time. 'yl j Ills figure had lost 'Its' old boylshnebs, BBU j Ids hair was thickly llecked'with gray, BB. t ' but-hls ioeknts.-weio pomfortnbly.llupii Si nnd his position agsuied, when, quite casually, ho liinrnud lm the woman B' ! who'seTtldelltyhe had cIiiiik to through BB j nil their separation and slleucp had BBli fnlled hlni ;(tli!lit.lwclvo qioptJis of BB ' their parting. BB lie told himself that evciy dividing BB j year, every haid-vioiklrpr .ny, overy BB l ; lous.t breathless nl; lit, had built his BB I old love inoio ilrmly bit) the fabtic BBf ' of his belli?. In the early tiventlqs BB knowing her to be fale, ho might bavo BB t put her Image fiom him and lived to BB be no les'K iiltlniatcl.v happy ay ile BB , healed wound. "Ilu't. 'coining now' 'so BB i Intc, after no long, It unmanned him. BB , He told himself again that he was BB , hcnrtbrolcen, and, ubkorbed In that BB'll ce', betrayed by n single Individual, BByi: belief, forgot to rail at the whole false BBJf j! vhjei Ih the nekuowlcdged panacea of BBjjIH the brokcu-hetiited. BB' i. Tlio news hnd reached him not onlj BBBBjT a tnullly, but with a singular lack o BB i. detail Just the bare fact of her mar- BB I ' Tinge at tlut far-oft date, ami' nothing BB i more, No ilpnbt, he might have col- BB ' lected fiitUior'lnforniallon from the BB I Fame- source-,- but ho sjirank nervously ' BB from dobjpf to. To know wlnt man- BB ' ner otAWn had suppliptcil hlm-wlmti BB . good .could tliaf do him? That any BB jnajrlind been allowed to npproprlnto BB -w Jiri t ho had ho long looked upon as ' BB lilspjvu FPi'iiifd lii'lisclf a Sorrow ilons'a BB enough to dailvPii the'ren'ii'ilnder of his BB days. Habit chained him for a time BB , , to his woik, but his Intcicgt was gone BK: ' nnd his health began seriously to fall. BBj ' II6v much that was dim to continuous BBT ft ' rcRldcnco in n, trying cliiunto, I19W 1 BB iniic1i3o.UiuMiliirrlt-ivou1ilrb0vlilU'vUP BBTtl ' crated tho climate, ' BHt) Hut for all" tlint, 'lib "ivitfi forced to' BBl'll.' I ,cavt ! Uls ttlenlls currlvA'ltlm, toql BBBBBBBBBBBBr' weak to pi'olest further, on lo n homo-watdbouml homo-watdbouml hlp. They never thought of consulting him. Of ourse, ho would want lo go lioiiie. What I'ligllshmau of them nil, chained by circumstance to tho laud of threatening liver nnd pver-pieseiit mosquitoes, would miss thy cliiiuco of n bieak-dowu to take him, back to I'ligkiiidV So ll was that he invoke fiom the lethargy of e.xtieme uoakifpss to llnd the halt Fpn hicpzes blowing health )uekM) hlui, whether he would or no; found tho strong, heatty winds urging him to thu piirsult of now Ideas with 11 life lenevtod; found the restless waves Jmnylng him to the laud he had so long wVarlod to see. Waves and winds cured no'lilng for Ids cha.igo of mlmK As Jio sat brooding on his deck chair, ho seemed to hear them laughing boisterously together ocr the frail fancltS'hh held so sacicd. "There are ns gooirtlsli In the sea as ever cnine out of It," Ihey seemed to say. (Waves nnil winds are proverbially blustering and coarse of wit,) "Why, she may bo fnt; sho must be nearly forty, to Judge by ymil In Knglnnd, tho lalid of healthy, pretty women, n man may soon find healing for love-sickness. Man 'alive! What Is one woman among many, when all arc fair? Chooso n maiden fresh nnd youthful, nnd In her smiles forget a palu myth of nn outlived out-lived ago. You have managed without Jior all these yea is, and not done so badly comp now, own np! How much pleasure has there been mingled In your pretty pretence of sorrow? Kven now you might lo ln n far worsocase. Why, you might be bound. Irretrievably bound, to n woman worn nnd nged, nnd changed In a thousand ways from the girl you rcmeinbet n woman you would npfjoiow If you passed her In the fit rep t! And, Instead, you arc free ns air as free ns Ave are to make n fresh choice; to make love nnow to a fresh Jioijrt-li9W mijcli better thnn you (jquld' teaqh It were you rnw nnd Ignorant yourself you nlouo know!" Hut lie put Ills lean, brown hands over his 001s; ho would not listen to the voices of winds and waves. Ho clutched wjtunll the. dpspnrntjloiiiofyn drdwnliig'inYiin nt his fr.tyed bollefVin hH own perfect faithfulness. He de-lied de-lied the pagan creed of the unthiued sq.is. Hi' pns-tlonntely vowed, for the jtjko of his eheilshed mlddle-nged self-respect, self-respect, to marry no young girl. j? ' ACT III. 'Andf-'u? ki'p( tlio letter of Mt vowT Ho eerlulnlyinnrrled, and onlyii tew Months after his leturn; but the wife lie cbq.so was nearly of an ago wljli lilmself n widow, frail nnd delicate, and faintly lemlnlscciit of n byegono prottlnes". The llrst time he saw her, before, tlit-y were Introduced, she ie-minded ie-minded him of his old love. He could riot haVe said how or where, but It proved nn attraction strong enough to , chain him-to her side, to bring him quickly to liqr, foot lie who litnl never Mono anything before without the ut-'niost ut-'niost deliberation nnd thought. And she was not by any means generally fascinating, only 0110 of thoe gentle-colorless gentle-colorless women who fall to interest even thole friends, but who geuernlly rfuccraUu-obt'iU'lng nnd holding fusi tho warmest attachment of ascertain class ofnhaviliyiiiPii. . ,Her past' was peopled by her former .Imsbaml aii(l ber nlllng children, now nil lost to her, but she did not find much tp Jell him about them. She spoke to him more about an early attachment that Jmd. proved untpvtuimto, ,sijq sh6ok It out ot the ioo leaves and lavelulqr, of memoVy In wheJi sho had lnngJ litlil It' for his Inspectlon-a crumpled, failed relic of her ghlhood. "Wo weielUoth 3ely young. His name wns Itrown, too," she said, with her uncertain smile. Ho enieiqbered nftcrwards that she seemed to look nt him rather curiously, curious-ly, ns though exppctlng' a question ho did not put; ns though she was surprised sur-prised but not lll-plciueil that he should let the. subJecL drop. At the time he. was onlyjifiald of dlstiesslng her .with continuing It. lie believed khe had made n t-peehil pfi'ort on his behalf, nnd he was unwilling that sho sJiould tnke rouble to please him when ho wns ho olj pleased yHhout. Hq, had been Hilck to'notlce that, rs n rule, beyond her little nllmonts and tho most trivial passing events, few things stirred lier to conversation. I Yel he fell honestly In lovo with her; fought 11 ml conque.ied for her sake his lugrrtlped tQlnctauco to set nny woman' In Hicplace rif M10 woman who had failed him. This wns thp sort of woman she might have grown Into, he said, In self-tlefpiihe. An oecnslonal tilck of speech or gesture lh'lils "now h'ol wouhi inmlnd lilni qultn star'tlngly of his old idol; but ho decided thai women woro more -like, nfter nil, thni ho had tliougljt them. Although 1 .liiilf-desplH.m lilmself for miralihflil-ies, miralihflil-ies, ho li:ilfm,cuseil hlnisel becnusp, nt!leat)t. Jie was faithful to a type. Tho love of Ills youth seemed very near to hlra ng, ho g(nc himself umesorvedly to the Iqyo of his, mlddlc-agc. He seemed to know this woman by Instinct. In-stinct. Ho hnd no question or need to worry her to learn nil ho required to learn nbout her. Then, one day, sho returned to tho dropped topic of her early lovcj nnd thcro wns the merest trnco of excitement excite-ment fu her voice. "His name wns Charlie,'' she said, "that boy I told you nbout. Don't you think that makes It mori thnu over n coincidence our love since your name Is Charles?" , ''I used to bo nlwnys called Clmrllo o'nee." ho said, nbsct.tly, for ho was looking very intently nt hpr. Her palo .cheeks Hushed almost youthfully, "t wonder,"' she wont on, "you Iwac no story to tell mo iio old romance. Surely you met some one nbrond or before you wont nbrond?" "She wns looking younger nnd blighter than lio Jmd cyjr seen her. It was ninrvelfous, the frnn'sforimitlon 0f Just tlint touch of color In her cheeks how It rounded them, helped lnr to shake oft the marks of trouble, the hand ot Time. To-dny she bad laid aside her heavy black black neer suited her nnd her hair was more loosely twisted, licrhnps. And then, In her eyes a most unusual thing wns a stray gleam of fun nnd mlfcchlef, showing her nllvo to tho comedy that springs sometimes from henit-breaklng Issues; In this Instance In-stance the comedy of her having jec-agnized jec-agnized him at once, although so much iiad como Into her life between them: of his haIng fulled to lecognlzo her, although she had ncer for n clear hour left his thoughts. Hut he knew her now. "How can you ever forgive my blind-ness?" blind-ness?" ho said. Hut It seemed his blindness had plensed her. "Cannot you see," she asked, "that I might prefer to be loved for what I nm now rather than for something I was once but never can be again? Now I know that you lovo me becnus'o I reminded you of n girl you used to love, but nlso for myself, woman growing old. You do not only lovo me beenuc you used to lovo mo and think It Is your duty never to leave oft doing a tiling you have onco begun." be-gun." And she owned to having dono what little she could to keep up n delusion that had como by chance; tho chance that had kept him dreaming of n girl still ns n girl for well, long past her girlhood. 60, In the end, he married his first love, linvlng fallen In love with her the second time. So two hearts, once set nsldo ns broken, were very credibly patched for further use Philadelphia Evening Telegraph. |