The Other Woman's Hand

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 375, 16 July 1903, Page 8

The Other Woman's Hand

. A •»■.■■■ Oitmm mU It. fwHy. t TSB young man who would make tar hknself e name sod ton* goes *ne4. By the seme token, he who would bid* those bom betakes hfcnsslf greet. Keeesly wen* waet beeauee the girl fee we* In lovs with £lt*d him, oat of bead, for • richer fellow, end he was •ufy bard bit. He w«nt west and mi •Mi to tight, eud the places whtri bt eV*4 boon ko€w his oo more. If enyee* chanced to mention him to tb« girl, •fee smiled tb« will of pitying eondumpt, which U moot women'* tribute ft* tbe memory of a men they havs treated abominably, end said: "Poor task." Bhe wee ee mean ee the wee beautiful—wbleh ie not tbe fairy-tale iaggfliili; bat tbe got ber punishment tali* tnd—wblebie. , Ate ie bow it come about: Cfareumatanccs end physician* over Wbleh she bed no control acat the rieh men ehe hed merried —whoee nemo wee Kent—to apend e i«eeon on tbe Pacific coast. Kent's feney lighted upon e seefort town, tht only object* of interest In which were a break-water, in course mi construction, and a spit of land upon which, tourists were assured, tbe etjeUtona of dead aad gone pirates mlfbt yet be dog up. Neither these l*r the adjoining shipping Tillage, which only awaited the appropriamou of a delinquent congress to become tbe berbor of the Pacific •dope, offered to Mrs. Sent tbet variety end excitement which alone cjoald make existence palatable to ber. So ahe decided tbet if there mere to be eny aueh, they must come horn within herself. Therefore, estbe meet unlikely thing that she could beppen upon, ahe determined to try whet it might be like to lead that which is known ea a normal and healthy life—going to bed when the froga began to sing in the diemal marshes •bout, and getting up with tbe sun. "I will take plenty of exercise," she exfleincd to her husband; "I will row for a couple of hour* before breakfast, on the lagoon, I think." She experienced some real enthusiasm about it at thia point. Kent did not. He foreaaw the diaturbanee of bis own comfort, which wea not greatly conaidered at tbe beet of times, and be tried to discourage ber; but without aueecss. At dajbreak she made ber way across tbe strip of land tbet divided the lagoon and the sea. Tbe hotels and cottages faced the sea, but tbe legooo wee the inner harbor, aad there were upon it only wharves end rickety boathouses and fishermen's hnts. It waa but exactlj a picturesque outlook, ordinarily, but tbe aunriee lights cait a sort of glamour orer it now. Been tbe deep, loose sand wee eool and tinted, an.i all traced orer with fine cabalistic lines wb»re the liaards hed dragged their tniU and no one hed ee yet ttrppvti. 1 .*:•*• on, it would be blister* irsr hot *nd the marah weeds would r5»- obi .-. rhokiog smell; but thieearly, f hj» ir »i Kb -.1 ri yrHow and pink bloesome 1m ! a frr»h and pungent scent. sh» followed a path that lea*to e rough Isunrd >h«ck. stsnding on stilts over th' rbb-tSde mud. where e sign edverti«> d that boats were builded end for reel. Whrn sh* etopped in the smell d».>rwat. her figure shut out moat of tfce light, and ahe could barely discern thr man who waa moving about inside. i'.r raiKt :<>wsrd her. Her back was to tt<r low rays of the sun, so her face was if. ibr blackness, end only her form waa e. g.utening white es the Angel of Ap»ealyps*. Had be a row-boat, she asked; one poi too heavy, and with oars of a mod* •rate sweep? He waa taciturn—• ». *!«ng-*hore character, probably—for r=e did not even anawer, only took a pair i»f spoon oars from their rack on the wall, and led the way out to tbe landing pier. She followed, running egainat Strang* ehapee of wood, and stumbling over piles of lumber in the gloom. When they were out on the landing, he turned about and faced her suddenly. She was quite close behln«! him, end she gave a quick start bark. -I thought ao." ha laid, eteedily; *1 th>-.T-.'ht the vole* wes like yours." lie had had that much warning, but ah • bad had none at all, and it might hare hern- a fall two seconds before •he got control of herself. Then tbe besuty of the situation and all it* poe-sibil-tiea floated upon her suddenly, and she decided that her movement of impulse had been the best ahe could have made. So she followed it up. She shrank beck into tbe doorway farther still. "Bieasrdi" aba said. cowering. H« stood reeting upon tbe oere aad scrutinising her stolidly. Be fla tiered himself that he was calm, not to isy cool, but Mrs. Kent had e deeper than surface eight. She knew thet be appeared cool for very much the same reason that e circular saw appears -w- still when it is going fast enough. For berself snd for tbe major pert of mankind ehe was a very light scoffer at tore; but she was bo suck fool as not to know that the heart which bee truly loved and never forgete doee have !t» existence in the flesh as well as in _ the linea of Iris's bard. So, summing up the situation with the aid of obeervationi upon his character, made rather exhaustively come ivs yeare gone by, she came te tbe eonclasioß that, ■l when she should be reedy, it would Ht take perhaps half an hour at tbe outK aide to hsT« Jjira *t her feet ae a tiger PF im at the feet of • trainer with a whip. Heae«ly apokc at last. "You did -- your work pretty thoroughly while you were about it, you sec," he said. "I went to tbe deril aad to bed-rook m eomethiag less than a year. Then I married a Portegueee Seatrgiri wfeoa

I wee drwafc, aad she aad I are living together m that shanty over there.' Be nodded in the, direct ton of a little unpainted,board shav-k »ouie 50 yards off among the sand*. Mrs. Kent covered her face with her palms while she gained time to try and think of something as dramatic and concise. But her own sppearsnee did not lend itself to narrative of the kind. She made a: broken murmur, vague with hints of her Own deep wretchedness, do instead, rleucsly did not answer; only turned on hi* heel and led the way to the landing •tape. Re wee there to help ber out when she earae back. When she asked if ahe might use tbe boet next morning he told ber yes. He explained'it to himself as being proper liri<>. and that shs should not fancy hta» afraid After a day or two he altered the rsplanation to that it couldn't matter any way. and often that he did not try to explein. Be let things gn. At this point she lingered, sitting upon the besl of a yawl up for rspeirs. and talksd about herself in hopeless rein. The ensuing steps'were talk shout himself. He responded fairly easily, aad showed hie drawings, his toots and the new gasoline engine band saw which was hi* especial pride. Re taught her how to stsrt the engine up, and to cut along traced lines through the hardest wood with the toothed band of steel. It was inevitable, thereafter, that tbey should—having had herself end himself—come to themselvaev And whsn that happened—it waa about the tenth day of her "normal and healthy" life—much more did aa wstt. So that when she started te go at iaet, and siood, beautiful, in the midst of aU tbe roughness srouad, his hsad went completely; and he caught her hand against hi* lips and held It there. Tt was delight and bliss and temporary obliTjon to him. ' It was tbe au.cess of an experiment with her, and the point beyond which she did not mean to go, for her wisdom was of this world. But to Maria,'Henesly's Portuguese wife —who waa under the boathouas, peering up through a knothole—it waa rage and jealousy of a very savage kind. She' bad'had her suspicions of the woman who Came %o rften and for so long at break of day, and now she was verifying them. Ai for what tksy said, tks two. she eoxld seat her hear nor understand all of that. Her Kuglish was limited. ' But sh* saw Henesly kissing the shapely hand, and there was nothing ineompraheueible about that. If Henesly hsd had the slightest idea of what Maria had seen, he .would hare been justified in ' being uneasy and in recalling tbe warning of one of those poets of his better days, anent mate aaturee whleh punish you in deeds. Por Maria made no sign at all: She only waited her Urns. It came very soon. That same night Henesly was called upon to repair the hull of e launch, and he hsd to be up until long past midnight, working with lanterns, to tshs advaatsge of the tide. The consequence waa that he overslept himself the next day. Maria, however, did not. She arose early end want out. When Mrs. Kent earns, huunning a snatch of soag that she knew would be calculated to awaken memories ia Henesly. Maria was bidden behind a pihj of lumber in the' dark corner where the gasoline engine waa. lying in wait, with a big knife up her sleeve. Mrs. Kent had no suspicion of that. Shs wandered around the boathouse, playing with various things, and finally, aa tbs time grew long, she wsnt over to the corner and amused hsrsslf by atartlag tbe band-saw up. as Henesly had shown her bow te do. The gasoline engine began to spit and hies, and tbs skiay contrivances, whose names she did not know, te clatter and turn. The saw-edged bend Itself began to whir so tmrj fact that it sesmsd te be quite still. Shs hsld a scrap of wood egainat it aad watched it cut smoothly ia two without e jar. When ehe looked up she could see Henesly hurry over along the path through the dune* from his shaek. She stopped plsying with ths saw, and •tood waiting for him. beginning ths strain of song again. Hsr hand was lying close to tbe soring band. Maris raised hsrself up i B the shadow and looked at tt. It was so white, so small. so near the turning eew. It was the eeme hand that Henesly bad klassd the dey before. Ths whir of the machinery was ia Mrs ; Kent's cere. The light of the low rays falling through the open floor was in her eyes. She did not heer the boards behind ber ereak. She did not see that some one wae coming aearer and nearer, with hot eyes watching that white aad careless hand. The engine wae spitting aad clatter. ing uaeonesraedly when Heneely stepped into the place, and in the gloomy corner near it, something white and huddled wae on the ftooe. It was a women,'* figure fallen on the face and with arms thrown cut. On the end of one arm there was a hand. On that of the ether—there waa none. Mrs. Kent's tele, to Henesly and to her husband, wss never quite clear. Perhaps she had moved; perhaps sh* had swayed; perhaps some one had pushed her arm against ths saw. She hsd thought that some one had gone 1 past her, just a* she reeled and feltand. besides, ths hand, eat dean at tbe wrist, was gone. Aad Maria, toe, was goae. Henesly never saw her again. But that nigh? as he sat alone ia hi* cabin, his head dropped ea his folded arms, a vote* came ia- at tbe window above his head —came la With the croaking aong of the frogs ia the swamp outside and with the drifts of the thick, gray fog. "Keas it.** tt said from vacancy, almost in hi* ear; **keaa it. ef you like to. now." And something fell o» tbe table near his forehead, with a thud. He groped and touched it. It was soft and cold. He fslt it ever. It waa a small, stiff hand.—Sen Frsraeics Ao-