The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-08-21
, NEG. HARILEY'S CUPE.
~ FLoRENcE MARRYAT

TOPIC AdUGUs anu We bOSoA W
because the weather was not quite
favorable to our sport, or that we
sometimes brought up seaWeed In our
nets. instead of fish
Meg Hartley was. no better and no
worse than the generality of her TEL
low. creatures. There are but few
AZ Us who know how to make
the hest Of this lif how to
extract the sweets which every
pbase of it, in some sort, contains;
ana how to cast the inevitable bitter
away. She needed lesson to be read
TO her upOn contentment; and heavy
one was advancing with the gloom.
She has scarcely realized that she
was CRYING, when the approaching
sound Of an infants wall, and rude
knock at the parlor door, caused her
to rouse herself, and brush away the
tears which stood upon her cheeks.
I" If you please, m, said the un-
couth tones of her sole attendant, an
awkward girl from her husband S
National School, think as how
the child wants yer; and if yell take
her. / can be abOnt getting up the tea
things in time for master.
Give her to me" said Mrs. Hart
ley, without altering her position, as
she listlessly held out her arms for
the infant: and in another moment 1T
was Graded on her bosom, and draw
ing its nourishment from the springs
of her own existence.
The child, not much above twelve
month old, was teething; and there
was something in the touch of those
feverish lips. and the harmless energy
with which the little hot hand clutch
cd ut her breast, which might, and at
any other moment would, have APP
pcaled very powerfully to its mothers
feelings.
But Margaret Hartley was in no
humOr that evening even to sympa-
thize with little Daisy.
She took the child almost impa
tiently, and, having given it the breast,
resumed her occupation OF gazing In
the fire; whilst her thoughts returnd to
the same channel as before.
The girl from the National School
having Numbered up aud down stairs
two or three times,-in the course of
which presentations she had managed
to convey the tea things safely to their
destination, and to spread the table
with the uninvitiDg loaf of yesterday s
baking. the slab OF salt butter In its
fluid from which the milkman dared
to take his name,-nOw demanded OF
her mistress whether she should light
the gas, make up the fire, or take the
child again.
To all of which, inquiries Meg
Hartley only fretfully replied in the
negative; telling the girl to go down
stairs and stop there till she was call.
cd for.
And then the parlor door was
slammed, and the rough-shod feet
shufIled back to the lower regions;
and the Disconnected woman was left
musjng in the dusk, and, save for the
baby on her breast, alone.
How long SIZE remained thus, she
could never say, for the occurrence
by which her nediations were inter
rupted was so terrifying as to drive
an calculation of time out of her
mind. 1t might have been moments
minutes, or hours, that she sal
crouched upon the hearth-rug, with
little Daisy slumbering in her arms
but when she was next reused to con-
seriousness, it was from hearing the
footstep of her husband in the hall
His foOtstep decidedly, and yet not
Ike his own. There was no sound Of
fatigue or languor In that quick, hur-
rying tread aud if he had taken of
his wet overcOat, he must have flung
IL on the pegs in passing, for without
the stoppage of a moment he sklrted
the narrow passage and threw opeI
the sitting-roOm door.
She felt he stood upon the thresh
old, yet she did not turn her head
but, with her chin upon her hand anC
her elbow upon her knee, maintained
the attitude In which he found her.
Margaret"
The voice was so husky and so low
the tone in which he uttered her nam
so different to the caressing accent
with which John was so used to gree
her, that curiosity alone would hav
impelIed her then to look at him.
That white face, drawn with pail
or fear, and rendered still paler b.
the Hickering freight; those sa'
yearniug eyes and that agitated moutl
did they, could they belong to he
good. c0ntented, cheerful husband?
John, John? what is the matter
Has anything happened? Are 20
lip"
All her apathy and want of interes
died away with her first glance {
him; aud in an instant she had sprun
90 her feet, and, with her infant 0
one arm, had thrown the other abou
her husbands neck.
" What is the matter, dearest2 WI
do you tremble, and look at me s
hard2 John, | have never seen yo
like this before"
have never had occasion to fe,
like this before, Margaret. | am til
bearer Of bad news to you, darling
news that has almost broken my ow
heart
She looked at him with amazemen
There ne was, alive and we'll, an
Daisy waA slumbering upon her arr
What great calamity could happen
her which did not affect either of til
two treasures of her life?
Bad news, John2 What can it b.
oh tell me quickly"
Hle tried TO answer her, but h
voice failed him. A dry, hars
sound alone issued from his throa
whish threatened, as it were, to chol
INN. At the same time his wi
thought she heard other footsteI
shutting in the passage, as thOue
their conference was not without
listener.
There is some one in the house
she cried. 20 John, don't keep 4
longer in suspensel Is it-arresti
She had had some experience
that sort whilst living with h
brothers family, and the dread Of
had always kept her frugal in her e,
penses-yet her husband might ha'
incurred debt unknown to her.
" No, no~ he groaned, when,
last. he had found voice TO a
awer her; mot that, Margaret
OF r wish I we're; / wish q life's !,