The Man Between: An International Romance

ng man. Nor did Ethel wish him to do so. Under these circumstances began the second beautiful phase of Ethel's wooing, a sweet, daily correspondence, the best of all preparations for matrimon

rote thee

thee, Love

dearer, twelv

eper one nig

urer-this

d thee, dea

took up her old life w

asil with his wife, and his efforts to make Ethel see how much he expected from her influence, and yet at the same time not even hint a disapproval of Dora, were almost p

see me to-day he smiled like an angel. He believes you will keep me out of misch

ou mean by

after me. All the young men I used to know pass me now with a lifted hat or a word or two.

ude's church would m

but as to being the pet of St. Jude's ladies! No, no! How they would mew over my delinquencies, and what scratches I shoul

e no one a reason for saying a

't keep the man away from me. I don't beli

be seen with Fred Mostyn, that little monocular snob, after the aristocratic, handsome Basil Stanhope.

nly a cl

e pulpit. Every man that knows him gives him the highest respect, every woman thinks you the most fortunate of wives. No one car

ke me out in his auto this afternoon, but when I said I would go if you would he d

elf as a great compliment. If he had done such

s you. What dirty trick did you

trick'? It would have been a very dirty trick to h

nds his money as an obligation h

of the finest manors in Eng-land in return for the o

get your father'

e will re

oney to pay Fred? He says he is

her. Whether my father had the money or not was immate

d he bor

you to ask that question.

ose h

such a thing. It i

will look over, the chronic misunderstandings it will forgive, make it one of the mysteries of humanity. It was not in a day or a week that Basil Stanhope's dream of love and home was shattered. Dora had frequent and then less

g or Bryce was also there; and the reckless auto driving, shopping, and lunching had at least a show of respectable association. Yet when the opera season opened, the constant companionship of Mostyn and Dora became entirely too remarkable, not only in the public estimation, but in Basil's miserable c

outh and beauty had been wasted; that she was only nineteen, and her life was over. She wanted to go to Paris, to get away from New York anywhere a

g to tell you. Mrs. Colby and Mrs. Schaffler and some other ladies have a beautiful idea. They wish to give all the children of the chu

you say

ys so fond of

could end

, I was so sure that I promised for you. I

uch childish nons

ised it

s my house. My father bought it an

intrude in your house.

. You do intrude when you come with such ridiculous

. Mostyn

le sensible pleasure. You think I can be

tired of me! You do not l

ied. It was all a mistake. I will go

e was suffused, transfigured with an anger

ou are my wife, willing or unwilling. You are my wife forever, whether you dwell with me or not. You cannot sev

fied. She flung herself on the sofa in a whirlwind of passion. She cried aloud against his claim.

hands off me!" For Basil had knelt down by the distraught woman, and clasping her in his arms said, even on her lips, "You ARE m

d with these words she rose, threw off his embrace, and wit

ust-he could not say the word; he would wait a little. Dora would not leave him; it was impossible. He waited in a trance of aching suspense. Nothing for an hour or more broke it-no footfall, no sound of command or complaint. He was finally in hopes that Dora slept. Then he was called to lunch, and he made a pretense of eating it alone. Dora sent no excuse for her absence, and he could not trust himself to make inquiry about her. In the middle of the afternoon he heard a carriage drive to the do

to marry while she was only a child. She said she had been cruelly used in order to get the family into social recognition. She was in a frenzy of grief at her supposed sacrifice when her father came home. Her case was then won. With her arms round his neck, sobbing against his heart, her tears and entreaties on his lips, Ben D

ough ancestry burning within him, Basil Stanhope called to see him. He permitted him to com

want here, si

wi

ot see her. I have taken

. No one can ta

h you a diff

law o

es here. You'll find it

you to let me

ill

y here unti

h to offer your profession an insult; if yo

uestion-what hav

ns and Christmas trees! Great Scott, what sensible woman would not be sick of it all? Sir, I don't want another minute of your company. Little wonder that my Dora is ill with it. Oblige me by leaving my house as

re white walls. Grief's illimitable wave went over him, and like a drowning man he uttered an inarticulate cry of agony-the cry of a soul that had wronged its destiny. Love had betrayed him to ruin. All he had done must be abandoned. All he had won must be given up. Sin and shame indeed

his sorrow and perplexity. And there is a depth in our own nature where the divine and human are one. That night Basil Stanhope found it, and henceforward knew that

house Dora called "hers," took away what he valued, and while the servants were eating their breakfast and talking over his marital troubles, he passed across its t

the matter when she returned after the New Year. Bryce was her first informant. He called specially to give her the news. He said his sister had been too ill and too busy to write. He had no word of sympathy for the unhappy pair. He spoke only of the anxiety it had caused him. "He was now engage

hear both sides," she said. "Dora had been s

x," he replied; "she dou

l career as well as his personal happiness. He could feel for the man there. "My dears," he said, with his dilettante air, "the goddess Calamity is delicate, and her feet are tender. She treads not upon the ground, but makes her path upon the hearts

they must take the consequences. "And why should Stanhope have married at all?" she asked indignantly. "No man can serve God and a woman at the same time. He had to be a bad priest and

pe," said Ethel. "Bryce was bitter against him be

e to do with J

to marry he

ffair-a marriage with all the advantages of a good bargain. I'm tired of the whole subject. If women will marry t

eldas in this cent

t kind of a man was he in his home? Measure a man by his home conduct, and you'll n

home now, p

t? God only knows.

gone to

the fool. But there, now, God forbid I should judge he

side

ts in others. I have sometimes met with people who should

e miserable all his life. He wil

Basil Stanhope's body will fail long before his heart does; and even

ntances. St. Jude's got a new rector and a new idol, and the Stanhope

ow of lives she could no longer help or influence. Indeed, as to Dora, there were frequent reports of her marvelous social success

brings its

hoked soul

get becaus

because

e city as miserable as possible, Ethel had a caller. His card bore a

" she said in

s Ethel Rawd

es

told me to put this

am glad to hear from

or church-pneumonia, miss. While reading the ser-vice over a poor young m

he speaker, and again ejaculat

do." And he quietly departed, leaving Ethel standing with the parcel in her hand

ince he was married," she sobbed.

here is no death to such

so young

thers called him hence' at

t growing

th make men

ke an oak thre

ast, dry, ba

y of

er far

fall and die

ant and flowe

's story, and when she ceased speaking he had gone far further

the Lord, therefore hasted He to take him away from among the wicked." 2 And that

ret

Solomon, I