The Ladies’ Magazine.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2389, 2 January 1909, Page 10 (Supplement)

The Ladies’ Magazine.

WHEN THE. BANK FAILED.

s-' Richmond was heartsick ancl brain ' frantic. He railed at the law, littered anarchisms, and was. eager to riot, plunder, and destroy. For two years lie had toiled and saved, had denied everything, except, what was absolutely necessary, to the ultimate end that he might marry the girl who had waited patiently for him.- And now the bank in,which he had dopos- ?■■■ ited the money had gone to the wall, wrecked by unscrupulous speculators, who deliberately ruined the poor in a futile attempt to gain millions over- • night. ' t

“Law! Law! They talk of the law! Bah! They ought-to take them out and—but what am I saying. My Cod, there is murder in my heart!” And he sobbed openly, brokenly, despairingly.

Uptown the girl was waiting. Ho was to have called in the evening, and again they would hav.e'gone over the plans for the tiny four-room flat, where they were to have the first glimpse of love’s happiness. And now the dream was wrecked, shattered, a thing of fragments which in time micht- be re-built, but never so beauti!tui. They had put in many evenings in contemplation of what was to have been their home, only .to have' it all culminate in this miserable ending. Foster .Richmond had been handicapped in his younger manhood > by lack of restraint, and had entered upon his mercantile life without thought of prudenco or the future. For nearly ten years he had lived from mouth to mouth, spending his salary as fast as it was earned for passing pleasures. Then, when he was thirty she had come. Somehow there was an indefinable atmosphere' about her that suggested comfort and peace and love. Possibly because he had tired of the other life; perhaps for the reason that she was the one woman of all women for him, whatever the explanation she had filled his heart before lie had known her a half-year and she was a life tenant.

“Marjorie, dear, it’s hard, but ” he muttered, then stopped, because he could not bear the disappointment she would feel when he told her. The papers were full of it, but as yet no one- could tell liow great had been the destruction. Possibly there would :be a dividend of half, it- might be less, but whatever it would be, payment would be deferred until weary months passed. And they had expected to have been married the following week. He had asked for and obtained leave from the office for a short wedding trip, and he had no use for it now. It was to be the same old grind.

“I won’t need that vacation,” he told the superintendent. “What's the matter? Quarrelled?” lie asked, Half jokingly, for he kneiv his subordinate’s intentions; in fact, lie' Avas prime mover in a little plot io let Richmond know die was loved by his business associates.

“No, my money’s gone.” “In the failure, Foster?”

“Yes.” “Brace .up, old man. I feel for you, and I can comprehend ihe horrible force of the blow to you and to her. Richmond, I’ve been married for twenty years, and in that time we’ve seen hard sledding; but you take my word for it, when a woman loves she will laugh at trouble if the man who has her heart-is there to be comforted ,and cheered,” and the other man extended his hand in friendship and in sympathy. In a fashion he got through the day. - But between his eyes and the ruled pages there constantly came a picture of a weeping girl, praying to the God she trusted that the nows was false; that the name of the bank was wrong, asking for the slightest straw upon which to 'keep hope afloat. He ate, but it was mechanically, not that he felt hunger pangs demanding food. He boarded the car; usually "it crawled along, to-night it was plunging ahead at express-train speed, it seemed to him. When he rang the bell he wondered what he would say,, how he could break it to her. if she was still in ignorance, or comfort her if ehe had seen the papers and knew their ship of dreams was on the shoals. “Good evening, Foster,” she said, in her old-time, gay little way, when she opened the door. . Se looked at her face, bnt could detect no signs of anxiety, no trace of weeping. She did not know. “Marjorie,” he began. “I know you want to tell me about that horrid bank failure. I read of it in tint papers. Isn’t that where our—our money was?” and there was just the slightest break in her voice. “Marjorie, I’m sorry. It is hard r’ “I know all that, dear,” she told him in a soft whisper, “and on you, too. But we can’t help it. When I first: read the papers I cried until I thought my heart was breaking. Our pretty little flat, Foster, that was going to be home —our home. We can’t have it, an<J it was so near to us. But we have each other., sweetheart. - “Thank God for that,” lie. murmured/

“It is deal to bo thankful for. I don’t know if you can quite realise liow happy I have been in these short years of knowing you, my boy. 1 tliin'k life began for me when you told me how you loved me, and it has been very sweet since then. Every one has rybuble and we can bear it together.’'’ ' r'' “You brave little woman,” he said. And there Avas a hew spirit in his voice. “We're not old yet.”

“No, and we arc not defeated, SAveetheart.” And his tones had their old spirit .of - determination and confidence.

“That’s the Avay to look at it. IVe haven’t lost our happiness, even if one dream has been torn from ais. There are lots of happy hours for us, dear.” “You’re right, Marjorie. By the way, our superintendent' said something to-day that helped me then, and more now, because it Avas all true. ITe said a woman Avho loves Avill laugh at trouble if the man Avho lias her heart is Avith her, and ” “Of course she will.”

“Now, it is up to us to .start over again. There Avill probably be sometliii ig saved out of.the wreck, perhaps half. That will mean another year for us to Avait, and then Ave’ll enjoy it all the more because of the bitterness of to-day, for it Avas bitter at first. Also,, little Avife-to-be, it Avill give us time to decide the color of that portiere; you know I think red is far preferable to the green you Avant,” and lie laughed in the Avay that used to delight her. “Green; I Avon’t give up,” she bantered.

“The year won’t seem so long, it, dear?” “What year?” she asked. “Why, that Ave’ll haA r e to Avait,” and he looked at her to see if she Avas joking in not understanding. “I didn’t, say I’d wait a year, Foster.”

“Marjorie, girl, do you mean—mean that avo needn’t wait,” and he held his breath for her answer. “Why should Ave ? Being cheated out of a flat is being defrauded out of love.”

“Dearest, you’ll marry me next week, then?” “To-morrow, if you wish it. Let’s be happy in spite of fate,” and she gave him from her eyes a glimpse of a heart full of faith and trust.

„ These symptoms of repentence have seemingly reconciled Mrs. Fish, Avho now declares that Newport is saneand normal, and adds that any American who spreads derogatory reports concerning it is unpatriotic. “I never saw,” says-Mrs. Fish, “any of the blushes Mrs. Cornwallis West speaks of because of senseless, festivities on this side of the Atlantic. The mood of society is the same everywhere, and a lady is a lady in any country. I fancy New York society is, if anything, more dignified . than that abroad. It is exclusive in some respects. For instance, King Edward is very democratic, and goes about socially a great deal more than Mr. Roosevelt does.” . , ~ _. Mrs. Fish agrees with Mrs. CornAvallis West in one particular—that New York society ought -to open its doors a little wider. As she herself proudly avers, “Money does not count a bit if people are agreeable and entertaining. I don’t care if they have not a cent if I like them, and I invite them to my parties.”