The One Woman

with the quick stride

as a pet

ried twelve years, and, up to the birth of their boy, four years before, had lived as happily as possible for two people of

ad and laughed her out of countenance. These quarrels had en

urious interest in the woman who had spoken so sweetly to him at the close of his service, he wondere

s fast becoming an absorbing passion, and w

oming more and more conservative, the gul

half in defiance of conventionality and half in whimsical love fo

osing my grasp of truth because I am giving up traditional dogmas? Has God given to her soul the power to look inside my heart and find

th a voice like liquid music, friendly, soothi

became conscious of the life of the city again. The avenue was a blaze of

ors of these people were once faithful observers of the Sabbath. Now they went to church in the mornings as a form of good society a

uman history-a life that had put darkness to flight, snuffed out the light of moon and star, laughed at s

ndour and beauty of it all stirred hi

gles and triumphs for the past ten years, and was destined to be for him the

here but a few hours before he had held the gaze of thousands. The electric lights

lonely as those vacant pews? I give, give, give forever of thought, sympathy and

ould stop every huckster on the street, lift his eyes to heave

a centre reaching the Nation and its millions with pen and tongue of fire. Gradually the sense of isolat

he hands, a habit he had formed of telling

pite of all harsh words and bitter scenes. She was the mother of his two lovely children, a girl of ten and a boy of four. The idea of a night apart from her, he, and theirs came

ng chil-dren and went to bed. She tossed the first hour, thinking of the quarrel and many sharp thrusts she might have given him. Perhaps she

r began to broo

an to nervously clasp her hands and turn her wedding ring over and over again

te brunette of distant Spanish ancestry, a Spottswood from old Tidewater Virginia. To the tenderest motherhood she combined a passionate temper with intense jealousy

race, delicacy and distinction. She had a figure almost perfect, erect, lithe, with small hands and feet and tiny wrists. Her voice was a soft contralto, caress-ing and full of feeling, with a touch

arly every face that might pass, and-yes, she would be honest with herself now-to spring into his arms the

ated cars on their long trestle, count the stations, and guess how many minutes it would take him to climb

illness! His face had looked so weary and drawn. S

m weak and selfish, an

rt. Bring him to me qu

er feet, both hands on her lips to keep back a screa

ked, and he wa

s were around his neck, her form convulsed with

d her tenderly, felt her lips swollen and w

blot them out with kisses-one for every harsh word, and one more for love's own sake. But you must

horror of those hours when I realised you were gone in anger and might not come back t

ed and k

sk it,

u remember, on our wedding day, when I looked up into your handsome face and the sense of responsibility and joy crushed me for a moment, I cried and beg

mber," he sl

ulfs between us. You read and read, while I can only wait and love. You cannot know the silent agony of that waiting for I know not what tragedy in our lives. Frank, teach and lead me-I will follow. I love you with a love that is deathle

l try,

fingers through his h

now it is a sin to love any man so.