130 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



May 



The I., -i ..L iicif^ari'tte. "Do yon be- 

 lieve in he.;\"i u'.'" 



"No; it I did, I should have been 

 dead loug r.;.'o. I am afraid to die be- 

 cause I don't know what comes after 

 death. I so loug for — for peace — for 

 something else — something beautiful — 

 something to love. Do not laugh." 



"You are not a bad woman. " 



"Yes, I am. " 



"Then vou ought not to have been 

 one." 



"True. Til at is the cruel part of it. " 



They watched the men and women 

 promenading before them. Then the 

 \5roihan said, "It is a strange world." 



The man did not answer. He was 

 thinking. She continued: "You are a 

 strange person. Where do you live? 

 What do you do? How do you amuse 

 yourself?' ' 



"Oh, I live alone, quite alone, now 

 my dog is dead. I watch people. I listen 

 to what they say, and — 1 think." 



"What do you think?" 



"I think tnat when he — whoever 'he' 

 is — created men and women he ought to 

 have made them altogether gods or al- 

 together animals. No one in the world 

 is happy, because no one is ever certain 

 whether he — or she — should live for the 

 'real' or for the 'ideal.' And therefore 

 men decided to seek for both, to be 

 sometimes good and sometimes bad, to 

 play at being gods once a week and 

 beasts twice a week — in fact, to live for 

 the 'real' G^o days out of the 7. And 

 some of us, you know, cannot, as the say- 

 ing goes, 'do things by halves.' We 

 must be wh.illy one thing or the other. 

 There is oiilvthe 'good' or 'bad.' There 

 IB no 'mecnocre' lor some or us. iao \vo 

 leave the choice to fate, and when fate 

 has chosen for us the world rises and 

 either crowns us with the laurel wreath 

 or paints us with colors from the devil's 

 palate. The world is so blind it cannot 

 «ee that really we had no r?boice in the 

 matter. I think sometimes fate makes 

 a mistake. She grows weary sometimes 

 and gives the 'good' where she ought to 

 have given the 'bad.' " 



"She made a mistake when she chose 

 for me. Say she made a mistake — 

 please. " 



"She made a mistake. I knew it the 

 moment I saw your face. You were in- 

 tended to show men the path to heaven. " 



"And I have only shown them the 



road to" — 



"Hiyh. Come with me. Come home 

 with me-and rest. I live alone. I have 

 never done any good in the world. I 

 have nevtr loved any one or helped any 

 one. I am 'a good man.' It is nor my 

 fault. I was meant for 'a bad.' But as 

 fate made a mistake .vou can trust me. 

 I will try to help you. I will try to 

 make lifo beautiful for you. I will take 

 you where the sea murmurs among the 

 ro^ks, where tho wind blows the scent 

 of heather across the great wild moors. 

 Come with nie" — 



The woman rose and gazed at the man 

 with la-ge, dreamy eyes. "What do 

 yon mean?" 



"I am going to make life beautiful 

 and peaceful and pure — for you. " 



"Leave off dreaming,'' she whisper- 

 ed sharply. "Awake! Do you know 

 where you are? Do you see the sort of 

 people who surround us? This is no 

 place for dreams ! It is time to go — good 

 night. See here — you have spoken 

 strangely to me — you cannot understand 

 what it means for a woman — like me — 

 to hear a man — like you — speak as you 

 have spoken. My God! Why didn't I 

 meet you before?" 



Ho laughed. "Because fate made a 

 mistake. " 



"Listen! You are a good man. Per 

 baps you won't be one always — never 

 mind the music — listen! When I'm 

 dead, tell the world what you have told 

 me. Yes I know — it's nothing. That 

 may be so, but tell them what happen 

 ed tonight and what I said. You are a 

 good man, and you will do some good in 

 the world, because good men are rare. 

 Do as I've said, and you'll help us wo- 

 men. Goodby. You don't know what 

 you've done forme tonight, what I feel 

 — goodby! When I'm dead — don't for- 

 get. Oh, I am a fool to" — 



The orchestra was playing "God Save 

 the Qaeen," and the woman disappear- 

 ed into the crowd. The man watched 

 the electric lights go out. He lit a cig- 

 arette. Then .some one told h'm it was 

 time to leave the building. He ran out 

 quickly into the street and searched for 

 her, but slio could not be found. 



And all lj-:s happened some time ago, 

 as I have sa d, and it is all quite true. 



And the ma") h-.is not forgotten his 

 promise. — Pa!l Mall Budget. 



