ONLY PRIDE.
"I have loved thee--fondly loved thee!
No one but God can know
The struggle and the agony
It cost to let thee go.
But woman's pride usurps my heart,
And surges to my brow.
To see thy cold indifference!
We must be strangers now."
FRANCIS S. SMITH.
"Will no answer ever come?" sighed Geraldine, as she watched the
papers, day after day, for an answer to her personal.
"Hope deferred maketh the heart sick," it is said, and her suspense was
cruel and torturing. Not even Cissy's presence could assuage her pain,
although it was borne in torturing silence.
One morning, while she was searching the newspaper columns, as usual,
her eyes gleamed with a sudden light of pleasure, and she looked up at
Cissy, exclaiming:
"Only think, dear--the Clemens Company will begin a week's engagement
in Chicago to-morrow evening."
The quick color flew to Cissy's face, but she nodded with apparent
indifference.
Geraldine continued:
"They will play 'Laurel Vane.' Oh, do you remember the night in New
York when I played it, Cissy, and our terrible interruption by the
appearance of the men who arrested Mr. Standish? I was very unhappy
that night, for I believed that Harry Hawthorne had married Daisy
Odell, as that wretch declared. Oh! how it all comes back to me now--my
jealous misery when I stood at the wings watching you all in Mrs.
Stansbury's box! But, oh, the happiness that came to me later, when I
learned the real truth!"
She leaned her fair head down on Cissy's shoulder, and sighed:
"No girl ever loved a man as fondly as I love my darling Harry, and the
mystery of his fate is breaking my heart."
Mrs. Fitzgerald entered the library at that moment, and Geraldine
looked up quickly, saying:
"Mamma, cannot we have a box at the theatre to-morrow night? There is a
play that I specially wish to see."
"Certainly, my dear, if I can find you some lady to chaperon you and
Cissy. You know I cannot accompany you, because of my deep mourning."
The box was secured, and a chaperon found in the person of a very
old lady, a distant relative of the Fitzgeralds, who had fallen into
comparative poverty, but who would enjoy the outing all the more since
she could not well afford to give herself the pleasure of a box, and
was too proud to use a low-priced seat.
The next evening found the three in their box at the Columbia--Mrs.
Germyn, the old lady, looking the chaperon to the life in her black
velvet and point lace, set off by her silvery puffs of hair. The two
young girls--Geraldine in silvery-blue brocade and pearls, Cissy in
white, with gold ornaments and flowers--were the cynosure of all eyes.
Not a face in the crowded and fashionable audience could compare with
theirs in beauty.
When the curtain rose on the first act, it was not long before the
company discovered Geraldine and Cissy in the nearest box. They were
surprised and mystified, for no whisper of Geraldine's good fortune had
reached her old associates. It had been whispered about that she had
eloped with the missing actor, Clifford Standish, and some had pitied
and others condemned.
So many and curious were the glances that went from the stage to the
box where beautiful Geraldine was sitting, robed like some princess, in
all the trappings of wealth and state.
The young girl enjoyed it thoroughly, and presently she whispered to
her friend:
"I'm going to send a message to Cameron Clemens to come to our box at
the first wait. You won't mind, will you?"
Cissy's heart leaped quickly under the lace and flowers of her corsage.
"Oh, Geraldine, you know I do not wish to meet him," she whispered
back, while the half-deaf old chaperon lent both her ears to the play.
"Cissy, you are the proudest girl I ever saw! How can you be so cruel
to poor Mr. Clemens? You are as much in fault as ever he was, for
I am sure that nothing stands between your hearts now but your own
abominable pride."
"Oh, Geraldine, how can you jump at things so? I dare say he has
forgotten me now, and is in love with some other lady--that beautiful
leading lady, Miss Mills, for instance."
"Why, Miss Mills has a husband whom she fairly adores. You needn't
be jealous of her, darling. So I'm going to invite Mr. Clemens into
our box to talk to us. You needn't be friendly with him if you don't
choose. I'll introduce you as the veriest stranger, if you wish."
"Very well," answered Cissy, for she knew that the willful beauty would
have her own way.
Geraldine's romantic heart was set on the reconciliation of the two
long estranged lovers; so she sent the message at once, and Mr. Clemens
came to the box at the end of the first act.
"Aren't you surprised to see me here, Mr. Clemens?" cried Geraldine,
shaking hands with him cordially, then presenting her friends: "Mrs.
Germyn, and my friend from New York. Miss Carroll, Mr. Clemens."
The estranged lovers, both pale as ashes, bowed to each other like
strangers, without a sign that they had met before to-night.