Her Husband's Purse

e inhuman ideal of him, of which she was enamoured, the man himself was as unknown to her as though she had never seen him; his image merely served as a dummy t

s abode. She would have delighted to have lain her cheek upon the doorsill his foot had pressed. The actual sight, once or twice, of his ungainly figure on the street, set her heart to thumping so that she could not breathe. Her discovery, throu

he scholarly gentlemen whom her uncle considered dangerous, gave her a free half day, even he

rocery shop, where some provisions were being piled into her phaeton, and where, to her quivering delight, the Object of her adoration just chanced at that moment t

y in her bosom. Her nerves became quiet. The young minister stood before her as he was. His Adam

hs of Margaret's obsession, that she was actually experiencing the thing he was so persistently trying to avert; for it would not have been conceivable to him that

deluded was a mystery to wonder over, to speculate about; but the passion itself, the depth, the height, the glory of

an absolute illusion and be so ephemeral, made her almost as cynical about love as was her uncle himself; so that alw

m her wide and varied reading with him, and also the ideals of life she formed in the solitude which gave her so much time for thought, were unusual enough to make her unique among women. One aspect of this difference from her kind was that she was entirely free from the false sentimentality of the average young woman, and this in spite of the fact that she was fervently imagi

being unusually strong in its affections, it took hard schooling indeed before she could endure with stoicism the loveless life she led. It was upon her relation with her elder sister Harriet, the only human being who really belonged to her, that she tried to feed her starved heart, che

er easy, good-natured bearing, was destined

f his will. They were together in the library, waiting for Henry, the negro manservant, to f

broke a silence that had fallen between them, "that you are not

ver thought of that, stupid as it may seem to you, Uncle

have me die and

be pleasant-and having English dukes

ancy they are a high-priced commod

nt a really col

have, it would be more than enough to spoil what is quite too rare and precious for spoil

ret asked with wide

tend to leave

ourself

ong, emaciated fingers. "First, because you wouldn't be sufficiently interested in the damned money to take care of it; secondly, you'd give it away to your sister, or to her husband, or to your own husband, or to any o

ove, money is the only thing left to marry for. And if it has to be a marriage f

t the present. Let me tell you something, Margaret: there is just one source of pure and unadulterated happiness in life, and that I bequeath to you in withholding from you my fortune. Congenial work, my girl, is the only sure and perman

ll, taking care of you? These years of my youth in which I might be preparing for a career I'm devoting to

r at once. Considering her earnestly as she sat before him, the firelight shining upon h

"is an aspect of your ca

uldn't be at all like you to

s place, for the founding of a college which shall be after my idea of a

) with Berkeley Hill, Uncle Osmond, if you don't give us the wher

tare. "Huh!" he muttered, "you've got some money s

poverty can certainly rob us of all that is worth while in life, wea

e you taken to

ram, isn't it! Good e

y to work, and that is robbing you of life's only worth. The most

mond, I'd rather take my chances for h

e the boldness to tell me to my face that you ex

, pl

d complacency! Well, as I've told

can make it over, or add a codicil. Which sh

ll your slops.

employed, as per contract, in responding to his surliness; and the absurdity, as well as the audaci

ter Eastman, while all the rest of the considerable estate was left to a board of five trustees to be used for the founding of a college

e for Margaret, through process of law, a reasonable compen

idn't wish me to have a

our uncle had a lot of sentiment, didn't he

be better for me not to have it. He really did have some heart for me, Walter

y are sentimental,

harleston to live at Berkeley Hill with Margaret, retaining the two old negr

pending thousands in repairing it, so

mestead which had for so long been occupied by some branch of the

ause she thought she ought not to be a burden to Walter. But the Southerner's principle that a woman may with decency work for her

was at first

ace to help me with the children; and out here I can't do as I did in Charleston-get in some one to stay with the babies whenever I want to go anywh

to support me, Harriet, dear, you c

on as she discovered how lonesome it is out here, a half mile from the trolle

be a fixture?" Margaret asked, hiding with a smile her inclination to w

t answered affectionately. "Walter and

r uncle's death, Margaret cont

," and never dreamed of consulting her younger sister as to an

in Harriet's want of enthusiasm over their being together; her always cool response to Margaret's almost passionate devotion; her abstinence from any least approach to

vish all the thwarted tenderness of her heart

he became aware of a certain fact of modern life of which her isolation had left her in ignorance: she discovered that in these days of highly specialized work there was no employment of any sort to be obtained by the untrained. School teachers, librarians, newspaper women, even shop

ly fighting a grande passion for her would have seemed to her grotesque, incredible; for Walter, being a Southern gentleman, controlled his feelings sufficiently to treat her always with scrupulous consideration and courtesy. Therefore, she considered Harriet's jealousy wholly unreasonable. Why, her sister seemed actually afraid to trust the two of them alone in the house together! (Margaret did not dream that Walter

the couch in her sister's room keeping guard over her sleeping chil

ype="