Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1859-05-12

you know. She must be different from
us"
Jessie stared at her parents With her big
brown eyes, and her heart beat fast. She
was clear headed, reasoning little crea
ture. The life which she had heen com
PEELED to lead, in consequence of her infrm
ity-an infrmity more the result of deli
cate frame, than actual disease,-had
quickened her intellect, and rendered her
wise and thoughtful beyouDd her years.
So she shed tears, though her heart was
full, but took her chair out of her fathers
sight, and piled her needles fast in silence
That night Richard Mallet and his wife
sat by their ireside till long after midnight,
discussing the fortunes of their child At
one moment, the poor mother thanked
Providence for Jessie's good luck; at an
other, she shudered at the thought of the
curse attached to the miser's wealth.
"Oh Richard, if his words should come
true; if our child should grow to be
ashamed of You and mel"
"Hush, Hannahw Richard checked his
wife angrily. ats only like baby to talk
i that way. How can dead mans words
do any harmF' !,
Though Richard assumed Indifference to
bis uncle's malediction, it troubled him in
reality. The first thing on waking, the
old miser's terrible words occurred to him.
All day long, as he piled the hammer and
chisel in the stone-yard, fragments of the
curse sounded in his ears. As he sat at
dinner under the shed, he found himself
mechanically tracing in the dust, with the
end of broken tool, the words :-"May
it place bar between them all their lives" !"
Many night did his wife hear him sigh
in his sleep, and mutter and moan about
the "gold," and "my own BARN." But by
day he would rebuke his wife for being at.
fected by supersticious fancies, and tell her
she ought 10 know better than to trouble
herself about such things. He would not
have owned for the world, that these same
fancies were haunting him, sleeping and
waking.
Richard Mallet was man of resolution
and few words. When he had decided on
doing anything he did it at once. So,
having come to the conclusion that his
child must be brought up as beftted her
altered circumstances, he lost no time in
lending his aid to carry out tho necessary
changes.
Ere six months, Jessie Mallet was an in
mate of handsome boarding school
in Kent, near one of her trustees; and the
stone-mason and his wife had returned to
the life they were leading before the death
of Zebedee Peck. H- \
1t was not the old life though. Rich
ard was as steady and industrious as ever,
as good workman, as kind to his wife, as
fond of his two boys; but there was a
change in him. 1t was not that the new
position in which he now stood towards
bis master, his fellow workmen, or the
world, perplexed him. He was not the
man to disquiet himself on that score
He held up his head as before, worked
hard, took joke good-humoredly, brought
home his earnings every Saturday, and
never troubled himself about what the
neighbors thought or said as to his affairs. |
II was at his own hearth that this change
was to be seen; at his own hearth, where,
when he taught the boys their letters at
night he missed a gentle voice in his ear,
aud soft little hand in his; where his eye |
often rested on chair that stood vacant |
in the corner, with little crutch by its
side. At such times, be would grow hard |
and stern. There was not the influence in
these things that clings to tokens that re-
mind us of the dead they only recalled a
separation founded on injustice and wrong.
Uncle Zeb.need have prophesied no further;
ne had already obtained cruel revenge.
The very fear of his curse ever being ac-
was enough to embitter the |
'est of his nephew's life.
Hannah" said Richard Mallet 10 his
wife one Friday morning, II shant be home
'o-night, nor mayhap for these next three
lays. I am going to see her. ' 'fo
He kissed his wife, put on his best hat,
placed stout stick and small bundle on
lis shoulder, and went away. Jessie had
,een gone nine months.
On Tuesday night his wife stood at her
loor looking auxiously for shis return. It
vas nine o'lock, but warm and fine, and in
he month of juno. Ere long, in the dus-
y twilight, she espied a toll worn man
oming slowly up the street. A neighbor-
ng lamp shone on the mans figure. as he
approached. Hannah started as she caught
light of her husbands face. It was SO
vorn and jaded, she hardly knew him.
"Gie me sup to drink, Hannah, said
Richard, when be had entered the house and
at down.
The dust upon bis dress showed be had
made the journey of foot. @
"It's long spell to Canterbury, you see,
nd I don't think l foot it as fused To do"
Ie was anxious his wife should under
tand that the cause of his fatigue was
hysical.
He took long draught at the mug of ,
eer put down, and then with bis elbow on :
ssting on his hand, said: ~ can't touch /
be table, and my supper yet awhile. I'm q
og tired. I'll tell you all about my journey I
ow. and then we've done with it. He +
,ok Of his hat loosened his neckerchief,
nd then, without raising his eyes to his e
ife's face, began: a
"Hannah, ! have seen our child. have n
cen down to Canterbury, and seen the {
lace where she lives, and the company a
ne keeps. But thong I've seen her she il
int seen me; I hadn't the face to show q
lysep after all. When l got down yon- G
er on Sunday afternoon, and see the grand !
ID house she is livin' in, nigh BY the caths- 3