Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-12-23

= that the house bent above the highes
water mark. They re wild pack, then
: wlackers. doubt it's a gloomy home
"a have picked for NJ. Jacobus, after al
&c his"@
Something in her face silenced him.
70 You did right Uncle George" she an.
swered c~heerfGlly.
But the pleasant eyes be had liked sc
much last night-he noticed were turned tc
the sea now with a hard look, new to him
begotten both of great pain and obstinate
endurance.
"Of course you know, Charlotte,-ot
course. God knows 1 want to do what
for the best"
He hesitated, then went Oh briskly,
taking courage. "
"See now, Lofty, I'm an old fellow. I've
walked you to sleep many's the night,
being your fathers chutn, and living in
his house till the day of his death. I'd
like you to know I'm a true friend. If SO
be as you re in trouble, you must tell me.
II this house is a sort of hiding, as I've
thought once or twice, speak the word, and
there nobody shall get below Barnegat,
to disturb it, Or
Mrs, Jacobus faced him suddenly,-the
nerves In her body seeming to stifen, her
half-shut eyes fixed on his. The Captains
quailed.
"You mean Jerome?' in a low voice.
He did not answer. She waited a mo-
ment, and then turned again to the win
dow,-holdihg foreibly down whatever re-
~sistance his touch had reused in her.
"You mean well" she said, quietly, after
a pause. "But you do not know my hus-
band. I was a fool to expect that yet l
did expect it,"-remembering bitterly how
when she brought her husband here, she
had counted surely IN a real Justice for
him from the single-minded old Captain,
which shrewd, sensible men had not given.
"How could l know him? You talk
like a woman, Lofty" stammered the
Captain. ~ never saw d. Jacobus till
last night. 1t was a vague whisper, or
rather an old mans whim, that there
might be something done which both you
and he wished forgotten"
She had her face pressed against the
pane, but Luffiin fancied that it lost color,
and that the delicate jaws closed with the
frmness of a steel spring.
There was no crime she said, in a
moment or two.
The old man came close to her after a
while, and put his hand gently on her
hair streaked with grey as it was, she I
seemed nothing but a child to him still. t
@Y9u're growing like your mother, I
Lofty he said. /
After a long while she spoke again. but $
under her breath, as if half talking to t
herself. !
We had a child once, Jerome and l." a
she said.
al know the captain rejoined, quickly /
turning his eyes from her face, and, after =
waiting for her to go on, added, "Neyer a
but the one,-I know" =
at was a boy,-little Tom y
There was a sudden choking gulp in the
mothers throat; she had overrated her Il
strength a little. The old man looked =
out to sea, and took no notice. :
"They never were apart, Jerome and
the boy" she wen on at last, firmly; 4
:" and when I would see them at work :
with their play-tools, or romping together, "
[ used to wonder which of the two had ~
The most simple, atfectionate nature, or !,
Knew less of the ways of the world y
Luffin said nothing to this defense. He II
was annoyed at himself for having vexed m
ler,-conscious and remorseful for any
wrong he had done M. Jacobus, but with be
stronger suspicion than before that he ey
lad CALLED some old wound in her men, ca
Try. Whatever the secret might be, il be
lad made her feeling for her husband, he be
aw, as tender and keen with pain as that
or the little child she had lost, and whose ~
lace none had ever come to ill. -
I've often thought, too, that when the or
comes q.
She stopped abruptly. ~
AYES, Charlotte, Ito hide her effort to ~
Ontrol herself. ~
"Hes gone, Tom is, you know,-eleven ~
ears ago, now. But when the time comes ~
or jerome to see his boy again, I've often =
lought he would have no reason to dread :.
ne child's eyes. It's different with me. ~
they may say of my husband what e.
ley will, my baby need not be afraid to 3
" his head upon his fathers breast. He w.
eedn't be afraid" 81
The Captain took up the cold hand that u;
as %RervOusly drumming on the window
II, and held it quiet, averting his eyes sto
her face, distorted with dry, silent If
eeping. 10,
otis different with me,n she cried. AZ
Sometimes 1 think, Uncle George, it y
ould be better if I'd never see my boy
gain. I'm sharper and coarser than other On.
omen I've had to rub with the world.n
Luf6n was a qeer old follow. He did tht
ot tell her these were but the morbid fan ma
es of an old hysterical woman, or blame me-
imself for rousing them. He muttered MAJ
mething about low tide and George Una
and hustled off down the stairs. Tor
ne had a stronger mind than he suspected, 0n'
lence and her own will would bring her IN
herself quicker than any comfort Of his tol
uld do. stri
He proved to be right. She did not no. an6
,e his going; stood at first looking into sud
e dark bank of sea-horizon, as if she ma
ould nave forced out of that vague be- tnT
md where her child had gone the truth al
all that had hurt her in her life. The yea
thud of the retreating tide kept time WIN
her thoughts,-fnally came into them mn
was so natural for her mind to swing fling
ok into whatever was real and at hand. Z"
Not that she forgot the little fellow but
hose restless feet and hands were quieter yon
last in the graveyard at Salem: she yell
yer forgot him; since they laid him viii
ere, the thought of him had sounded in hav
cry day of her busy life like a faint of t
sung by lips far away, holy and him
story of God in it. ~
But she held it down; yatsLei the tide the
out. each sullen sweep with the
cuiating eyes: the old swimming and low
hing education in the inlet had not worn alon
/ its effects on her. 9-l u N
q The wreckers talk folly" she said "no was
g could touch the house" leaning far shor
IT out to see the two approaching figures g
in the doorway beneath. -sI
One man looked up, waving his hat as tong
passed, and she drew in her head with II
ldden blush and a dewy light in her thou
IS, catching her breath. sigh
Il nave made no mistake" she thought, u
nemently. "Look in his faeel 1t is he S
right home for Jerome.'' watt
As She listened to the footsteps coming stru
the stairway, she moved u~neasily about ures
!, room, touching almost every article sail
tn the eager fondness of a child: she day,
what it had cost her for the house arm
been paid for by money she had earn gooC
/; it seemed as if she could remember all t
W every scam she had stitched, every 81
she had copied,-the days of heat and "a
kness and WEAKNESS, when she had al all S
'st given up in despair. usus
That was all over now she could put "a
hand on the result in actual stone and heav
,rtar; and as she thanked God for it, she set,
about, woman-like, touching and ual
KING for the hundradth time to enjoy If ern