The Double Agony

THE DOUBLE AGONY. BY SUSA YOUNG GATES. The long rooms were blazing with light and color and buoyant motion as Alec Martin stood a moment at the wide hall entrance gazing with bounding pulses upon the fascinating scene. The exquisite blending of color in the robes of the young women so charged his eyes with delight that he did not look with disfavor upon the low bodices. His eyes were losing their one-time swiftness of condemnation for such displays. The young men who moved from group to group, were clad in the dull-black coats prescribed by society. His own appearance was now in accord with the wide shirt-expanse, and the narrow-tail coat which marks good form in evening habits for men. "Well," said a quiet voice at his side, "do you like the picture, my boy?" "Oh, Uncle Tom, I did not think to find you here." "I have known our host for many years, and have been proud of his friendship. Besides, I knew you were coming, and I am curious to know what your verdict on ultra-fashionable Salt Lake society will be." "Again, I was friendly with his wife until she decided to burst upon society with her own unexcelled charms and tact, backed by her husband's hard-earned money." "That sounds like criticism, Uncle Tom." "Perhaps! Salt Lake City has many circles. There is a very good class of society, and also there is that class which has all the elements of corruption and demoralization." "What objection have you to this circle of splendid men and women?"

484 IMPROVEMENT ERA. "There is something in this air of refinement and culture that fills me with delight, Uncle Tom. I do love cultured society." A little confusion in the hall, behind the speakers, drew the young man's attention to the new arrivals, and in a moment he was at the side of a young lady whose bright eyes challenged him. Her satin cloak only half concealed the pale blue gown of gauze and lace which draped her form in the latest long, narrow, severe lines. As she gave her hand to him, he caught the glitter of jewels upon her neck and shoulders. She answered lightly, in response to his low question, "Certainly, Alec, you shall have the first and last dance, and as many more as you wish." Then she sprang up the stairway and out of sight, and the hall below actually seemed deserted to the young man who had so recently been quite happily absorbed in the crowds about him. "Well, Alec, you are evidently well-thought of by little Daisy Moore," said his uncle. "What a quaint way of expressing a fact which I hope sincerely is true, Isn't she lovely?" "Yes, Daisy is quite pretty when she gets on her warpaint, and feathers," dryly responded the older man. "She is an angel," quoth the youth. The older man quizzically touched the broad forehead of the youth beside him, and whispered, "It can't be wine, Alec, it must be love." Alec laughed softly, and then hurried to reach the young woman, who approached with her mother. That her dress was very low, her robe very narrow, her lips unnaturally red, and her throat and hands covered with jewels, was not noticed by the youth who gazed so adoringly at her, but the older man, watching the pair sauntering slowly into the crowds in the rooms beyond, marked well these points. "Just one year, today, Daisy dear, since I came to this beautiful city from my far-away country home." "What a delightful coincidence that we should be here together tonight, Alec. And we must celebrate your anniversary with becoming honors. Hark, there is the two-step, and I do love that old-fashioned dance." Together they glided away, the music filling both young hearts

THE DOUBLE AGONY. 485 with unutterable longings and emotions. Many eyes were fastened upon them as they moved, light as youth and love should always be, to the strains of the sweet music. Daisy was very popular, for she was merry of tongue as well as light of foot, and dainty in all her appointments. Alec Martin saw her leave his side with other partners with considerable pain. He would have stolen her from them all, so selfish was his affection, and so fixed had his intentions suddenly become. "Daisy," he said as they were once more together, "I have been promoted in the bank today." "Oh! how perfectly splendid," she cried, clapping her hands with delight. "You will be bank president, some day." "Hardly. But I hope to climb." "I love men who know how to make money — Captains of Industry, you know." The young min was too enraptured to make any deductions. So he went heedlessly on: "I was wondering if you would go to church with me tomorrow night. I should be pleased to call for you." "Church? Go to evening meeting in our simple little ward? How very stupid that would be, Alec, I get so bored that I have given up going to services long ago. I go sometimes to the tabernacle, when it is a pleasant day, and I can go without spoiling my clothes." "But would you not like to attend meeting with me?" he asked with stupid inability to observe from her point of view. "Oh, you come down, and we can have the library all alone to ourselves tomorrow evening. For father always goes to meeting and forces the boys to go. But mother just rebels, and will not go where she is so wearied." The young man was abashed. He had hoped to induce his sweetheart to take up something a little more serious. For, although life was very charming as it presented itself in the fascinating rounds of social balls and theatres, still he was trained to weightier things, after all. There was still, and always, a very serious side to life, for Alec Martin. At that moment the crowd began to move towards the great dining room, and the young people followed in the wake of their

486 IMPROVEMENT ERA. associates. Finding a small table set for two in the upper corner of a smaller room, the two sat down cozily to their dainty refreshments. "Isn't our hostess a dear, to provide all this glorious entertainment?" "It is my introduction to this ultra-select society, you rerember, Daisy, and I feel sure I owe my invitation to you." "Well, you are right. I knew that you would enjoy this life, with all the lovely accessories which only birth, breeding and riches can give. Our hostess has been brought up in the best of eastern society. It is really quite a distinction to be invited to her home." The young man ventured to look into the eyes of his companion the volume of gratitude he felt for the unusual privilege. And if there was more than mere gratitude in the look, who could wonder or blame? The waitress approached them and placed by each plate two small wine glasses. The face of the young man was a study in emotions, as the waitress hurried away. But he said nothing. , "Now we shall properly celebrate your anniversary, Alec," laughed his companion, as the waitress returned, bringing with her a small bottle of wine and a larger one of champaign. The iridescent glasses reflected their colors in the eyes of the young man as he gently pushed his aside and bit his lips as if in pain. "Come, Alec, drink to all our future anniversaries." The young man said nothing, and his eyes reflected unspoken emotions. "What's the matter, Alec? Why don't you fill your glass? Here, let me have the honor." "Daisy, I never tasted a drop of liquor in my life." "Good time to begin," she merrily laughed, as she filled her second glass with the sparkling liquid. "Here's to our future happiness," she added, as she held the glass temptingly to her companion. "Still silent, Alec?" she was too intent on her own purpose to note the dusky gleam in the gaze of her lover. "Daisy," his voice had a pleading note, "I covenanted with

THE DOUBLE AGONY. 48? my mother, now dead, that I would never taste a drop of wine." "This isn't wine, Alec, its champaign, glorious, golden champaign! You don't know you are alive, until y?u have felt the charm of life which glows in your veins from this amber delight." The young man shook His head, and his hand upon the table quivered with powerful emotion. As the laughing, sneering woman leaned toward him, the sparkling glass in her upraised hand, her mocking eyes upon his trembling lips, it was as if the curtains of her soul were lifted, and he beheld the shallow, selfish, pleasure-loving, hiding-places of her poor little soul. He looked with opened eyes upon the painted lips, the immodest dress, the frowning brows. What had been an ocean of admiration turned, with the swiftness of life's greatest problem, into a current of loathing. This tempestuous mood would leave him, he was sure of that, even in his sudden frenzy; but never would he see her again with the glamour of devotion and tender hope which had so recently surrounded her. He had had other quick warnings, but nothing so keenly serious as this revelation had ever before approached him. He sat looking gloomily at her, his hand held close over the glass, lest she should, perforce, fill it with the dreaded liquid. Never before had he suffered so grievous a temptation nor so cruel an awakening. And the girl was still saying, "Don't be foolish, dear Alec, just drink a little to celebrate our best anniversary." It was unbelievable that so lovely a creature could be so senseless and so base. He had withstood the desires and the scoffs of many kinds and conditions of life and men. But this girl! This radiant vision of loveliness! This exquisitely painted Jezebel! It was maddening ! "I hate weak men," said she at last, stung by his proud denials, her own brows drawn in a quick frown, "I like men who are strong and sure of themselves, and who can do anything other men can do or dare." "Do you think it cowardly to refrain from evil?" asked the man. "Well, I think it very unmanly in you to refuse to drink my loving toast. " "Woman," he said with a hoarse voice and suppressed feel-