The Brussels Post, 1886-11-5, Page 22 THE BRUSSELS POST Nov. G, ].SSG.
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A, VAGRANT WIFE,
By F. WARnse.
Author of "THE Horan ON Tao Mena"
"AT Tun WoRLn's Alsnor," ETD.
a suitable lodging. She was on foot;
and, as she entered the station, a hansom
passed her with a young man in it who
quite startled her by his likeness to
Harry. The resemblance was so
strong that she stopped, half inclined to
turn rack and walk about for a little
while, in case it should be indeed her
husband, so that he might have left the
station before she gob there. But then
she reasoned with herself that Harry
was in Leicestershire, and was expected
at Garston to -day, even if he were not
already there; so thab she decided to
go boldly on. And another feeling im-
pelled her forward—au unacknowledged
hankering for a last sight of her hue.
band, or even a look at the man who so
strongly resembledhim.
Annie did nob love her husband—she
had never really loved him; and since
Ohristmas she almost hated him. But,
now that she had loft him for ever, and
that too without any farewell; a natural
inconsistency prompted her to try
to steal a last look at the handsome
lad who had been her lord and master.
So she went into the station, and,
leaving her luggage for future considera-
tion, looked about cautiously for the
man she had seen in the hansom. He
was not to be seen about the ticket -
offices, and, growing bolder, she slipped
in and oat among the groups of people
on the platform. A train was about to
stab for the North. Still with caution,
but attracted in spite of herself towards
that train, which, as she knew, would
stop at Beckham, Anuie advanced until
she was nearly opposite to the doors of
the refreshment -room. They opened,
and a young man came out. Annie
stopped, with the colour rushing to her
face ; for it was Harry. He looked so
handsome in his light travelling -suit,
with his overcoat hanging loosely over
his arm, that she felt quite proud. of him,
and stood there with her eyes fixed upon
him, half hoping he would turn and see
her.
Blithe did not, for he was gazing
eagerly in the opposite direction—so
eagerly that be risked being left behind,
as the carriage doors were being closed.
Annie's eyes followed his, and found
that the object of his evident admire.
tion was a showily -dressed woman with
bold eyes and impossibly yellow hair,
who was tottering along the platform in
boots which had long slender pegs in-
stead of heels.
With a sigh of disgust, Annie turned
away. It was years before she saw her
husband again.
CHAPTER X.I. ' • - _
The first thing Annie had done on ar.
:riving abhor London lodging had been
to take off her wodding.ring and bide it
away in a corner of her desk. She had
given to the landlady the name " Miss
Langton," which she resolved to adopt
for the future. These were her first
steps towards cutting herself off from
her past life ; the next was a bolder one.
During these long weeks when she
had lain ill in bed,she had pondered in
her mind how she could live when she
had left her husband, as she at the very
beginning of her illness determined to
do. One trial of the life of a governess
had been enough for her, and she could
not easily have re.entexed it except in
some sort under false pretences. Be-
sides, now that she had thrown herself
upon her own resources, and stood once
more alone in the world, her old ambi-
tions had awaked within her, the old
spirit cried out, the vague but strong
consciousness of untried powers turned
her thoughts to a career of art. One
form of art alone seemed opened to her
—the stage. All that she knew, or al-
most all that she knew, of a theatrioal
life was distasteful to her, and her in-
stinct would have led her to give herself
up to writing. But she had already
tried that, knew how hard it was evenito
get a hearing from Ithe reading-lrublio,
and oast aside the thought of literary
distinction as taking too long to win.
Of course, knowing nothing about the
stage, she fell into the common error of
thinking that talent made itself more
quickly manifest there, and utterly ig-
nored the fact that it is about as easy
for a woman of high principles, without
either money or interest, to attain a
good position in a London theatre as for
a drummer -boy to become a general.
She knew she would have to wait and
to work before she found her way to the
front rank; but how long that weary
waiting would last or how dull that
work would be she had not the least
idea. She bad unbounded faith in her-
self, she had energy, a little patience,
and she believed herself to have talsnb;
and her hearb beat fast with the thought
that she was now free to measure her
strength against the world.
As for the horror of hor husband and
the rest of the Braithwaites, if they ever.
came to hear of the step she had taken,
why, she did nob carefor their opinion,
and their disgust could not humiliate
her. Besides, the fact of her having; bo-
soms an actress would effectually cut
her off from them for ever and prevent
their treble. i., bring 'ter bluer 1 , „ tem
u possiuuiay too dreadful to be c,a-.c iec.
cid calmly.
For, now that they were ovet, yet
stilt fresh in her mind, the trials she had
suffered daring those few months of
married life seemed, in those filet days
of relief from them, even greater than
they had really been. Barry seemed,
more brutal, more ignorant, more dissi-
liated, Lady Braithwaite and Lilian
more coldly insolent, George more eel.
fish, Wilfrid; more drunken, Ste ben
mord uvkied; so that the stage held
out attraotlous ter nor in the owlet ells
livion it involved which it would have
been far from having in her eyes in othei
eireumstanoee.
Not once did the thought occur to Am
nio that oho was doing wrong in thus
leaving bier husband without consulting
him. from the first she had been toe
obviously his superior in judgment to
set any value on hie opinion, and now
she only thought she was ridding him
as well as herself of an intolerable bur-
den in the simplest manner. She had
tried hard to do her duty as a wife, and
had succeeded only in exasperating him
against her and in unwittingly irritating
him to more than his customary excels.
sea, In leaving him free she thought she
was rendering him the highest service
in her power ; and in freeing herself she
felt, with a throb of joy, that she was
once more able to indulge in her old
dreams of ambition and success.
But in this argument with hereelf she
forgot one thing—namely, that she had
not left Harry free, This forgetfulness
was the natural result of the effacement
she had suffered at Garston° Grange,
which had caused her to depreciate her
duties as they had depreciated her
rights. It did not occur to her to think
that she, morally the stronger of the
two, was abandoning her husband, in
all the first heat of a singularly wild and
passionate nature, to a life in which the
innocent indulgence of the affections
was no longer possible ; for she looked
upon him ae a brute incapable of any
but the lowest forms of love. As for
herself, she 'did not think herself in
danger—she was of cooler temperament
and higher intellect; her imagination
took fire much more readily than her
heart; she had thrown herself into the
prospect of a brilliant career, and the
idea of leading a loveless life had few
terrors for her at first, except in rare
moments of depression.
But, though the future was full of
charm for her, the present was not
without great dificulties. How was she
to enter upon her new life 7 She re-
membered that some years ago, in the
old days when her father was alive,
when she was still a schoolgirl and
theatrical mabters had the charm of
mystery, she had been with her father
on one occasion when he had met and
introduced to her an acquaintance of his
who was a manager and actor too, and
whom she had wondered to find so ex.
ceedingly silent and grave, when she
remembered how he had made her
laugh upon the stage. She now hit
upon the bold measure of writing to him
and asking if he would see her ; but a
week passed, and her letter received no
answer. She wrote again to his theatre,
and this time enclosed a stamped di-
rected envelope, with an apology for do-
ing so and an earnest request for five
minutes of his time. She received in
reply a hasty note naming a day and
hour when he could see her ; and, more
excited than she had ever been in her
life before, she arrived at the theatre at
the appointed time. She had to wait a
long weary time, very much ashamed of
herself, very much afraid her application
would be in vain, very much wishing
herself out of the group of shabby men
—whom she mistook for actors—with
whom she was waiting when at last the
manager came. As his eyes fell on her,
she stepped forward, holding his letter
and giving her maiden name.
As she had expected, he had long
since forgotten her; but he asked her
to follow him up -stairs, and gave her a
courteous hearing at the back of the
dress -circle. After some difficulty, he
remembered, or said he remembered,
their former meeting. He strongly ad-
vised her not to go on the stage, telling
her that even great talent did not al-
ways command success, that it was a
hard life full of disappointments. Find-
ing her resolution still firm, and for the
sake of her father, with whom he had
at one time been inbimate, he agreed to
let her make a very modest first ap-
pearance at his theatre as a silenb
guesb." He did not much approve of
lady -amateurs, even in this humble ca.
pacify; but the girl was so much in
earnest, her pretty pleading was so
touching, that he made this litble con-
cession, scarcely doubting that, if she
went through all the rehearsals, after a
few nights of a suffocating dressing -
room and a draughty stage, she would
appear no more, cured of hor unfortu-
nate whim.
The rehearsals were a bard trial car.
tainly. To stand about for three or
four hours on a dark stage in the com-
pany of two. or three more " ladies" who
would have been scarcely refined enough
for her to engage as maids, and thou
sometimes to be dismissed without hav-
ing, to go bhrough her simple duty of
walking across at the back of the scene
with a shabby man who by day filled
the position of a bill.stioker, was not
work too exciting to leave time for some
unpleasant reflection. When the piece
came out, things were a little better.
Of the three girls who dressed with her
iu a largo baro room which seemed miles
away, up at the top. of the theatre, two
were illiterate but inoffensive, and the
third proved to be one of the merriest
little creatures who ever wished to be a
great actress when nature intended her
a good washerwoman.
Going home alone at night frightened
her dreadfully, and she never got quite
used to it, Leckily there were omni.
pure, which took her nearly the whole
r tho short cl,stanco alio had to
wcc;a c ,.fore she caught one was a'night-
ly agony. though nobody ever took any
notice of the insignificant muffled -up
little figure.
Thepiece was a failure, and did not
run long ; but she did duty again in the
same humble, oapaoiby, with the same
companions, in the comedy which fol-
lowed, hoping for an opening to menace
tieing more dignified and better calcu-
lated to show off her histrionic powers,
if oho possessed any, The opening came.
Ib was a very small ono, merely the op-
portunity of saying one line as a maid-
servant; but the minutes before hear-
iug her own voice for the first bine in
public, were frangbb with a terribly in.
tome exoibement Which no important
part in aftor.bimos over called up in her
with the same strength.
It was a fow nights after this ordeal
that on returningfrom the theatre she
was seized, for te first time since los.
ring Garatone, with a longing to hear
what was going on bhere—bow her de-
],arturo bad been taken, and how 'Wil.
Baur passed hie time wibhout her. So
she wrote to her boy brother-in-law,
giving, es the address for him to write
to, that of a stationer whose shop she
Passed en her way to and from the thea -
bre. It was nob that she mistrusbed the
boy's word, or even his carefulness; but
elle did not wish to get him into trou-
ble, as would certainly 'have been the
case if any of the rest suspected him of
knowing her real address.
In answer she got the following let-
ter—
" My dear Annie,—Ithought you were
never going to keep your promise and
write to me after all, and you havent
told me much now you do write to me.
For I want bo know ever so much more
than you say. You need not be afraid
of anybody seeing your letter. For when
I got it at Moss's I took it straight back
and down to the willow pond. I road
it, andfasbened it under the lining of
my hunting-oap. So its all rigt. There
was a shindy when they new you were
gone. George went to your aunt and
first he scolded mother and Lil and said
they ought to be ashamed ofthemselves
and your aunt dident know where you
were. And Harry you should have seen
him go on. You would have thought he
was a good husband and you a bad wife
if you heard him. He had been to Lon-
don and sold his hunting -wadi and bougt
you a dimmed ring which I think you
would have liked but of course you were
write to go away andi said so and ho
_punched my head and I punched his
back. So he dident get much good by
his interferring with me. They thougbb
I new where you were and I said if they
thought 1 did they migt just try to make
me say thats all. So they lissened to
reason andHarry drinks more than era
he is as bad as Wilfred eery bit. And ho
is allweys hanging about Green's forge
now. Susan Greens come back a pretty
thing for a man married like he is now.
I only tell you this heves I think you
ought to know being his wife, which is a
groat pity. They none of them know
you will never come back except Lil
who says you wont and that makes
George very angry and one evening made
Barry cry like a great baby jested of
trying to find you. The place is beesly
now you are gone and if I wasent going
to uncle Geralds in Ireland I thing
I should have to come and dig you
out.
"Your afocsionate brother-in-law,
" WILLIAM FITZPATRICK BRAITnwAITn.
" P.S.—If you could see . the black
and white rabit now I think you would
laugh for his logs are alright but so stiff
that he hops about as if he was made of
wood. Jo• bit the pups tail off a fort.
nigt ago."
This letter made Annie thoughtful.
The Rubicon was passed now ; she
could not have gone back, even had she
wished to do so, with what they would
have considered the contamination of the
stage upon hor. But what William said
about Harry caused her to ask herself
for the first tient whether she bad not
dons him wrong, whether alio ought not
still to have stayed and continued coldly
to fulfil her wifely duty to the letter,
whether there had not been more sel-
fishness than self-sacrifice in giving him
back his liberty. She felt not one whit
more of affection for the drunken lad
who had become the ardent admirer of
the blacksmith's daughter ; but this last
fact was too significant not to awaken
her self-reproach. She felt at the bob.
tom of her heart an unacknowledged
gladness that it was no longer in hor
power to go back ; and in the cares of
her present life she soon forgot again
those of her past.
For the few shillings she received at
the theatre forher work werenot enough
to pay her modest expenses for food and
lodging without her drawing upon the
small sum she had brought with her
from the Grange ; William's money she
had resolved not to touch except in ease
of utmost need. So she tried her
strongtb by living too simply, while she
Passed, in sprite of herself, at the theatre
as a " rich ' ,lady who " Dame behind "
for a freak. She had clothing enough
to last for some time, and before the
and of the summer she was lucky in
being able to sell a short story; and
then, after being for a fow weeks out of
work and in debt, and almost in danger
of absolute want, she got an engagement
at a salary which was josh enough to
live upon, but with no chance of more
than a fow linos to speak.
And this was her life, with now and
then a hope of something butter to do,
followed always by disappointment and
sometimes by despair, for nearly three
years, at the end of lei& time she was
still appearing et a fashionable comedy
theatre, where she had been figuring in
the programmes for some months on the
last line of the list of characters,. thug—
" Maid,
hus—"Maid, Miss Langton."
And t1r brilliant future .she had pie.
turgid encu for herself seemed farther
away than ever. For she had by this
time mastered some of the secrets of
mows on she stage. The highest sue.
case, she still knew, fell only to the
highest talent; and this belief, which
was directly against the creed of most
of her companions, she held to the end.
It was all look, they said. Tt was chiefly
hook, elm thought too—the luck of being
somebody's soh or somebody's daughter,
of having good looks and bad principles
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Repairs of all kinds promptly
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HURON AND BRUCE
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MORTGAGES PURCHASED.
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Horace Horton,
MANA°IE'u.
Goderioh ,Au g.8 th,188i
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The undersigned bogs to inform tho public
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