Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 May 1909 — Her Beautiful Rival. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Her Beautiful Ri val.

By LUCY MEDFORD.

Copyrighted, 1909, by Associated Literary Press.

“You got awfully sunburned today, Jim,” said Jim Lancaster’s nice little wife as she handed him his cup. “I guess I have. My hat blew off 'Just before quitting time, and I come down from the rocks for it.” He leaned back in his chair contentedly. “Mrs. Holman has company,” he announced. “Has she? Who?” Nan looked eager. . ... “You can’t guess.” He was teasing her. “No, I can’t. I’m not good at guessing. Tell me, do!” “Well, it’s Mrs. Abner McClure.” Nan sank back in her chair. “You mean Molly Stewart?” she asked. Jim nodded. . "When did she come?” Her voice had changed. “This morning. She brought a trunk, SO I judge she is going to stay quite a spell.” Nan caught her breath and looked at her husband, eating his supper and apparently all unconscious of the strife which he had suddenly renewed in her heart. Long ago, very long ago in the days when she had only loved Jim and never expected to be his wife, Molly Stewart had been his sweetheart. She was a rare beauty, one of those to whom Nature has given and given .Until it seems she can add not one .thing more. And she had ways. No other girl could charm as she could, or dance or sing or laugh. She- had never known ■what came between him and Molly. He said he had ipot asked Molly to marry him, and she had hinted that he had and that she Would have none of him. Nan remembered the first time he walked home with her from church and how the people stared. She was not pretty, like Molly, and she had

not Molly’s good clothes or Molly’s iWay of wearing them. She was just * sweet, dainty looking girl, with a heart capable of love and happiness. Jim had always been her ideal, her hero. When he turned from Molly Stewart to her she could not understand it Molly had married Abner McClure soon afterward and had scone away with him. She had now been away seven years, and still people remembered and spoke of her young beauty, which had reached its transcendent point on her wedding day. Now of a sudden she had come back. The news oppressed Nan. She did not know why. “I didn’t tell you, did I, that Abner McClure’s dead?” Jim asked later in the evening. “No. Is he?” Nan returned in what she tried to make a careless tone. Then she rose and went into the next room for something. A little while afterward he said: "You needn’t put up any luncheon for me tomorrow. I’m going to eat at Holman’s. There’s some timber there that I promised to look at long ago, and I guess I’ll do it tomorrow.” The hot day subdued itself into a hot night. Jim slept heavily, but Nan could not She lay looking out ofthe window at a certain star which struggled wearily to free Itself from a cobweb of cloud In which it had become entangled. Varied and very bitter were her thoughts. Molly had come back a widow. Nan could see her in her black things, with her vivid face and coppery hair. It Was said Abner McClure had money, and Molly always would dress well •nyway. Nan had heard of what a beautiful widow may do, and tomorrow Jim, her Jim, was going back to Holman’s, straight into the old net that had enmeshed him. She clinched her hands in the darkness and prayed. Toward morning she fell asleep. .At B Jim aroused her. He had been up an hour. ”1 let you sleep as long as I could,” he said. “Don’t fuss over the breakfast. Just make me a cup of coffee and give me some bread and butter. Fm In a hurry today, dear.” Nan sot breakfast She did not eat

any herself. She kissed Jim passively at the door. “What’s the matter? Aren’t you feeling well this morning, Nan?” he asked anxiously. Nan watched him up the hill. Then she lay down on the lounge and had her cry out. Noon came. She “'made some tea and drank it. It braced her up wonderfully. Indeed, she felt al most feverish. It came to her that she would not endure It a moment longer. Jim was there, and he was her husband. She would go there too. After noon a breeze sprang up which relieved the hot day. Nan dressed carefully in a white lawn with pinkish spots, a dress her husband admired. She loosened her hair about her face and let If drop a little lower toward the nape of her neck. She felt that she was girding herself for battle, and she meant to have no Weak spots in her armor. Then she locked the door, called Shep to follow her and, raising her umbrella above her bare head, set forth. The walk put heart into her. She felt ready for anything as she crossed the last field before the Holman house. Mrs. Holman greeted her with a kiss. “Why, Nan, how do you do? I’m right glad to see you. I suppose you know Molly McClure’s here? Jim told you? Yes. Well, sit right down in this chair. We’ll stay on the veranda, for it’s cooler than in the house.” Sho stepped to the door. “Molly!” she called. “She’ll be down in a minute. She’s most through dressing,” she said, coming back to Nan. * “How nice you look in that dress! You’re one of the few women I ever knew who could wear pink and keep their complexion in it.” That did Nan good She was cool and her heart had steadied down when a great rustling of skirts on the stairs announced Mrs. McClure. Nan rose to meet her. “Why, Nan Farrell—Nan Lancaster, I should say!” Molly pried, embracing her ecstatically. “I am perfectly delighted to see you!” She held Nan off and looked at her. And Nan looked at Molly. In that moment her doubts, her long fear, her jealousy, blew away like a pinch of thistledown in a strong breeze. She found herself sitting in her chair again with Molly beside her talking volubly. It was all over. “You haven’t changed a bit, Nan,” Molly was saying. “I asked Jim if you had yesterday, and he wouldn’t say. He said I should Judge for myself. What have you done to keep your complexion like that, and your figure ?” Nan laughed. She could laugh now. Molly’s young glory had . faded sadly. Her wonderful hair was thin and dull, her cheeks coarse; her teeth had unmistakably been replaced; her double chin rested on her full bosom, and she wheezed as she talked. Presently Jim came striding up with Mr. Holman. From afar he waved his band toward his wife. “Just as much in love with you as ever, isn’t he?” Molly said, seeing him. She disposed her handsome skirt carefully, so as best to display its cut and finish. But Nan did not notice. She w r as thinking of Jim. Molly had been an illusion, and the illusion was dispelled.

“JTUST AS MUCH IN LOVE WITH YOU AS EVER, ISN’T HE ?”