FAITHFUL SOULS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11852, 2 January 1902, Page 3

FAITHFUL SOULS.

John Douglas was pouring out confidences to his old. friend, Jim, as they sat together in a cosy little room in a large hotel; a "good fire burning, and tobacco smoke encircling their heads. John had just landed from India, after ten years' sojourn there, with only two breaks in it of a couple of months. It was fortunate to have met his most in- j timate friend of the past, and a great relief 1 to talk ove\ his affairs, after so long an ab- ; sence. " So you've come home to marry at last, have you?" observed Jim. " I have. Ten years is a long time in a. .man's life."-' " Why didn't you marry her the last time you were over?" _ '■'•■' ''O lots of things hindered." .. >■ A long silence, followed by a sigh. " She's a dear, faithful girl is Nell." "She must be to wait all this time." " It sounds deadly monotonous, Douglas." "Well, perhaps, but you can count ..on it, you know; count on it." -~; - .-. . " Seems so." ■ "It has not been fair to her," went on Douglas. "I wrote and told her. I was coming to fetch her back with me at last. She writes regularly, more regularly than I have , done, lam afraid; a fellow alters so." : . " One does," assented Jim; striking another match. . "It's" my plain duty. Once I thought I I couldn't live a day without her, then I got j used to it and after that,it became second j nature, and, between ourselves, Jim, there were days when she only entered my mind 1 about once. Dear, little soul,' I was everything to her; she was not really everything | to me; a man's different," somehow." 1 "Faithful souls, we men," said Jim, settling; into his chair again. • • I Well, I'm right, aren't I?" asked John casting a slightly injured glance at his j friend. V'. : - i "O yes, my dear fellow; quite right, j quite right." ; j "I shall feel rather mixed up and strange, and—anderyou know, I met a girl out ] there—jolly little thingcalled Lil. By ! Jove! Such eyes. I'd like you to sec her." j Jim smiled a saturnine smile. , | "Does she know about Nell?" I "No; I didn't mention her. I thought | she would see the notice of oin wedding in I the papers, when it comes off. She will know how to behave herself. She's a little lady. : ..... ■ "That's all right," said Jim. "She's a dear, faithful girl," murmured Douglas, after c, long silence. .■;;"■ Which '!" asked Jim. Again John turned questioning eyes upon his friend. * , . "Why, Nell, of course." "Thought you might mean the other girl in India." - "I didn't. I could have been happy with Lil. She's my sort; but the ten years have the pull on a fellow, you see. Yet one alters ' so." ~ / - •..' ■ ■-•, ' " One does," assented Jim. A man came in, bringing a letter for John Douglas, who took it, and, glancing at the' post-mark, saw it was from Nell. .He asked permission to read it. Jim sat on, cynically smiling in his cloud of smoke, but with " the tail of his eye" fixed on his friend. The letter was much longer than might have been expected, seeing Nell knew that her lover would be with her the following day. Many different expressions flitted over John's face as he read, and when he reached the last line he put it down with a gasp of astonishment. "Anything wrong?" asked Jim. "Read it for yourself," and. John passed over the letter. " Scarcely honourable to read a lady's love-letter, is it?". " Under the circumstances, it is, for I couldn't explain ; so go on, and be quick." Jim went on at once. '• "Dearest Jack, — cannot let you come to-morrow without telling you about something I want you to know. "I couldn't tell you it face to face. If I had thought you ; were coming homo so soon. I would have written about it before you left Bombay, but you had sailed for England; when Ire-, ceived your last letter. You see, I had; grown to think that you were a fixture in India, and although a women's_ life may. be monotonous, she does not entirely stand ( still through ten long years. One alters so. I used to think, when you first went out,' that I could not live another day withoutyon, but I had to settle down to it, and, after all, lived on quite healthily, you see, and sometimes happily; then, you would; turn up again, .and■ I. became miserable, foi"! another short time. 'After your last visit, Aunty was very ill, you remember, and Dr. Patrick O'Connor came to sec her daily, and he and I became the closest of friends. This friendship broke up; the monotony of the old life gloriously; you know it well you say it rests you to know the old place is always the same, every little item unaltered, when you come back to it, and I myself there, as usual, unaltered, too, like the rest of the furniture—which furniture, not being my own, I could ■ not ■ move ' about. into a fresh place. So the time dragged on, and Dr. O'Connor helped me through it. Then your letter came, and we knew our' friendship had come to an end. Pat is ;a great, strong man, with . kindly eyes and' reddish hair, utterly unlike yourself, not at all handsome, but clever and fond of me. He told mo honestly that he loved me more than life, but that he should abide by my decision. I knew I loved him, Jack; it is no use denying the fact, for when people are away so long a woman must fill her life with something; and one alters so. I . am putting it before you, if jou still care to come and take me as your wife to India; I am ready to go. Of course, you have the right, after ten years of faithfulness on your part. But if you would rather not see me again wire and tell me so,_ and I will save yon all disagreeable inquiries at this end— is nothing but right that I should bear the brunt. If you can forgive me, dear old Jack, do; and. let me know soon whether you desire to' take me back with you or leave me here behind. Time is a queer thing, and we alter so strangely. ■; "Your Nell." "By jove," said Jim, "what shall you do ?" •-' ■ Jack sat gloomily staring into the fire. ! "You can't force the girl to marry you, ! can you ?" i "Shan't," muttered Jack. , " Then you will wire, and not go ?" "No, I shall wire and go." "How very, uncomfortable for the Irish-! man." ; C ,■;;'., . j ; " Not at all; I shall give them my bless- | ing and remain over the wedding." ; "The forgiving Saint. Bravo !,What a ! role to play. May I come too V - _ ! "If you like. I'm just going out to wire. Shan't be long, old fellow; wait hero for me." . "... : : ■ "Ah, yes; to the faithful Noll." t . ' " No, not to Nell, to Lil .in India, saying ' I shall return as soon as possible." "1 see," murmured Jim. "That's all right; how wo do change." .. But Jack had gone to find -the .telegraph office. ' A short time afte. this all the people who knew Nell, and especially her relations, declared they never did, and never could, see another such perfect man as John Douglas. Ho was more than human, he was bordering on the angelic, to have remained faithful to Nell for ten long years, whilst she had filled her time of waiting with untold flirtations; and then to return and grace the weddingfeast of the unworthy pair. Why, it was simply magnanimous. But this was what John Douglas did. With subdued mien, but kind!} withal, as became a jilted lover, he acted as best man to the happy Irishman, who had hurried up a wedding by special licence. John Douglas gave Noll a long, last kiss after the ceremony, leaving no pang of jealousy with the kind-hearted Pat. So John took a farewell of his friends of the past, and went back to the land of drought and sunshine; and all the little world of Kirktown wondered. With a twinkle in his eye, a short time afterwards, Dr. O'Connor brought a newspaper for his wife to look at. It contained a description of John marriage with Lilian Snowdon, in far-off India, about a couple of weeks after he arrived there. Nell looked; up half-question-ingly, " Why, Pat, he has been as bad as wo were all the time, hasn't he ?" and Pat nodded, adding: "I thought the gods had ceased to live upon the earth, and I was right."