Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-03-26
FREDERIC,s WEE.

FREDERTC'S WIFE.
! Eliza Orange stood at the long meal
bin in the pantry, with a pie on on
was bending a little, her whole minC
apparently filled with the work o.
trimming the dough from the edge o.
the pie. But really she was working
stinct, and it might as well have been
a cabbage as a pie, she was pairing SC
/ dextrously, for all the thought she was
giving the work.
The sun, shining through the hop
| vine at the little Wooden-barred win
dow, hickered on her hair and made
a gleam of light and shadow on the
in the bit of garden-bed by the door,
sent in a breath of fragrance and q
merry cricket piped to his fellows un-
der the hearthstOne.
The day and place made a quiet pic
ture of cheerful peace, if only it had
been filed by a heart at rest. But to
Eliza Orange the sky above and the
September landscape it shone upon
were covered with a thin, impenetra-
bic veil of green. To her the sun was
clouded and the sweet flowers were
/ scented with the odOr of decay. Even
the homely sights of home about her
the egg-beater, the skinner, the -four
scoop, hanging on their nails-fiIled
her with lOathing and despair.
81 can not bear it can not bear it
I shall die F! Oh, no, I sha'n't die !
/ can't die ! and must endure what ]
can't bear ~ she moaned, deep in her
heart.
There was distant whirIing whir of
| her mothers spinning wheel far away
/ in the garret; the water dripped with
a ceaseless flow in the tub under the
shed the hemIock sticks in the stove
] oroc1x In6 and zT1rffnFoH fT7nir. 1iGo-17sf of
their fate and, somewhere, somebody
called out to oxen that dragged a
creakiug cart.
By and by door opened and shut,
and there was a sound of footsteps
/ coming across the uncarpeted floor.
Eliza turned, with a first sudden i'm
/ pulse, to shut the door upon herself
and her misery; and then came a quick
| feeling of thankfulness for anything
and anybody that might help her to
escape for little while from her trou-
bled thoughts.
| At the same time girls voice called:
'fZay where are your"
"Here in the pantry - replied Eliza,
turning little to put spice box on
the shelf, that she might hide the
marks of tears on her face, as a young
girl in a WoOd-cOlOred calico dress and
pink sun-bonnet came in and seated
herself upon high sugar-tub.
'tOh, Millyi is it you? I am glad
you have come Take an apple, will
you There are some real nice Por-
ters on the shelf behind you," said
Zay, in a quick, animated voice, still
keeping her back toward the new
conner.
AfiIly took an apple and began eat-
ing it, not speaking at first, but looking
with great, searching eyes at the droOp-
ing figure before her.
If MilIy Bergen had not been born in
the quietest, most Stagnant spot in the
world, and a woman besides, she
would inevitably have become a de-
| teetive officer for not so much as a
mouse could scamper behind the vain
scot but she knew, by ready intuition,
what it was scampering after.
And now she said, directly, "What
is it, Zay7 Anything about Freder-
ic ?'i
Zay. replied by the down fall of a
tear upon the pie she still held, and
sudden shaking of her whole frame
that she quieted assuddenly; and with
an evident effort to steady her voice,
she replied, forlOrnly, Frederic and I
are through, Nilly.'
s'What do you mean, Zay ?'' gasped
MilIy, throwing down her apple and
/ stretching open her eyes still wider.
'FIt is true" replied Eliza, in calm
despair. t'I shall never see him again.
| Ifhe were going by the window /
should not look out, and he would not
look in. We are nothing to each other
| any more"
sFZay Orange, I don't believe itl Tell
me about it, quick 20 cried out NIilly,
| in ready sympathy.
SIT was only last night, ''rep1ied Zay,
mournfully; "but it seems a year-it
seems lifetime. Frederic came in as
he always does on his way to and from
/ Dorset. He hadn't been home before
/ for more than month, and hadn't
seen him in all that time. 1t seemed
like a great while but Milly, it was
not like always Now, am going to
see him never again ~ sobbed poor
/ Zay, breaking down for a moment.
Then, swallowing very hard, she
| went on again.
i s'He seemed natural enough-iust as
he always did till, finally, he lay
down on the sofa and put his head on
my lap, and then he said he didn't
/ know how l had looked at our ac-
j quaintance, and he thought we ought
| to have an understanding. And so
said had never thought of anything
but friendship for him. We had been
school-mates, and I should always
prize him as a friend-always like a
| brother. You know, Afilly, ] couldn't t
have him think was dying for him /;
/ and if he had not looked upon us as
/ lovers [ would not have him suppose
had. You know 1 am very proud, y
said Eliza, with a gleam of consola-
| ton.
'sYou are very much of fool; that
| is what you are, - retorted Milly, pick
ing up her apple and biting it ferocious-
| ly. 81 never heard of young man
putting his head on a girls lap for the
/ purpose of telling her he didn't love
her." she continued, looking as eXpe-
rienced as as Queen Elizabeth.
''He said he didn't know how /
had understood our acquaintance and
I don't think ever talked better in
my life. quoted from Emerson and
from Tupper, and talked easy as pos
sible, and could think of everything to
say just as l wanted to say it; but /
felt as though my heart was breaking.
Afterward I brought that new chene
| dress to show him, just as 1 always
show him my things, 50 he needn't no
tice anything any different; and he
looked at it, and then looked up at me
so reproachfully and with so much
| meaning, and said, 'C3bGngeGbLeg = and
nothing more. Oh J Milly, 1 felt like
death and you have no idea how
handsome he looked as he went down
the road to Dorset, and how l loved
him His hair, his hands, and every
thing And shall never, never see
him again Never never ~
At this miserable thought Eliza sunk
on a basket of apples all in bunch
looked on and pitied her. Presently
| Milly spoke
"Don5t feel so, Zay," said she hope
fully. 81 haye a presentiment that
| you will see Fred again. And I am
, perfectly sure it is a true presentiment.
/ Fred loves you, 1 know that, for have
seen you two together too much to
doubt it and if he loves you, he is not
going to let this be the last. You
know, Zay, I have seen a good deal OF
such things at one time and another
! There was Sarah Liscom and MaudC
: Vershire-I kneWaI about their love
T affairs and both my married sisters
made confidante of me. l know
men do not give up girl so easy, il
%bnxy vaaI1u iOva bar - qbo oor,fivS,,o,J