Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1870-10-28
"But is il 50 ?" she continued, doubtful

"Yes'm," said he, getting bolder "The
doctor said to me, Orson Earely,' said he
Il wouldn't have this management done to
my yintonage not if you had offered me
a five hundred dollar bill right in my hand
And then he looked as sober as anything
and walked straight into the house. | saw
Mrs. Seacrest through the oriole window
and she was crying like fury. You ought
to take look at it yourself, Aunt Prissy
if you don't believe me-" he concluded, in
an aggrieved tone.
| Mrs. Woodcock did not believe him en-
tirely, to be sure, but yet there might be
something worth seeing; so, after little
rejecting, she decided it would be handy
to have a dose of salts and SIENNA in the
house, and she might as well step up to
the doctors and get it then as any time
There was no need to wait for the grass
to dry, for Mrs. Woodcock's chocolate and
white calico, guiltless of a pannier and inno-
cent of a trail, did not even brush the
broad plantain leaves and the fairy speed
well blossoms bordering the well-trodden
foot-path that led from her doorstep
straight into the world And her heavy
calf-skln shoes squeaked to scorn the idea
of "wetting through"
So she tied on her log-cabin sun-bonnet
that had pert calico bow prospecting
| from the top, took her crooked handled,
| green gingham umbrella, to act the double
part of supporter and protector, and set
out not to seek her fortune, but to seek
somebody's misfortune.
| The way to DR.. Seacrest's was across the
green away from the black cotton mills
down by the river; away from the street
! OF stiff white cottages, where the mill
operators lived; away from the common
place, two-story dwellings clustering
around the church, the store, the black
smiths shop, and the post-of1ice; to a bit
of level slightly removed from "The Hol-
low" by sloping hill Here were scat
tered a group of houses where the doctor,
the mill-owner, the minister and two or
| three prosperous farmers lived. Lived, so
| the Hollow people said, stuck up" and
apart from their neighbors.
| But this aristocratic isolation was all the
work of the Hollow, for as Mrs. Wood
cock often said: Folks can choose their
own place in the world. If they have a
mind to hold up their heads and be some
thing and somebody, they can be, or they
can be nobody and nothing-either one"
Accordingly she held up her head and
made herself somebody, equally in the
kitchen of Mary Duffy, the Irish laundress,
in Speck Lane, at the lowest dip of the
Hollow, and in the parlors of the spacious
mansion that crowded the brow of "Qual
ity Hill"
So now she went up the wide, flower
bordered walk leading to DR.. Seacrest's
stately doorway, with the assurance of a
welcome guest, and, tapping confidently on
the open door, stepped in with little nod
and courtesy, as muchso respect to her
self as of Difference to Mrs. Seacrest and
her daughter Marian, sitting sewing and
looking tranquil, as though no storm had
ever passed over either vineyard or spirit.
Dear me! Is it you, Mrs Woodcock? :?
How you startled me! Come in. We
were speaking of you not half an hour
ago." cried Mrs Seacrest, who was lively,
cordial woman, as round and flushed as a
poppy; and always sitting in the sunshine,
no matter what clouds there might be in
the sky.
Mrs Woodcock came in. "Quite show
er we have had," said she, dropping upon a
velvet sofa with an air of being very much
at home on velvet. II noticed, as l came
along, Mr.. Hulbert's oats are beaten flat,
and l shouldn't wonder if a good deal of
injury was done by the hail"
"Very likely" replied Mrs. Seacrest, Sc
renely "The hailstones were very large.
But it has come off beautifully now, and
the air seems SO much purer for the
storm"
Some people might have felt put aside at
this, but not Mrs. Woodcock. She per-
ceived that something lay under this placid
surface, and, never being troubled by ex-
cess of delicacy, proceeded at once to send
out her bloodhounds.
"How was it here?" said she, boldly;
anything damaged about your grounds !"
"The dahlias; some of them were bro
ken off-didn't father say?" responded
Mrs. Seacrest, appealing to her daughter.
"And think some glass was broken in
the hot-house. The doctor has just or
dered different style of sash, so these
are out of the way just in time"
Everything was always fish that came to
Mrs. Seacrests net.
"'Iisn't that" said Mrs Woodcock to
herself. Something heavier than hail
stones is on her mind"
She started on another trail.
Heard from Ernest lately?" she
asked
"Not very long SINCE" replied Mrs Sea-
crest carelessly, but with the faintest
shadow of a shade slipping across her
sunny face for an instant.
THAT is it" said the visitor, inwardly,
nodding approvingly to herself For it
was not everybody who would have had
the skill to touch upon the sore spot so
soon.
But before she had decided ON her next
question, Mrs. Seacrest spoke again.
"We are expecting him home, soon,
Mrs. Woodcock, with his wife"
His wife p cried Mrs. Woodcock.
Even with her discerning foresight she
was not prepared for this announcement,
Ernest Seacrest being yet a junior in the
State University.
Miriam looked steadily upon her work,
flushing with look of painful annoyance,
but her mothers tone was as blithe as ever.
Yes" said she Ernest is young, isn't
he? But, after all, he is as old as | was
when | married. Our children take us by
surprise, coming to be men and women SO
much sooner than we expect"
When do you expect him-them? ?" fall
tered Mrs. Woodcock, too much bewil-
dered for her usual aptness of questioning.
almost any time; l shall not be sur
prised if they come to-day" answered Mrs.
Seacrest, not able to conceal some nervous
dread.
| Not dread that the married pair might
arrive before Mrs. Woodcock should go
away, with her long eyes, deep ears and broad
tongue! Oh no. Mrs Woodcock would
have scorned herself with contemptuous
scorning if such unworthy jealousy had
crossed her self-assured mind.
So she sat, and sat, and sat, and sat,
while Mrs Seacrest sewed, and sewed. and