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A Mere Interlude

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Parent Issue
Day
2
Month
November
Year
1888
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

It was of ton sald and of tener surmised that Baptista Trewthen was a young womr.nwith ecarcely emotions or character. There was nothlng In her to love and nothing to hatö- so ran the general opinión. That she showed few positivo qualities was true. The color and tones which changing events paint on faces of active womankind wctb looked tor in vain upon hors. But still waters may nu deep; and no crisis had come in the years ot her early tnaidenhood to demónstrate what lay hidden within her, like metal in a mine. She was the daughter of a small farmer in St. Mary's, one of the Scüly Isles, who had gpent a large sum, as it was there understood, on her education, by sending ber to the mamland f or two years. At 19 she was entered at the Training College for Elementary Teachers, and at 31 nominated to a school in tbo country, near Exeter, whither she proceeded after the Christmas examination and holidays. The months passed by from wïcr to spring and summer, and Baptista appüed herself to her new duties as best she could, till an uneventful year had elapsed. Then an air of abstraction pervacted her bearing as shewalkedto and fro, twice aday,and she showed the traits of a person who had Bomethiug on her mind. A widow, by nama Mrs. Wace, in whose house Baptista Trewthen had been provided with a sítting room and bedroom till the school house hould be built, noticed this change in her youthful tenant's manner, Lind at last ventured to press her with a few questions. 'It has nothing to do with the place, nor with you," said Miss Trewthen. "Then it is the salary?" "No, nor the salary." "Then it is something you have heard from home, my dear." Baptista was silent for a few moments. "It is Mr. Heddegan," she murmured. "Him they used to cali David Heddegan before he got his money." "And who is the Mr. Heddegan they used to cali David?" "An old bachelor at Hugh Town St. Mary's, with no relations whatever, who lives about a stone's throw from father's. When I was a chüd he used to take me on his knee and say he'd marry me some day. Now I am a woman the jest has turned earnest, and he is anxious to do it. And faíher and mother says I can't do better than have him." "He's well off?' Yes- he's the richest man we know- as a friend and neighbor." "How much older did you say he was than jrourself?" "I didn't say. Twenty years at least." "And an uupleasant man in the bargain, perhaps?" "No; he's not unpleasant." "Well, child, all I can say is that I'd resist any such engagement if it's not palatabla to ve. You are comfortable here, in my littïe house, I hope. All the parish like ye, and I've never been so cheerful since my husband lef t me to wear his wings as Tve been with yeas my lodger." The school mistres assured her landlady fchat she could return the .sentiment. "But here comes my perplexity," she said. "I lon't like keeping school. Ah, you are surprised - you didn't suspect it. That's beer ase ['ve concealed my feeling. Well, I s'mply bate school. I don't care for children - they are unpleasant, troublesome little thing whom nothing would delight so much as to hear that you had fallen down dead. Yet I would even put up with them if it was not for the inspector. For three months before bis vasit 1 diün't sleep sounaiy. Ana me coramittee of eouncÜ are always changing the ;ode, so that you dont know what to teach and what to leave untaught. I think father and mother are right They say I Bhall never excel as a school mistress if I dislike the Vork so, and that therefore I ought toget settled by manying Mr. Heddegan. Between us two, I like him better than school; but I don't like him quite so much as to wish to marry him." These conversations, once begun, were continued from day to day, till at length the young girl's elderly friend and landlady threw in her opinión on the side of Miss Trewthen's párente. All things considered, she declared, the uncertainty of the school, the labor, Baptista's natural dislike f or teaching, it would be as well to take what fata offered and make the best of matters by wedding hér f ather'r old neighbox and prosperous friend. The Easter holidays carne round, and Baptista went to spend them as usual in her native isle, going by train as far as she could and crossing by packet from Penzanee. When she returned in the mídale of April her face wore a more settled aspect. "Well?" said the expectant of Mrs. Wace. "I have agreed to have him as my husband," said Baptista, in an off hand way. "Heaven knows if it will be for the best op not. But I have agreed to do it, and so tb. matter is settled." Mrs. Wace commended her; but Baptista did not care to dweil on the subject; so thafi allusion to it was very infrequent between them. Nevertheless, among other things, she repeated to the widow from time to time in monosyllabio remarks that the wedding was really impending; that it was arrangod for the summer, and that she had given notice of leaving the school at the August holidays. Later on she announced more specifically that her marriage was to take place immediately after her return Uma +. t.hA Vipo-innirtir of t.hft month said. She now corresponded regularly with Mr. Heddegan. Her letters from him were seen, at least on the outside aaid in part within, by Mrs. Wace. Had she read more of their interiors than the occasional sentences shown by Baptista she would have perceived that scratchy, rusty handwriting of Miss Trewthen's betrothed conveyed little more matter than details of their future housekeeping and his preparation for the same, with innumerable "my dears" sprinkled in disconnectedly, to show the depth of his affection without the inconvenience of syntax. II. It was the end of July- dry, too dry, even for the season, the delicate green herbs and vegetables that grew in this favored end of the kingdom tasting rather of the watering pot Ihan of the pure, tresh moistures from the skies. Baptista's boxes were packed, and one Saturday morning she departed by a wagonette to the station and thence by train to Penzance, from which port she was, as usual, to cross the water immediately to her home and become Mr. Heddegan's wife on the Wednesday of the week following. She might have returned a week sooner. But thouyli the wedding dry bad loomed so near and tlie bans were out, she delayed her departure till this last moment, saying it was not necessary for her to be home long beforeband. As Mr. Heddegan was okier than herseli, sbe said, she was to be morried itt her ordinary summer bonnet and gray silk frock, and there were 110 preparations to make that had not been amply mudo by her párente and inteuded kusband. Ia due time, af ter a hot and tedious Bey, she reached Penzanee. She here . tained some refreshmeut and then went toward the pier, where she learned, to her surprise, that the little steamboat plying between the towu and the islands had left at 11 o'clock, the usual hour of departure in the aiternoon haviug been forestalled in consequence of the fogs which had for a few days prevailed toward evening, making twilight navigation dángerous. This being Saturday, there was now no other boat till Tuesday, and it became obvious that here she would have to remain for the three daysunless herfriends shouldthink fit to rig out one of the island sailing boats and come to f etoh her - a not very likely contingency, the sea distance being nearly f orty miles. Baptista, however, had been detained in Penzance on more than one occasion bef ore, either on account of bad weather or some Buch reason as the present, and she was therefore not in any personal alarm. But, as she was to be married on the following Wednesday, tbe delay w'as certainly inconvenient to a more than ordinary degree, since it would leave less than a day's interval between her arrival and the wedding ceremony. Apart from the awkwardness, she did not mnch mind the accident. It was indeed curious to see how little she minded. Perhaps it would not be too much to say that, although she was going to dó the critical deed of her Ufe quite willingly, she experienced an indefinable relief at the postponement of her meeting with Heddegan. But her manner after making discovery of the hindrance was quiet and subdued, even to aassivity itself, as was instanced by her having, at the moment of receiving information bhat the steamer had sailed, replied, "Oh," so coolly to the porter with her luggage that he was almost disappointed at her lack of aisappointment. The question now was, should she return again to Mrs. Wace, in the Devonshire village, or wait in the town at which she had arrived? She would have preferred to go back, but the distance was too great; moreover, having left the place for good, and Bomewhat dramatically, to become a bride, a return, even for bo short a space, would have been a trifle humiliating. Leaving, ttm, her boxes at the station, her next anxiety was to secure a respectable or rather genteel lodging in the popular seaBide resort confronting her. To this end she looked about the town, in which, though she had passed through it half a dozen times, she was practically a stranger. Baptista f ound a room to suit her over a fruiterer's shop, where she made herself at home and set herself in order after her journev. An early cup of tea having revived her spirits she walked out to reconnoiter. Being a school mistress she avoided looking at the schools, and having a sorfc of trade connection with books she avoided looking at the booksellers'; but wearying of the other shops she inspected the churches; notthat for her part she cared much about ecclesiastical edifices, but tourists looked at them, and so would she - a proceeding for which no one would have credited her with any great originality, such, for instance, as that she subsequently showed herself to possess. The churches soon oppressed her. St. Mary's was neither old nor new, St. Paul's was quite new, and she could find no others. Yet the town and the walks in this land of strawberries, these headquarters of early Ënglish flowers and fruit, were then, as always, attractive. From the more picturesque walks she went to Barbican street and the pier and the harbor, and looked at the men at work there, loading and unloading as in the time of the Phoenicians. "Not Baptista? Yes, Baptista it is!" The words were uttered behind her. Turning round, she gave a start and became con f used, even agitated, for a moment. Then she said, in her usual, undemonstrative manner: "Oh, is it really you, Charles?' Without speaking again at once, and witli a half smile, the newcomer glanced her over. There was much criticism and some resentment, even temper, in nis eye. "I am going home,1" continued she. "But I havemissed theboat." He scarcely seemed to take in the meanlng of this explanation, in the intensity of his critical survey. "Teaching still? What a fine school mistress you make, Baptista, I warrant!" he said, with a slight flavor of sarcasm which was not lost upon her. "I know I'm nothing to brag of," ahe replied. "That's why I have given up." "Oh- given up? You astonish me." "I hate the profession." "Perhaps that's because I am in it." "Oh, no, it isn't. But I am going to enter on another life altogether. I am going to be married next week to Mr. David Heddegan." The young man, fortified as ho was by a natural cynical pride and passionateness, winced at this unexpected reply, notwithstanding. "Who is Mr. David Heddegan?" he asked, as indifferently as lay in his power. She informed him that the bearer of the name was a general merchant of Hugh Town, St. Mary's Island - her fathers nearest neighbor and oldest friend. "Then we sh'n't see anything more of you on the rnainland?" inquiredthe school master. "Oh, I don't know about that," said Miss Trewthen. "Here endeth the career of the belle of the boarding school your father was foolish enough to send you to. A 'general merchant's' wife in Scilly. Will you sell pounds of soap and pennyworths of tin tacks, or whole bars of saponaceous matter and great tenpenny nails?" "He's not in such a small way as that!" she almost pleaded. "He owns ships, though they are rather littleones!" "Oh, well, it is much the same. Come, let us walk on; it is tedious to stand still. I thought you would be a f ailure In education," he coutinued, when she obeyed him and strolled anead. "You never showed power that way. You remind me much of some of those women who think they are sure to be great actresses if they go on the stage, because they have a pretty face, and forget that what we require is acting. But you found your mistake, didn't you?" "Don't taunt me, Charles." It was notieeable that the young school master's tone caused her no anger or retaliatory passion; f ar otherwise; there was a tear in her eyes. "How is it that you are at Penzance?' she inquired. "I don't taunt you. I speak the trutb purely in, a f rieudly way, as I should to auy one I wished woll. Though for that matter I might have some excuse even for taunting mn Rimln n terrible hurrv as vou've been in. I hato a woman who is ia such a hurry." ';How do you mean that?" "Wby, to be somebody's wif e orother- anything's wifo rather tban nobody's. You couldn't waifc for me; oh, no. Well, thank God, I'm cui-ed of all thatl" "How mercilasB you are!" she said bitterly. "Wait tor youi WLat does that meau, Charley? You uever showed - anythiiig to walt for - anything special toward me." "Oh, come, Baptista, comel" "Wbut I meau is, notking deflnite," she expostulated. "I supposo you liked me a little; buc ii seemed to ine to be only a pastimo on your jiart, and that you never meant to mako au honorable eugagemeut of it." "Thei-e, that's just iU You girls expect a man to mean business at the first look. No i man wheu ho ürsb becomes inteiested ia iroman has any deflnite scheme of engagenent to uiarrj her in his mind, unless he is neaning a vulgar, mereenary marriage. ïowever, I did at least mean an honorable jngageinent, as you cali it, come to that." "But you never said so, and an indefinita 3ourtship soon injures a woman's positiou ind credit, sooner than you think." "Baptista, I solemnly declare that in six months I should have asked you to niarry me." She walked along in silence, looking on the ground and appearing very unoomfortable. Presently he said, "Would you have waited for me if you had known?' To this she whispered in a sorrowful whisper, "Yes.1 They went still further in süence - passing along one oL the beautiful walks on the outBkirts oL the town, yet not observant of scena or situation. Her shoulder and his were close together and he clasped his fingers round the small of her arm - quite lightly and without any attempt at Ímpetus, yet the act seemed to say, "Now I hold you and my will must be yours." Recurring to a previous question of hers, he said, "I have nierely run down for a day or two from school near Truro before going off to the north for the rest of the holiday. I have seen my relations at Redruth quite lately, so I am not going there this time. How little I thought of meeting youl How very different the circumstances would haye been if, instead of parting again, as we must in half an hour or so, possibly forever, you had been uow just going off with me, as my wife on our honeymoon trip. Ha - ha - well - so humorous is lifel" She stopped suddenly. "I must go back now_this is altogether too painful, Charley 1 It is not at all a kind mood you are in today." "I don't want to pain you - you know I do not," he said, more gently. "Only itjust exasperates me, this you are going to do. I wish you would not." "What?" 'Narry him. There, now I have shown you my true sentiments." "I must do it now," she said. "Why?" he said, dropping the off hand masterful tone he had hitherto spoken in and becoming earnest; still holding her arm, however, as if she were his chattel to be taken up or put down at wüL "It is nevar too late to break off a marriage that's distasteful to you. Now I'll say one thing, and it is truth: I wish you would marry me instead of him, even now, at the last moment. though you have served me so badly." "Oh, it is not possible to think of thatl" 3he answered, hastily, shaking her head. "When I get home all will be prepared - it is ready even now - the things for the party, the furniture, Mr. Heddegan's new suit and everything. I should require the courage of a tropical lion to go home there and say I wouldn't carry out my promise." "Then go, in heaven's name! But there would be no necessity for youto go home and face them in that way. If we were to marry it would have to be at once, instantly, or not at all. I should think your affection not worth the havins unless you agreöd to come back with me to Truro this evening, where wecouldbe niarried bylicenseon Monday morning. And then no Mr. David Heddegan or anybody else could get you away from me." "I must go home by the Tuesday boat," she faltered. "What would they think 1Í I did not come?" "You could go home by that boat just the same. All the difference would be that I should go with you. You could leave me on the quay, where I'd have a smoke, while you went and saw your father and mother privately. You could then teil them what you had done, and that I was waiting not far off; that I was a school master in a fairly good position, and a young man you had known when you were at the training college. Then I would come boldly forward, and they would see that it could not be altered, and so you wouldn't suffer a life long misery by being the wife of a wretched old gaffer you don't like at all. Now, honestly, you do like me best, don't you, Baptistá?" "Yes." 'Theu we will do as I say." 8he did not pronounce a clear affinnative. But that she consented to the no el proposition at some moment or other of that walk was apparent by what occurred a little later. m. An enterprise oí such pith required, indeed, less talking than consideratlon. The flrst thing they did in earrying it out was to return to the railway station, where Baptista took from her luggage a small trunk of immediate necessaries which she would in any case have required after missing the boat. That same af ternoon they traveled up the lins toTruro. Charles Stow (as his name was), despite hls disdainful indifference to things, was very careful of appearanees, and made the journey üdependently of her, though in the same xain. He told her where she could get board and lodgings in the city, and with merely a distant nod to her of a provisional kind, went off to his own quarters and to see about the license. On Sunday she saw hlm in the mornlng across the nave of the pro-cathedral. In the af ternoon they walked together in the fields, where ho told her that the license would be ready next day, and would be available the day after, when the ceremony could be perf ormed as earlv after 8 o'clock as they should choose. i His courtship, thus renewed after an interval of two years, was as impetuous, violent even, as it was short. The next day carne and possed, and the final arrangements were made. Their agreement was to gefc the ceremony over as soon as they possibíy could the next morning, so as to go on to Penzance at once, and reach that place in time for the boat's departure the same day. It was In obedience to Baptista's earnest request that Stow consented thus to make the whole journey to Bcilly by laud and water at oue heat, and not to break it at Penaance; she seemed to be oppressed with a drearl of lingering any where, this first act of disobedience to her parents onco accomplished, with the weight on her miad that her home had to be convulsed by the disclosure of it. To face her difflculties over the water ünmediately she had created them was, however, a courso more desired by Baptista than by her lover, though íor once he gave way. ' The uext morniug was bright and warm os those which had preceded it. By 6 o'clock it seemed nearly noou, aa is of ten the case in that part of England in the suiumer season. By 9 they were husband and wife. They packed up and departed by the earliest train after the service, and on the way discussed at length what she should say on meeting her parents, Charley dictating the turn' of each phrase. In her anxiety they had traveled so early that when they reached Penzance they found there were nearly tvro hours on their hands bef ore the steamer's time f or sailing. Baptista was extremely rcluctant to be seen promenading the streets of tne watering place with her husband till, as above stated, the household at Hugh Town should know the unexpected courae oL events from her own lips, and it was just possible, if not likely, that some Scillonian might be prowling about there, or even have come across the sea to look for her. To meet any one to whom she was known, and to have to reply to awkward questions about the strange young man at her sido before her well framed announcement had been delivered at proper time and place, was a thing she could not contémplate with equanimity. So, instead of looking at the shops and harbor, they went along the coast a little way. The heat of the morning was by this time intense. They clambered up on some cliffs, and, while sitting there looking around at St. Michael's mount and other objects, Charles sa id to her that he thought he would run down to the beach at their feet and take just one plunge into the sea. Baptista did not much like the idea of being left alone; it was glooruy, she said ; but he assured her he would not be gone more than a quarter of an hour at the outside, and she passively assented. Down he went, disappoared, appeared again and looked back. Then he again proceeded aud vanished, till as a smal! waxen object she saw him emerge from the nook that had screened him, cross the white fringa of foam and walk into the undulating mass of blue. Once in the water he seemed less inclined to hurry than bef ore ; he remained a long time; and, unable either to appreciate bis skill or criticise bis want of it at that distance, she withdrew her eyes from the spot and gazed at the still outline of St. Michael's - now beautifully toned in gray. Her anxiety for the hour of departure, and to cope at once with the approaching incidents that she would have to manipúlate as best she could, sent her into a rêverie. It was now Tuesday; she would reach home in the eveuing- a very late time, they would say; but, as the delay was a pure accident, they would deem her marriage to-morrow to Mr. Heddegan still practicable. Then Charles would have to be produced from the background. It was a terrible undertaking to think of. and she almost regretted her temer■ itff in wedding so hastily that morning. The rage of her father would be so crushing; the reproaches of her mother so bitter; and, haps, Charles would answer uotly, and, perhaps, cause estrangement till death. There had obviously been no alarm about her at St. Mary's, or somebody would have salled across to inquire for her. She had, in a letter written at the beginning of the week, spoken of the hour at which she intended to leave her couutry school house; and from this her frieiuls had probably perceived that by such timing she would run a risk of losing the Saturday boat. She had missed it, and as a consequence sat here on the shore as Mrs. Charles Stow. This brought her to the present, and she turned from the outlines of St. Michael's mount to look up for her husband's form. He was, so far as she could discover, no longer in the sea. Then he was dressing. By moving a few steps she could see where his clothes lay. But Charles was not beside them. Baptista looked back again at the water in bewiïderment, as if her senses were the victim of some sleight of hand. Not a speek or spot resembling a man's head or face showed. anywhere. By this time she was alarmed, and her alarm intensifted when she perceived a little bevond the scène of her husband's bathing a small area of water the quality of whose surf ace differed from that of the surrounding expanse as thte eoarse vegetation of some foul pateh in a mead difïers from the fine green of the remainder. Elsewhere it looked flexuons, here it looked vermiculated and lumpy, and her marine experiences suggested to her in a moment that two currents met and caused a turmoil afc this place. She descended as hastily as her trembling limbs would allow. The way down was terribly long, and before reaching the heap of clothes it occurred to her that, after all, it would be best to run firsc for help. Hastening along in a lateral direction, she proceeded inland till she niet a man, and soon afterward two others, to whom Bhe exclaimed: "I think a gentleman who was bathing is in some danger. I cannot see him as I could. Will you please run and help him at once, if you will be so kindf" She did not think of turning to show them the exact spot, indicating.it vaguely bythe direction of her hand, and still going on her way with the idea of gaining more assistance. When she deeined, in her faintness, that she ht.-d carried the alarm far enough, she faced bout and dragged hei-self baek again. Before reaching the now dreaded spot she met one of the men. "We can see nothing at all, miss," he declared. Having gained the beach. she found the tide in, and no siga of Charley's clothes. The other men whom she had besought to come had disappeared, it must have .been in some other direction, for she had not met them going away. They, finding nothing, had probably thought her alarm a mere conjecture and given up the quest. Baptista sunk down upon the stones near at hand. Where Charley had undressed was now sea. There could not be the least doubt that he was drowned and his body eucked up by the current, while his clothes, lying within high water mark, had.probably been carried away by thu risiug tido. Bhe remained in a stupor for some minutes, til a strange sensation succeeded the aforesaid perceptions, mystifying her intelligence and leaving her physically almost inert. With his personal disappearance, the last three days of her lif e with him seemed to be swallowed up; also his image, in her mind's eye, waned curiously, receded far away, grew stranger and stranger, less and less real. Their meeting and marriage had been so sudden, impremeditated, adventurous, that she could hardly believe that she had played her part in such a reckless drama. Oí all the few hours of her life with Charles, the portion that most insisted in coming back to memory was their fortuitous encounter on the previous Saturday; and those bitter reprimands with wliich he had begun the attack, as it might be calJed, which had piqued her to an unexpected consummation. A sort of cruelty, an imperiousness, even In his warinth, had characterized Charles Stow. As a lover he had ever been a bit of a tyrant; and it might pretty truly have been gaid that he had stung her into marriage with him at last. Still more alien froni her life did these reflections opérate to make him; and then they would bo chased away by an interval of passionate weeping and mad regret. Finally, there returned upon the confused mind of the young wife the recollection that sbe vvos -ii her way homeward and that the packet wculd sail iu threo-quarters of ah I hour. ' „ Eicept the parasol in her hand, all sh possessed wa3 at tlie station awaiting her on ward journey. She looked in that direction; and onterin one of those undeinonstrative phases, so com mon with her, walked quietly on. At first she made straight for tho railway but sudtlenly turning she went to a shop an wrote an anonymous line announcin his death by drowning to the only per son she had ever heard Charles mentio as a relative. Posting this stealthily anc with a fearful look around her, she seeme to acquire a terror of the late events, pursu ing her way to the station as if foliowed by specter. When she got to the office she asked for th luggage that she had left there on the Satui day, as well as the trunk left on the morn ing just lapsed. All were put in the boat and she herself followed. Quickly as thes things had been done, the whole proceeding nevertheless, had been almost automatic on Baptista's part, ere she had come to any defi nite conclusión on her course. Just before the bell rang she hoard a con versation on tho pier, which removed th last shade of doubt f rom her mind, if any had existed, that she was 'Charles Stow's widow The sentences were but fragmeutary, but sh could easily piece them out. "A man drowned - swam out too far - was a stranger to the place - people in boat - saw him go down - couldn't get there in time." The news was little more definite than thi. as yet; though it may as well be stated once for all that the statement was frue. Charley with the over confidence of his nature liad veritured out too far for his strength and suceumbed in the absence of assistance his lifeless bodv being at that moment sus pended in the transparent mid deptha of the bay. His clothes, however, had merely been gently lifted by the rising tide, and fio.iter into a nook hard by, where tbey lay out ol sight of the passers-by till a day or two af ter. IV. In ten minutes they were steaming out of the harbor for their voyage of four or fivg hours, at whose ending she would have to teil her strauge story. As Penzanee and all lts environing scènes disappeared behind Mouseliole and St. Clement's Isle, Baptista'8 ephemeral, meteor like husband impressed her yet more asa fantasy. She was still in such a trance like state that she had beert an hour on the little packed boat before she becamo aware of the agitating fact that Mr. Heddegan was on board with her. "Hee-hee! TVell, the truth is, I wouldn'fc interrupt ye. 'I reckon she don't see me, or won't see me,' I said, 'and what's the hurry! She'U see enough o' me soon!' Ihopeyebe well, mee deer?' He was a líale, well conditioned man of about five-and-fifty, of the complexion common to those whose lives are passed on the bluffs and beaehes of an ocean isle. He extended the four quarters of his face in a genial smile and his hand for a grasp of the same magnitude. She gave her own in surprised doeility, and he continued: "I couldn't help coming across to meet ye. What an unfortunate thing you missing the boat and not coming Saturday ! They meant to have warned ye that tSb time was changed, but forgot it at the last moment. The truth is that I should have informedye myself, but I was that busy finishing up a job last week, so as to have this week free, that I trusted to your father for attending to these littie things. However, so plain and quiet as it is all to be, it really do not matter so much as it might otherwise have done, and I hope ye haven't been greatly put out. Now, if you'd sooner that I shouldn't be seen talking to ye - if ye feel shy at all before strangers - just say. I'll leave ye to yourself till we get home." "Thank you mucb. I am indeed a little tired, Mr. Heddegan." He nodded urbane acquiescence, strolled away immediately and minutely inspected the surface of the funnel, till some female passengers of Hugh Town tittered at what they must have thought a rebuff, for the approaching wedding was known to many on St. Mary's Island, though to nobody elsewhere. Baptista colored at their satire and called him back and forced herself to commune with him in at least a mechanically f riendly manner. The opening event had been tlius different from her expectation, and she had adumbrated no act to meet it. Thus taken aback, she passively allowed circumstances to pilot her along, and so the voyage was made. It was near dusk when they touched the pier of Hugh Town, where several friends and neighbors stood awaiting them. Her father had a lantern in his hand. Her. mother, too, was there, reproachfully glad that the delay liad at last ended so simply. Mrs. Trewthen and her daughter went together along the Hugh, or promenade, to the house, rather in advance of her husband and Mr. Heddegan, who talked in loud tones, which reached the wonien over their shoulders. Some would bavo called Mrs. Trewtben a good mother; but though well ineaning she was malaclroit, and her intentions missed their mark. This might have been partty attributable to the slight deafness from which he suffered. Now, as usual, the chieL utterances came from her lips. "Ah, yes, I'm so glad, my child, that you've got over safe. It is all ready, and everything so well arranged, that notbing but mlsfortune could hinder you settling as, with God's grace, becomes ye. Close to your mother's door, a'most, 'tvrill be a great blessing, I'msure; and I was very glad to find from your letters that you'd held your word sacred. That's right- make your word your bond always. Mrs. Wace seems to be a sensible woman. I hope the Lord wil] do for her as he's doing for you no long time henee. And how did ye get over the terrible journey from Exeter to Penzance? Once you'd done with the railway, of course, you seemed quite at home. Well, Baptista, conduct yourself seemly and all will be well." Thus admonished, Baptista entered the house, her father and Mr. Keddegan immediately at her back. Her mother had been o didactic that she had feit herself absolutely unatde to broach the subject in the center of her mind. The familiar room, with the dart eeiling, the well spread table, the old cliairs, had never before spoken so eloquently of the tunes ere she knew or had heard of Charley Stow. She went upstairs to take off her things, her mother remaining below to complete the disposition of the supper and attend to the preparation of to-morrow's meal, altogether composing such an array of pies - from pies of flsh to pies of turnips - as was never heard of outside the Cornish duohy. Baptista, once alone, sat down and did nothing, and was called before she had taken off her bonnet. "I'm coming," she cried, jumping up and speediy disappareling herself, brushed her hair with a few touches and went down. Two or three of Mr. Heddegan's and her father's friemls dropped in, and expressed their sympathy for the delay she had been subjected to. The meal was a most merry one, except to Baptista. She desired privacy, epd there was Jione, and to break the news was already a greater difficulty than it had been at ftrst. Everything around her. aninate and inanimate, great and small, inEisted that she had come home to be married, And she could not geta chaqce to say uay. One or two people sang songs, as overtures to the melody of the morrow, tlll at length bedtime eame, and they all withdrew, her mother ha ving ret-ired a littlo eai-lier. When Baptista found herself alone in her bedroom the case stood as bef ore; she had come home with mueh to say and she had said nothing. It was ïiow growing clear, even to berself, that Charles being dead she had not determination sufflcient within her to break tidings whieh, had he been alive, would have imperatively announced themselves. And thus, with the stroke of midnight, came the turning of the scale; her story sbould remain untold. Jt was not that upon the whole she thought it best not to attempt to teil it, but that she could not undertake so explosivo a matter. To stop the wedding now would cause a convulsión in Hugh Town little short of volcanic. Weakened, tired and terrified as she had been by the day's adventures, she could not make herself the author of such a eatastrophe. But how refuse Heddegan without telling? It really seemed to her as if her marriage with Mr. Heddegan were about to take place as if nothing had intervened. Morning came. The events of the previous days were cut off from her present existence by scène and sentiment more completely than ever. Charles Stow had grown to be a special being of whom, owiug to his cbaracter, she entertained rather fearful than loving memory. Baptista could hear when she awoke that her parents were already moving downstairs. But she did not rise till her mother's rather rough voice resounded up the staircase as it had done on the preceding evening. "Baptista! Come, time to bo stirring! The man will be here, by heaven's blessing, iu three-quarters of an hour. He has looked in already for a minute or two - and says he's going to the church to see if thiugs be well forward." Baptista arose, looked out of the window and took the easy course. When she emerged from the rejjions above she was arrayed in her new silk fi-ock and best stockings, wearing a linen jacket over the former for b eakfasting. and her common slippers over the latter, not to spoil the new ones on the rough precincts of the dwelling. It is lünnerpssary to dweil at any great longth on this part of the morning's proceedings. She rereakd nothing and married Heddegan, as she had given her word to do, on that appomted August day. V. ■ ' Mr. Heddegan forgave the coldness of his bride's marnier during and after the wedding ceremony, full well aware that there had been considerable reluctance on her part to acquiesce in this neighborly arrangement, and, as a philosopher of long standing, holding that whatever Baptista's attitude now, the conditions would probably be much tüe same six months henee as those which ruled among other married couples. An absolutely unexpected shock was given to Baptista's listless mind about an hour after the wedding service. They had nearly finished the midday dinner when the now husband said to her father, "We think of starting about two. And the breeze being so fair we shall bring up Dside Penzance new pier about six at least." "What- are we going to Penzance?" said Baptista. "I don't know anything of it." "Didu't ye teil her?" asked her father of Heddegan. It transpired that, owing to the delay in ïer arrival, this proposal too, among other ihings, bad in the hurry not been mentioned o her, except some time ago as a general suggestion that they would go somewhere. leddegau had imagined that any trip would be pleasant, and one to the mainland the pleasantest of all. She looked so distressed at the announeement that her husband willingly offered to give it up, tbough he had not had a holiday off island for a whole year. Then she ponlered on the inconvenience of staying at lugh Town, where all the inhabitants were onded, by the circumstances of their situaion, into a sort of family party, which permitted and encouraged on such occasions as hese oral criticism that was apt to disturb he equanimity of newly married girls, and would esppcially worry Baptista in her strange situation. Henee, unexpectedly, she agreed not to disorganize her husband's plans 'or the wedding jaunt, and it was settled nat, as originally intended, they sbould proceed in a neighbor's saiíing boat to the metropolis of the district. In this way they arrived at Penzance without difliculty or mishap. Bidding adieu to 'enkin and his man, who had sailed them over, they strolled arm in arm off the pier, ïaptista si lont, cold and obédient. Hedde;an had arranged to take her as far as Plymouth before their return, but to go no fur,her than where they had landed that day. Their first business was to find an inn; and n this they liad unexpected difficulty, since or some feason or other - possibly the fine weather - man}' of the nearest at hand were uil of tourists and commercial travelers. He led her on till he reached a tavern which, though comparatively unpretending, stood in as attraetive a spot as any in the town; and this, somewhat to their surprise after their previous experiences, they found apparently empty. Tlie considérate old man, thinking that Baptista was educated to artistic notions, though he himself was deficiënt in them, had decided it was most desirable to have, on such an occasion as the present, an apartment with a "good vtew" (the expression being one he had often heard in use among tourists), and he therefore asked for a favorita room on the first floor, f rom which a bow window protruded, for the express purpose oL aifording such an outlook. The landlady, after some hestitation, said she was sorry that particular apartment was engaged; the next one, however, or any other in the house, was unoccupied. "The gentleman who has the best one will give it up to-morrow, and then you can change into it," she added, as Mr. Heddegan hesitated about taking the adjoining and less commanding one. "We shall be gone to-morrow, and sha'n't want it," he said. Wishing not to lose customers, the landlady earnestly continued that since he was bent on having the best room, perhaps the gentleman would not object to move at once into the one they despised, since, though nothing could beseen from the window, the room was equally large. "Well, if he doesn't care for a view," said Mr. Heddegan, with the air of a highly artistic man who did. "Oh, no- I am sure he doesn't," she said. "I can promise you that you shall have the room you want. If you would not object to go for a walk for half an hour, I could have it ready, and your things in it. and a nicetea laid in the bow window by the time you come back. " This proposal was deemed satisfactory by the fussy old tradesman, and tbey want out. Baptista nervously conductcd him in au opposite direction to her wa& of the former ay in other company, showing on her wan ace, had he observed it, how much she was jeginning to regret her sacrifieial step for mending matters that morniug. She took ailvantage of a moment when ber iusband"s back was turned to inquire casully in n shop if anythlng had been heard of ie gentleman who was sucked down in the j eddy while bathing. Jïhe shopmaa BaidtTT, Lis body fttq been woshed ashore," and had just handed Baptista a newspaper, on which she discemed the hoading, "A schoolmaster drowned whila bntliing," whenher husband turned to join her. She might have pursued the subject without raising suspicion; but it was more than flesh and blood could do, and completing a small purchase alniost ran out of the shop. "What is youf ten-ible hurry, mee dearP1 said Heddegan, hastening af ter. "I don't know - I don't want to stay in shops," she gasped. "And we won't," he said. "They be suffocating this weather. Let's go back and have some tay!" They found the much desired apartment awaiting their entry. It was a sort of eombination bed and sitting room, and the tables were prettily spread with high tea in thebay window, a buneh of flowers in the midst and a best parlor chair on each side. Here they shared the meal by the ruddy light of the vanishing sun. But though the view had been engaged regardless of expense, exclusively for Baptista's pleasure, she did not direct any keen attention out of the window. Her gaze as often feil on the floor and walls of the room as elsewhere, and on the table as much as on either, beholding nothing at alL But there was a change. Opposite her seat was the door, upon which her eyes presently became riveted like those of a little bird upon a snake. For, on a peg at the back of the door, there hung a hat; such a hat- surely. f rom its peculiar make, the actual hat - that had been worn by Charles. Conviction grew to certninty when she sawa railway ticket slicking up from the band. Charles had put it there; she had noticed the act. Her teeth almost chattered. She murmured something incoherent. Her husband jumped up and said: "You are not welll What is itf What shall I get ye?" "Smelling salts!" she said quickly and desperately ; "at that chemist's shop you were in just how." He jumped up like the anxious old man that he was, caught up his own hat from a back table and, without observing the other, hastened out and down stairs. Left alone, she gazed and gazed at the back of the door, then spasmodically rang the bell. An honest looking country maid servant appeared in response. "A hat!" murmured Baptista, pointing with her fingers. "It does not belong to us." "Oh, yes, I'll take it away," said the young woman, hastily. "It belongs to the other gentleman. " She spoke with a certain awkward facMtiousness and took the hat out of the room. Baptista had recovered her outward composure. "The other gentleman !" she said. ' ' Where is the other' gentleman?" "He's in the next room, ma'am. He removed out of this to oblige ye." "How can you say so? I should hear him if he were there," said Baptista, sufflciently recovered to argue down an apparent untruth. "He's there," said the girl, hardily. "Then it is strange that he makes no noise,'t said Mrs. Heddegan, convicting the girl of falsity by a look. "He makes no noise, but it is ñot strange," said the servant. All at once a dread took possession of the bride's hoart, like a cold hand laid thereon, for it flashed upon her that there was a possibility of reconciling the girl's statement with her own knowledge of facts. "Why does he make no noise?" she said, weakly. The waiting maid was silent, and looked at her questioAer. "If I teil you, ma'am, you won't teil missis?" she whispered. Baptista promised. "Becausehe's a-lying dead," said the girl. "He's the schoolmaster that was drowned yesterday." "Oh!" said the bride, covering hereyes. "Then he was in this room till just now?" "Yes," said the maid, thinking the young lady's agitation natural enongh. "And I told missis that I thought she oughtn't to have done it, beeause I don't hold it right to keep visitors so much in the dark where death's concerned ; but she said the gentleman didn't dia of anything infectious; she was a poor honest innkeeper's wife, she says, who had to get her living by making hay whiïe the sun sheened. And owing to the drowned gentleman being brought here, she said, it kept so many people away that we were empty, though all the other houseswere fulL So when your good man set his mind upon the room, and she would have lost good paying" folk if be'd not had it, it wasn't to be supposed, she said, that she'd let anything stand in the way. Ye won't say that I've told ye, please, ma'amt All the linen has been changed, and as the inquest won't be until to-morrow, after you are gone, she thought you wouldn't know a word about it, being strangers here." The returning footsteps of her husband broke off further narration. Baptista waved her hand, for she could not speak. The waiting maid quickly withdrew, and Mr. Heddegan entered with the smelling salts and other nostrums. "Be you any betterP1 he questioned, quickly. "I don't like the hotel," she eiclaimed, almost simultaneously. "I can't bear it; it doesn't suit me!" "Is that all that's the matter?" hereturned, pettishly (this being the first time of his showing such a mood). "Upon my heart and life such trifling is trying to any man' temper, Baptista! Sending me about froin here to yond, and then, when I come back, saying ye don't like the place that I hav sunk so much money and words to get for ye. 'Od dang it all, 'tis enough to But I won't say any more at present, mee deer, though it is just too much to expect to turn out o' the house now. We sha'n't get anotber quiet place at this time of theevening; every other inn in the town is bustüng with rackety folk of one sort and t'other, while here 'tis as quiet as the grave - the country, I would say. So bide still, d'ye hear, and to-morrow we shall be out of the town altogether, as early as you like." The obstinaoy of age had, in sbort, overmastered its complaisance, and the young woman said no more. The simple course of telling biin that in the adjoining room lay corpse, which had lately occupied their own, might, it would have seemed, been an effectual one without further disclosure, but to allude to that subject, however it was diiguised, was more than Heddegan's young wife had strength for. Horror broke her down. Iu tbe unexpected contingency on thing only presentad itself to her paralyzed regard - that here she was doomed to abide in a hideous situation between the dead husband and the living. VI. Kindly time had withdrawn the forogoing event three days f rom the present of Baptist Heddegan. It was 10 o'clock in themorning ; she had been ill, not in an ordinary or defioite sense, but in a state of cold stupefaction, from which it was difficult to arouse her so muoh as to say a few sentences. When questioned she had replied that she was pretty well Their trip, as such, had been something of a íailure. They had gone as far as Faltnouth, but here he had given way to her entreaties to return home. Th is they could not very well do withdut repassing through Penzanee, at which place they had now again arrived. In the train she had seen a weekly local paper, and read there a paragraph detailing the inquest on Charles. It was added that the funeral was to take place at his native town of Redruth on Friday. After reading this she had shown no reluctance to enter the fatal neighborhood of the tragedy, only stipulating that they should take their rest at a different lodging from the flrst, and now, comparatively braced up and calm - indeed, a cooler creature altogether than when last in town - she said to David that she wanted to walk out for a while, as they had plenty of time on their hands. "To a shop, as usual, I suppose, mee dear?" "Partly for shopping," she said. "And it will be best for you, dear. to stay in after trotting about so much, and have a good rest while I am gone." He assented, and Baptista sallied forth. As she had stated, her flrst visit was made to a shop - a draper's. Without the exercise of much choice she purehased a black bonnet and veil, also a black stuff gown; a black mantle she already wore. These articles were made up into a parcel, which, in spite of the saleswoman's offers, her customer said she would take with her. Bearing it on her arm she turned to the railway, and at the station got a ticket for Redruth. Thus it appeared that, on her recovery from the paralyzed mood of the former day, while she had resolved not to utterly blast the happiness of her present husband by revealing the history of the departed one, she had also determintí to indulge a certain qdd, inconsequent, f eminine sentiment of decency, to the sniall extent of which it could do no harm to any person. At Redrüth[she emerged from the railway carriage in the black attire purehased at the shop, having during the transit made the change in the empty compartment she had chosen. The other clothes were now in the bandbox and parcel. Leaving these in the cloak room, she proceeded onward, and after a wary' survey reached the side of a hill whence a view of the burial ground could be obtained. It was now a little before 2 o'clock. While Baptista waited a funeral procession ascended theroad. Baptista hastened across, and by the time the procession entered the cemetery gates she had unobtrusively joined it. In addition to the school master's own relatives (not a few), the paragraph in the newspapers of his death by drowning had drawn together many neighbors, acquaintances and onlookers. Among them she passed unnoticed, and with a quiet step pursued the winding path to the chapel, and afterward thence to the grave. When all was over and the relatives and idlers had withdrawn, she stepped to the edge of the chasm. From beneath her mantle she drew a little bunch of forget-me-notg and dropped them in upon the eoffin. In a few minutes she, also, turned and went away from the cemetery. By 5 o'clock she was again in Penzance. "You have been a martel long time!" said her husband, crossly. "I allowed ye a hornat most, mee dear. "It ocoupied me longer," said she. "Well, I reckon it is wasting wordsto complain. Hang it, ye look so tired and wisht that I can't find heart to say what I wouldT1 "I am weary and wisht, David; I am. We can eet home to-morrow for certain, I hope?' "We can, and please God we will," said Mr. Heddegan, heartily, as if he, too, were weary of his brief honeymoon. "I must be into business again on Monday morning at latest." They left by the next morning steamer, and in the afternoon took up their residence in their own house at Hugh Town. . Her husband was a nian who had made considerably more money by trade than her father had done, and perhaps the greater prof usion of surroundings at her command than she had heretofore been mistress of was not without an effect upon her. One week, two weeks, three weeks passed, and being pre-eminently a young woman who allowed things to drift, she did nothing whatever either to disclose or conceal traces of her first marriage. While yet within the first month of her marriage, and on an evening just before sunset, Baptista was standing in her garden adjoining the house, when she saw passing along the road a personage ciad in a greasy black coat and battered tall hat, which, common enough in the slums of a city, had an odd appearanee in St Mary's. The tramp, as he seemed to be, marked her at once - bonnetless and unwrapped as she was her features were plainly recognizable - and with an air of friendly surprise came and leaned over the walL "What! don't you know me?' said he. She had some dim recollection of bis face, but said that she was not acquainted with hún. "Why, your witness, to be sure, ma'am. Don't you mind the man that was mending the church window when you and your intended husband walked up to be made one; and the clerk called me down from the ladder, and I eame and did my part by writing my name and occupation?" Baptista glanced quickly around; her husband was out of ear shot. That would have been of less importance but for the fact that the wedding witnessed by this personage had not been the wedding with Mr. Heddegan, but the one on the day previous. 'Tve had a misfortune since then, that's pulled me down," continued her friend. "But don't let me damp yer wedded joy by naming the particulars. Yes, IVe seen changes since; though 'tis but a short time ago - let me see, only a month next week, I think; for 'twere the flrst or eecond day of August." "Yes, that's when it was," said anöther man, a sailor, who had como up with a pipe in his mouth and feit it necessary to join in (Baptista having receded to escape further speech). "For that was the flrst time I set foot in Hugh Town, and her husband took her to him the same day." A dialogue ten proceeded between the two men outside the wall, which Baptista could not help hearing. "Ay, I signed the book that made her one flesh," repeated the decayed glazier. "Where's her good man?" "About the premises somewhere ; but you don't see 'em together much," replied the sailor in an undertone. "You see, he's older than she." "Older? I should never have thought it from my om observation," said the glazier. "He was aremarkably handsome man." "Handsome? Well, there he is - we can see I for ourselves." David Heddegan had indeed jiist shown himself at the upper end of the garden, and the glazier, looking in bewilderment from the husband to the wife, saw the latter turn pale. Now that deeayed glazier was a far seeing and cunning man - too far seeing and cunning to allow himself to thrive by simple and traigutforward means - and he held his peace till he oould read more plainly the meaning of this riddle, merely adding, carelessly: "Well, marriage do alter a man, 'tis true. I should never ha' knowed him !" He then stared oddly at the disconcerted Baptista, and moving on to where he cculd again address her, he asked ber to do him a good turn, since he once had done the same for her. Understandlng that he meant money, she banded him some, at which he thanked her and instantly went away. VII. She had esraped exposure on this occasion, but the incident had been an awkward one, and should have suggested to Baptista that sooner or later the secret must leak out. As it was, she suspected that at any rate she had not heard the last of the glazier. In a day or two, when her husband had gone to the old town on the other side of the island, there carne a gentle tap at the door, and the worthy witness of her first marriage made his appearance a second time. "It took me hours to get to the bottom of the mystery- hours!" he said, with a gaze of deep confederacy which offended her pride very deeply. "But, thanks to a good intellect, I've done it. Now, ma'am, I'm not a man to teil tales, even when a tale would be so good as this. But I am going back to the mainland again, and alittle assistanca would be as rain in a thirsty land." "I helped you two days ago," began Baptista. . "Yes, but what was that, my good ladyl Not enough to pay my passage to Penzance. I came over on your account, for I thought there was a mystery somewhere. Now I must go back on my own. Mind this - 'twouid be very awkward for you i f your old man were to know. He's a queer temper, though he may be fond." She knew as well as her visitor how awkward it would be, and the hush money she paid was heavy that day. She had, however, the satisfaction of watching the man to the steamer and seeing him diminish out of sight. But Baptista perceived that the system into which she had been led of purchasing silence thus was one fatal to her peace of mind, particularly if it had to be continued. Hearing no more from the glazier she hoped the difflculty was past. But another week only had gone by when, as she was walking on the Hugh (the name given to the promenade), she met the same personage in the company of a fat womau carrying a bundie. "This is the lady, my dear," he said to his companion. "This, ma'am, is my wife. We've come to settle in this town for a time, lf so be we can flnd room." "That you won't do," said she. "Nobody can live here who is not privileged." "I am privileged," said the glazier, "by my trade." Baptista went on, but in the af ternoon she received a visit from the man's wife. This honest woman began to depict, in forcible colors, the necessity for keeping up the concealment. "I wUl 'intercede with my husband, ma'am," she said. "He's a true man, if rightly managed, and I'll beg him to consider your position. 'Tis a very nice house you've got here," she added, glancing round, "and well worth a little sacriflce to keep it." The unlucky Baptista staved off the danger on thi4 third occasion as she had done on the previous two. But she formed a resolve that, if the attack were once more to be repeated, she would face a revelation - worse though that must now be than before she had attempted to purchase silence by bribes. Her tormentors, never believing her capable of acting upon such an intention. came again; but she shut the door in their faces. They retreated, muttering something, but she went to the back of the house, where David Heddegan was. She looked at him, unconscious of all. The case was serious; she knew that well; and all the more serious in that she liked him better now than she had done at first. Yet, as she herseif began to see, the secret was one that was sure to disclose itself. Her name and Charles' stood indelibly written in the registers, and though only a month had passed as yet it was a wonder that his clandestine union with her had not already been discovered by his friends. Thus spurring herself to the inevitable, she spoke to Heddegan: "David, come in doors. I have something to teil you." He hardly regarded her at first. She had discerned that during the last week or two he had seemed preoccupied, as if some private business harassed him. She repeated herrequest. He replied with a sigh, "Yes, certainly, me dear." When they had reached the sitting room and shut the door she repeated faintly: "David, I havt something to teil you. I have something to confess. You will hate me for having so far deceived you ; but perhaps my telling you voluntarily will make you think a little better of me than you would do other wise." "Confessionl" he said, awakening to interest. "Much confession you can have to make, mee deer, that have been in the world so short a time." She saw that he suspected nothing, and it made her task the harder. But on she went steadily. "It is about something that happened before we were married," she said. "Indeed!" "Not a very long time before; a short time. And it is about a lover," she faltered. "I don't much mind that," he said mildly. "In short, I was in hopes 'twas more." "In hopes?' "Well.'yes." This screwed her up to thenecessary effort. "I met my old sweetheart. He scorned me, chid me, dared me, and I went and married nim. We were coming straight here to teil you all what we had done; but he was drowned, and I thought I wonld say nothing about him, and I married you, David, for the sake of peace and quietness. I've tried to keep it from you, but have found out I cannot. There; that's the substance of it, and you can never, never forgive me, I am sure." She spoke desperately. But the old man, instead of turning black or blue, or slaying her in bis indignation, jumped up from his chair and began to caper around the room in an ecstatic ernotion. "Oh happy thing! How well it turas outl" he exclaimed, snapping his fingere over his head. "Ha hal the knot iscut; I see my way out of my trouble - ha hal" She looked flxedly at him without uttering a sound, till, as he stiü continued smiling joyfully, she said: "Oh, what do you mean? Is it done to torment me?' "Oh, nol Oh, mee deer, your story helps me out of the most heart aehing quandary a poor man ever found himself in! You see, it is this: I've got a secret, too; and unless you had one to teil, I couid never have saen my way to teil mine!" "What is yours- what is it?" she asked, with altogether a new view of things. k. "Well. it's a bouncer; mine is a bouncerj" ■ - ■ - -. said he, looking on the ground and wipine his eyes. "Not worse than mine?" "Well, that depends upon how you look at it. Yours had to do with the past alone, and I don't mimi it. You see, we've been married a month, and it don't jar upon me as much as it would if we'd only been married a day or two. Now, minerefers to past, present and future, so that" "Past, present and future!" she murmured, with misgiving. "It never occurred to me tliat you have a secret, too." "But I havel'' he said, shaking his head. "Then teil it!" cried the youiig woman. "I will- I will; but be considérate, I beg ye, mee deer. Well, I wasn't a bachelor wlieu I married ye, any more than you wero a spinster. Just as you was a widow woman, I was a widow man." "Ah!" said she, with some surprise. "But is that all? Then we are nicely balanced," she added, relieved. "No, it is not all. There's the point. I am not only a widower." "Oh, David!" "I am a widower with four ehildren - four strapping girls - the efdest talier than you. Don't 'ee look so struck- dumb like. It feil out in this way: I knew the poor woman, their mother, in Penzance for some years, and, to cut a long story short, I privately married her at last, just before she died. I kept the matter secret, "but it is getting known among the people here by degrees. I've long feit for the children that it is my duty to have them here and do something for them. I have not had courage to break it to yë, but I've seen lately that it would soon come to your ears and that hev worried me." "Are they educated?" asked the ex-school mistress. "No; I am sorry to say they have been much neglected; in truth, very much. And so I thought that by marrying a young school mistress I should get some one in the house who could teach 'em and bring 'em into genteel condition, all for nothing. You see, they are growed up too tall to be sent to school." "Oh, mercy!" she almost moaned. "Four girls to teach the rudiments to and have always in the house with me spelling over their books. And I hate teaching ; it kills me ! I am bitterly punished. I am, I am]" "You'll get used to 'em,imee dear, and the balance of secrets - mine against yours- will comfort your heart with a sense of justiee. I could send for 'em this week very weiland I will! In faith, I could send this very day. Baptista, you have relieved me of all my difficulty." Thus the interview ended, so far as this matter was coueerned. Baptista was too stupefied to say more, and when she went away to her room she wept f rom very mortiflcation at Mr. Heddegan's duplicity. Education, the one thing she abhorred. The shame of it to delude a young wife so! The next meal carne round. As they sat, Baptista would not suffer her eyes to turn toward him. He did not attempt to intrude upon her reserve, but every now and then looked under the table and ehuckled with satisfaction at the aspect of affairs. "How very well matehed we be!" he said comfortably. Next day, when the steamer came in, Baptista saw her husband rush down to meet it, and soon af ter there appeared at her door four tall, hipless, shoulderless girls, dwindling in height and size from the eldest to the youngest, like a row of Panpipes, at the head of them standing Heddegan. He smiled pleasantly. through the gray fringe of his whiskers and beard, and turning to the girls said: "Now come forward and shake hands properly with your stepmother." Thus she made their acquaintance, and he went out, leaving them together. On examination the poor girls turned out to be not only plain looking, which she could haveforgiven, but to have sueh a lamentably meager intellectual equipment as to be hopelessly inadequate as eompanions. Even the eldest, almost her own age, could ouly read with difficulty words of two syllables, and taste in dress was beyond their comprehension. In the long vista of future years she saw nothing but dreary drudgery at her old trade without prospect of reward. She went about quite despairing during the next few days- an unpromising, unfortunate mood for a woman who had not been married six weeks. From her parents she concealed everything. They had been among the few acquaintances of Heddegan who knew nothing of his secret, and were indignant enough when they saw such a ready made household foisted upon their ouly child. But Bhe would not support them in their remonstrances. "No, y ou -don't yet know all," she said. Thus Baptista had sense enough to see the retributivo fairness of this issue. For some time, whenever conversation arose between her and Heddegan, which was not often, she alwayssaid: "I am miserable, and you know it. Yet I don't wish things to be otherwise." But one day, when he asked, "How do you like 'em now?" her answer was unexpected. "Much better than I did," she said, quietly. "I may like them very much some day." This was the beginning of a summer season for the chastened spirit of Baptista Heddegan. She had, in truth, discovered, underneath the crust of uncouthness and meager articulation which was due to their Troglodytean existence, that her unwelcomed daughters had natures that were unselflsh almost to sublimity. The harsh discipline accorded to their young lives beforê their mother's wrong had been righted had operated less to crush them than to lift them above all personal ambition. They considered the world and its contents in a purely objecti ve way, and their own lot seemed only to affect them as that of certain human beings among the rest, whose troubles they knew rather than suffered. This was such an entirely new way of regarding life to a woman of Baptista's nature that her attention, from being first arrested by it, beeame deeply interested. By imperceptible pulses her heart expanded in sympathy with theirs. The sentences of her tragi-comedy, her life, confused till now, became clearer daily. That in humanity, as exemplified by these girls, there was nothing to dislike, but infinitely much to pity, she learned with the lapse of each week in their ccmpany. She grew to like the girls of unpromising exterior, and from liking she got to love them, till they formed an unexpected point of juuction between her own and her tmsband's interests, generating a sterling friendship, at least, between a pair in whose existence there had threatened to be neither frieiidsbip nor love. THE END.

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Subjects
Ann Arbor Argus
Old News