The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1871-01-06
BY Alfred =. HOrsley.
FfEps DELICATE CASE.

4 SvsFkkSsss0ys
FfELS DELICATE CASE.
From Chambers Journal
When Mrs. Fiel was q bride, all tn
and interesting girl, who would MAX
q fine woman when she came to fl
out. But she never did fill ont on tn
contrary, Time, that stole her year
away, robbed herof plumpness too; an,
! after thirty anniversaries OF that wed
ding day, she was considerably NOR
slender than at starting. She wor,
curls, and black band round her fore
head, and mittens-not knowing ths
these things had long ceased to max,
her attractive, and, on first introduc
ton, would have struck you generally
as being somewhat Of guy; but q bet
ter wife you would scarcely find in al
England, that is infinitely more Inn
portant than comeliness and tastefu
attire, as you will own before you hav,
been married for q quartsr of q century
Excellent at all times, Mrs. Fiel cul
minated at meals. Call no man happy
till you have seen him at breakfast {
natural irritability in Mr.. Fiei's disp0
sition had been almost entirely cured
by little soothing comforts and tit-bits
He was q solicitor, with an Office iI
London, and q semi-detached villa in
the suburbs, who had to leave the lat.
ter at nine to reach the former by ter
every morning. This necessitated
breakfast at eight, but even ut that ear.
~ hour Mrs. Fiel saw to every detail
herself.
1t would have shaken q very con.
frmed bachelor to have seen her table
one spring morning q few years ago
the linen was 30 white, and the tea &c
black, the water -cresses and radishes SO
fresh, the marmalsde and apricot jam
SO daintily set out, the eggs SO new
looking, the loaf so brown and crusty,
the dry toast SO crisp and thin. And
when she heard the tread Of her hus-
bands foot on the staircase, and the
flourish on his nose which invariably
heralded his approach, she rang the
bell for the appetising little covered
dish, which matched and fitted the
slop-basin, to be brought up. This
contained frizzled slices of ham or ba-
con, delicate and curled, q sausage, q
kidney, or the savory thigh Of q chick
en-. May such be your only domestic
| broils
A hale neat man, with sharp Cray
eyes, and q very good opinion Of him
self, entered and looked at his letters,
selecting and opening one at once.
"Well, MARTHA said he, the Chip
Chou has arrived al last"
"You don't say so! Then Mr.. Lob
year will be here presently. Will he
come TO stay with us, do you think ,"
81 don't know. You had better have
a bed ready; though 1 expect he has
not come TO England with the idea of
shutting himself UP with an old man
and woman four miles from the Marble
Arch. Still, as everything will he
strange to him at first, he may accept
my invitation for night or two"
"This Mr.. Thomas Lobyear is rich
is he not ?''
"Will be, / suppose. At present he
probably depends upon his father, who
has given me very liberal orders, alb
surdly liberal orders, have lost all idea
Of the value of money. However there
is :plenty OF it accumulating, and it
does not matter to me-"
"Don't you think" said Mrs. Fiel,
"it might be we'll to have Sarah home"
''Sarah, ah, all ~ laughed the lawyer.
"At your matchmaking, old lady d?
From what am advised, he is proof
agairst your attempts. Besides which
it would be something like q breach of
trust: old Lobyear has evidently got
other views for his son than marrying
him at present-at any rate to an En-
glishwoman."
"Why, he would never 60 and match
him with q heathen, with Q ring
through her nose like a pigw
az don't know that" replied Mr..
Fiel laughing; "if he could discover q
new weed or fresh variety Of black
beetle by it, he certainly would"
1t was Of good augury for Mrs. Fiel
when her husband laughed, and bet
ter when he replied to her observations,
instead of looking deaf and grunting,
which he generally did If she alluded to
his clients or their business; for it show
ed that he was willing to be pumped,
and Mrs. Fiel's thirst for information
was great, though it was rarely slaked.
In the present instance, however; the
lawyer thought he might require femi-
nine aid in the task which he had un-
dertaken, and was therefore not unwill-
ing to admit his wife into his conf
dence.
"Ah," said she, "that was curious
idea for q rich man, to Danish himself
completely, aud give up civilised life,
for the sake Of studying botany and
butterflies in Japan. For a poor man,
indeed, it would be explicable if he ex-
pected to make something by it in the
end; but from what you say Mr.. Lob
year has more money than he knows
what to do with as it is"
"Yes; he was well of originally,
and got a good property through his
wife besides"
"Ah, poor man; daresay grief for
her death gave him q craze"
"Fudge /" exclaimed Mr.. Fiel some
what rudely. "He was glad enough
to be free to GO hunting Oh his favorite
hobby. If she had lived another ear,
il is my opinion that he would have
bolted and left herr
"Ah, WE'LL" said Mrs. Fiel, 1T is
fortunate thing for him, or at any rate
for this son, that he fixed on so good q
man Of business as yourself to look af-
ter his interests"
"Well," replied her husband COM
placently, considering that the bulk
of his property is in houses situated in
a rapidly improving neighborhOod, and
that the tenants are up to all sorts of
lodges to avoid having their rents rails
ed, perhaps an agent who was not sharp
might miss an advantage here and
there. For instance, there was an ap-
plication for the renewal of lease the
other day, and I discovered that the
tenant, who had been paying forty
pounds year, had underlet for the last
three years al a hundred and ten."
"LOr, how sharp you are!'
"Well, ! was not born in Yorkshire
for nothing. do not know OF more
than one person who ever regularly
took me in-that young rascal, Tom
Scott, who robbed me five years ago."
"Ah, that was very shocking" said
the good wife3 soOthingly: "but then,
YOU know he was brought up in your
own Office"
"Why, Martha! Do you suppose,
then, that Inc learned dishonesty there!
never expected an epigram of that
sort from yOur mouth. l would have
YOU to know that could put at least a
couple of thousand q year In my pocket
from this Lobyear property alone,
without chance Of detection, If chose
to be dishonorable."
81 am sure / never meant to call
you an epigram, or any other name"
cried Mrs. Fief, astonished ut this out
hrpak aI only said that q breach of