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Show I I IlLOVE and MARRIED 1IFEJ if I Imj. the noted, author ' . i Idah MCelcme !bson J II JOILN ASSERTS HIS RIGHTS "What in heaven's name brought you to such a state of mind, Kathcr- 9 'ine? Had Karl Shepard been trying, to I Jf- make you think that you were an jls . abused woman?" asked John when he T 'finally had come to the conclusion I ' that what I had been telling him of' II iriy attempted suicide was true. I ' "He had been telling me nothing. I I did not know that Karl Shepard was K In the city until 1 heard a voice ex- 'claim: "Don't bo foolish and two! J strong hands jerked me back. When If looked into Karl's horror stricken "So the scoundrel had been follow- j.J lSf Vou, had he? Great God. r would H iiot have thought that of him follow- UjH Ing' b-'s friend's wife is something I EH would hot have believed of Kaii Shep- lilH avd.' if my wife had not told me he ijH had done so." I I Tried to Explain , ' "But John I did not tell you that he was following me. I have tried to explain ex-plain that he hadn't intended me co know that he was here until he was ready to apologize to me for his part in your fight over Bess Moreland. Hc thought he could help me a little in some way to feel right toward you .id well as toward himself. "I don't understand how he thought v,pv fie' could help you. You are my wife, not him. The only tiling he can decently de-cently do. if he wants to be a friend to elthqr of us, Is to keep away." ! , "Jf he had. John. I would not bo , ' here .now to tell the story. VOh, you can't make me beliovo i that! You never would iiavy had the 'courage to do it." ' I 1 turned my face away and my body ' trembled so that my teeth were chat- 1 tering. There was not one word of sympathy for me, not a pitying question ques-tion ak to the cause of my despair. Instead there was only black rage ' against his friend and a stubborn re iteration that I was either lying to him or was telling him a story of i something that I thought I could pos- . slbly carry out, but in which I would havo surely failed in the last moment. For" all the many times that I have'( told John that I considered courage'( the greatest of all virtues I can seeji that he has always denied both moral r and physical courage to me. h I No Poaching Allowed j ''Well. I'll tell you once for all I j will not have any man poaching on my preserves and I can't understand wh"-j ) ( you should think that Karl Shepard's "' habit of following you arouna i:kc i a little dog has nothing of great im-1 port In It. Everybody knows he is in j love with you. Men do not do things Hkc this-and tills and this (and he I picked up my basltet of white violets and threw them violently out of the windb.w) unless lie has some special interest in doing it. .f "St11' J'cs" ho continued, "I know f thatj these flowers could be from no I other .'person than Karl Shepard. They 1 were'liis mother's flower. As long as she lived he sent her a basket of them i every-Sunday, and the moment I sawl i them about your sick room at the bos-' pital I knew with diobolical subtlety I ho had transferred his delicate little attention lo my wife. I didn't say anything about It "then because lj k thought that if you didn't have sense v ' enough to slop it you would at least Ki see the futility of his attention. .Hut H I want to tell you right now, Kathev- H ine, that I am going to keep you. You H are. mine. Mine, and no other man Hi in all this world shall have you. Oh, W girl, why do you drive me mad with Kj jealousy?" and again he drew me to sj llim and crusned mc against his heart. ' I pushed him from mc. It seemed to mo'that what John was feeling for me now was only the pride of possession. pos-session. I was to him something that "belonged." and as such ' he thought of me always. "Wife Declares Jlcrseir "Don't touch me," raid, "don't i think that you can thriil me Into for giveness you do not deserve. You are slowly making me hate you and doing your best to send me directly to tho man you affect to despise." "Where Is that letter you are talk-ins talk-ins about?" ho asked, as he suddenly remembered that I had mentioned a letter that Karl Shepard told mc to ';i went over and took it out of my jewei r,case. "Keep it among your treasures," he sneered, "do you?" "Yes,"' I answered, suddenly flaring into quick decision, "this letter is one of my greatest treasures for it tells me of a fact of which I had almost despaired that there is in this world a man who can be unselfishly sympathetic sym-pathetic and .If by any possibility he finds himself having undue interest he finds himself having undue interest inter-est in a woman that can nor return it, he tells her so frankly and bids her goodbye. "Read that letter, John Gordon," I said, thrusting it into his hand, "and then tell me that you are thoroughly ashamed of yourself." , (To Be Con tin ued) |