Show A RICH PAUPER PATTER I 1 1 1 she was a pauper but the queer part of 0 it was that sho she never discovered the fac fact until one night last june ah ali that night in june the whole bartl seemed an altar to beauty the stars throb bed in ecstacy and the air breathed of i a sweet and terrible restlessness and th the paupers haupers pau pers nature thrilled in response what was it she was twenty five years old married and a mother she was sur surfeited felted with luxury the conventional girl oft of the he upper class her dreams had been of marriage motherhood position and riches her dreams had been realized she was always called a nice girl in appearance appear arce she was not pretty enough to attract or ugly enough to fascinate she was simply and merely commonplace on the beach she would bo be ignored by the men and admired by the women and she would never tempt a hammock to an indiscretion she was a nice girl everybody liked her lint perhaps nobody loved her in any picture fihe she would supply the wanted tints she was respected but to be respected acted is not mot always to beloved be loved some women inspire one sentiment and some the other when a woman vroman commands both she Is in deed happy and then came the night in june sh slie e was sitting a quite little figure on the piazza watching the fireflies she was contented though she was never to be eo so again suddenly a tall figure in summer flannels materialized it leaned above her its breath was on her check cheek she saw its eyes and trembling lips quite plainly through the dusk for a brief second then in a flash thew the whole holo expression of the face changed it was transfixed with horror borro mingled with amusement 1 I beg your pardon I 1 I 1 have made a great mistake the cottages on this bluff resemble each other so completely I 1 and again she was alone and in that moment she knew she was that she had always been a pau pauper 1 er in loves land no man had bad ever worn such a look for her she was not at that moment quite sure that she would have liked it if they had something then existed tor for other women of which she had known nothing and there was a chap chapter terin in life in which abbe had no parti it was very queer she sat up very straight and listened she heard suppressed laughter on the piazza of the next cottage A voice said 1 I nearly kissed her by jovel you are quite sure you did not asked a second what you havo have seen herl berl I 1 assure you it was no temptations then both laughed it was apparently a joke which both appreciated assuredly these cummer summer cotta cottages ge s are placed too near each other for decency and rid it Is s true also that they resemble each other too closely As the pauper sat there a new pain tugged at her heart it was not cased eased even when she heard in the nursery of her cottage a child achild whimper whim per out in its sleep from another room hung in she could hear mens voices and the rattle of chips chip one voice was that of her husband A woman who the hag has nothing to give is a pau perill perl she said and bowed her head she was human and was thinking with her heart and not her soul she tried to say to herself that modesty intelligence and womanly worth were of infinitely more value than the beauty of the flesh belt be it so she had still missed something what had bad she given the man she loved unselfish devotion truth purity the affect affection iou which lays hold upon the stars and survives when the earth sinks away 6 i yes all these but ho he was a man and his love of the woman beautiful must be forever starved in lit his love for her oil oli to have been able to call to ills eyes the look which had bad shone in those of that strangers stran gerl etwas it was the part of love which belonged to the flesh the unworthy part but it existed and not for forber her and this was not heaven yet but earth if god first made the heart 0 of man why had bad ho he since then allowed plain women like herself to exist that they might suffer it was a cruel thing but like other cruel things it was true her pain now was like a fever and a fever which in turn struck one long harsh larsh note of pain A moment later she stood within the cottage her husband looked epand up and drew her to his side he ire would have kissed her but bhe he said pettishly please dont do antt ho ile stared at her in amazed good nature and then went vent on playing cards with the family friend once within her room she lighted the candles tn in trembling haste and crowded them closely upon her dressing table thea then she loosened her garments aud and her hair and leaned eagerly to receive the verdict of her mirror deliberately ache judged herself she was not ugly no nol brutshe but she was lacking in what charm Yest yes that bat was it nature which gives all to some and nothing to many had neglected her somewhat but she told herself that nature had fashioned her one of her largest class those who resemble each other as closely aa as crackers from froma a cracker factory she was commonplace nice but commonplace place e and she felt that she could never forgive nature she flung about her a loose robe blew out her candles and sat by her window the waves were veto Ilin flinging glug themselves in cheer sheer abandon upon the beach out there she wished suddenly her brain asked a question had he been true all these years the thought was like a hot iron in her heart but eho held it there firmly that heart which had bad never before doubted and her heart answered her brain nol not it said I 1 and then the poor forlorn pauper said to I 1 i cart and brain tomorrow I 1 will knowl she had fret set herself a difficult task all through the long night she lay with wide epen eyes and for each splash of the wavea I 1 upon the beach she had a thought about 3 in the nio morning rulo she smiled a wan but triumphant smile at last the right ouel onel and then me 1 now tha the family friend was wasa a most honorable honc he ile had never betrayed betray c d a L man af after ter breakfast he came over from the hotel and sauntered across the little lawn to where the pauper was sitting I 1 upon a gay g TOS rug spread in the sunlight 1 I 1 she was picking grains of sand fro from in the setting of her diamonds which she had bad forgotten td to remove for her morning sea bath her bat hat was flung upon the grass I 1 and her hair glistened with brino brine as it dried in the sun sit hero here beside me said the pauper wih with a white little smile and arid he lie who never yet betrayed a it man I 1 leaned indolently upon one elbow as he stretched himself out beside her he ile I 1 1 bite l 1 a arcao CZar arc elto and ani watched iler L lk trough the sl slits Vs af 6 ills L Is eyelids as one by ono one she held her diamonds up and examined them she moved slowly to and fro a ring which cave gave forth little daggers of light lie gave me this when we were engaged this when we were married and this when the baby caroo came and this here she hesitated when asked be indifferently yawning cannot you guess 11 no 11 hut but he shut his mo mouth nth suddenly and the slits ot of bis his eyes grew a bit more narrow lie was listening now well when I 1 found out about what the family friend looks 8 away iberl the pauper says slowly aly 1 I er stammered the family friend when he told you about her di ant be he tell you that he had told me met demanded the pauper 1 I dont know what you aro are talking about said the family friend uneasily shutting hutting his eyes biera the pauper laughed u ched it was a long laugh but perhaps not very merry you boosel she cried airily why when he lie told me he said you already knew do you think I 1 would have alluded to it I 1 it i I 1 had bad nob not been sure of that there was a moments fei lence then no wonder you forgave dimill said the family friend in a low moved voice for a minute the pauper was astonished at the wild dance all nature executed then the sky came down with a crash and broke into jewels from which she found herself placidly picking bits of sand w why by do you think it so natural a t thing bing for me to have forgiven him she asked and her voice ewas was perfectly even and not at all husky because said the I 1 innocent faill family y fr friend end no matter how sorry they were few men would have contested confessed to their wives I 1 never knew he had and then he be tried to change the subject but the pauper seemed strangely persistent III 1 I I 1 took time to think it over said the pauper breathing hard on tho the diamonds it was noble to forgive I 1 thought it ended rather suddenly tor for an affair nabi which c h had been going on so long dont you know the family friend began to feel a trifle awkward perhaps he had bad said too much but the pauper sighed in a gent gentle leway way lie ile always admired that type of beautys beau tyl yes the family friend looked surprised 1 I never thought her at all pretty but there ther ewas was something about berghich her ber which seemed to charm most med 11 then after a pause she was rather fetching people alwa always ys looked twice but she halt half as stunning as arent your diamonds clean yet nearly you were about to speak of theo the other therone one 11 ko so there was another one how ilow many wondered the desperate pauper and she had never dreamed the thet man she loved could bo be false ah well that amounted to BO so little but did he really tell you all these things you knew about both A cold i tion seized the family friend oh yes answered the pauper placidly they had been rich these other women rich in charm chalmor ch armor or beauty and s she he was a pauper lie had returned to her ferhad had always loverher lov loved edher her with the best of bis his nature c this she still believed but when a woman loves a man she wants all and she had never been could never be beall all to him there he cornea comes now exclaimed tho the family friend he ile looked much relieved and arose and shook himself like a big faithful dog he ile never knew that the pauper had been as artful as he had been artless 1 I shall have to make the best of UP it said t the lie pauper to herself as she gathered her diamonds into her little embroidered handkerchief and passed into the house it can never be beany any different no woman can hold a man to any greater extent than is 13 in her nature at dinner that night the family friend quite enjoyed himself and the husband waxed affectionate over his wife not every man has a wife like mine I 1 t said he with a genial glanco glance across tho the flowers at the pauper 1 I should think not I 1 said the family friend with much emphasis and the pauper smiled at both and each day and each bilg night ht sho the thought about it A gentleman who was by turns both frivolous and grave has said on every height there lies repose you will recall the fact that his name was goethe and that saying comfor comforted ted the sad little pauper who went about wearing her diamonds very bravely seeing each day women who had bad none and who were yet rich the pauper was climbing one day she reached a height upon that day she looked in her mirror and said 1 I forgive him and we all know that life Is like a clock it stops for a moment we lve give it a little shake and the wheels move on johanna staats in truth |