Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1867-01-18
Miseellanu,
Mrs. Roundabout's Trip.

must be off in FIVE minutes for, you
know, | take five minutes TO walk to the
| dock, and five minutes to see that every
thing is ready, and the boat starts at eight
precisely. If you have any little errands
or messages, you must talk fast
Mrs. Roundabout smiled. For, up
wards of hundred times, in the course
of the seven years of their married life,
had she heard her leige lord, at exactly
that hour in the morning, utter that same
speech-almost word for word-and to
the identical hurried tone he had just as
sumed.
"My dear "-and the smile vanished as
the little woman put on very matter-of
fact expression have no errands Of
my own to-day; but / have favor to ask
of you nevertheless. The widow Law
ton is going TO the city this morning, and
as she has three small children, and, con-
sequently, great deal to look after before
she starts, she may be minute or two
late. wish you would wait the boat just
two minutes if she should MT happen to be
there precisely at eight. You kuow--it
is Lucille Lawton!" Mrs, Roundabout
uttered this last sentence in peculiar
tone. accompanying it with knowing
smile; for Mrs. Lawton, in her early
maidenhood, had once been sweetheart
of the captains, and his wife now delight
ed to break down his growing sedateness
by an occasional refer nee to this interest
ing period of his youth.
you surprise me, Miranda 1t is
folly TO make such request" and the
austere man stepped to the glass, pulled
up his collar and donned his hat.
{" You once offered 10 wait seven years
for Lucille, you know" added Mrs. Round
about, tauntingly.
Cannon I'll not wait my boat two
minutes for her now, nor any other wo-
man-not even my wife," and the captain
darted down the walk.
"We'll see, some day." the little woman
said to herself as she watched him down
the street. "We'll see! ="
CAPTAIN Roundabout was called the
punctual man." He prided himself on
his punctuality. With most men, this
quality is regarded as a strong point, but
| ,,l =. L =
weakness. He ran small steamer from
the town of Granville to a neighboring
city, making round trip each day, and
his boat always started on The minute. If
he saw persons hurredly approaching
when the time was up, he did not wait /;
but the plank was ordered in on the sec
ond, and the breaihless passengers would
often reach the dock just as the boat had
passed beyond leaping distance. BY this
rigid adherance TO punctuality, he made
many enemies and was frequently the
subject of bitter curses but his fellow
townimen soon learned bis rules and gov
erned themselves accordingly.
Captain Roundabout had reached the
sober age of thirty five before he married /;
; and then he united his lot with a gay
: young Miss who had been quite belle
and something of a coquette 1t was a
mystery to his friends how he came to
fancy Miranda Vernon: but, notwith-
standing the surmises and prophecies of
neighbors, she had always been faithful
and affrctionate wife. But she delighted
TO tease her husband. Those energies
which she had given TO coquetry, during
her maidenhood, she now devoted to inno-
cent pranks upon her more sedate lord !;
{ and his propensity for punctuality was
J often selected as the target for her wiles.
In the course of few weeks, Mrs.
Roundabout accompanied the captain to
the city. She had often taken the trip
with him before; but this was fated to be
more interesting event than any of her
previous excursions. Arriving at the
dock, she bade her husband " "good-by,"
and, as WAS her custom, went up town to
! pass the four hours which must expire be-
fore the boat would return, in shopping
and calling on city f lends.
Just as the steamers bell was striking
its last stroke, the little woman appeared
in sight, walking very leisurely towards
the dock. She might have been ON board
some fifteen minutes before; but she had
been waiting in a neighboring store so as
to make her appearance precisely at the
hour of starring. She had resolved to
Z" see if her husband would wait for her.
Captain Roundabout was in the pilot
house at the time, and must have recog-
nized her. Orders were given to haul in
the plank and cast off the lines. Mrs.
Roundabout, with an armful of bundles,
waved her parasol beseechingly and quick
ened her pace. But her husband totally
disregaided her signals; and by the time
she had put her indignant foot upon the
plate of the dock, the boat was full twenty