Connecticut western news., 1871-12-01

smile.
 "They'd tracked the mud all over my clean floors. The cookin'-stove was jalnmed full of wood, roarin' like all possessed. I wonder they hadn't burned the house up
 before I got there. And they'd got my best tea pot out to heat some water, and the water d all b,led away, and tho bottom come out. But the worst was to see my husband a-consortin' with such scum of the earth as that miserable, low-lived Hank Slater. tell you, squire, was mad. I 1 just flung that kitchen door wide open, and sez I.
 Git out of this house, Josiah Gould, and don't never let me see your fact. inside ont again.
 "Ses he, meek as Moses, Where shall go to, Nabby2'
 "Sez I, q don't care where you go to, so long's you don't come near me. Pve always ben a respectable woman, and I don't want none of Hank Skaters friends round my house."
 "Well ?" qucried tue squire, as Nabby's narration came to a pause.
 "Well," said Nabby, in rather subdued
 tone, che went off. And he hain't come
 back. And want divorce"
 "Now, Nabby," remonstratcdthesqu squire, | you OUu WUuL utfOICCs hION yOu
 better than that. You are not the woman
 to give Josiah up, and let him go to the
 bad, without struggle. You feel little
 vexed with him now, and I don't blame
 you. It is hard, very hard. But you
 know you took him for better or worse.'
 Do you think, yourself, it is quite right to
 break your contract because it proves the
 worse for you-because you are the strong
 one and he the weak one of the two :?
 That don't strike mo as good Bible doc
 Urine, Nabby. We that are strong ought
 to bear the infrmities of the weak, and
 not to please ourselves you know.
 "Well, ] dunno," said Nabby, twisting
 the corner of her shawl dubiously. "I
 hadn't thought ont in that light, I must
 say. It's so aggravatin' to have such a
 man for husband. Besides, I dunno's he'd come back now if I wanted him to-"
 "Hasn't he been back at all ?"
 "Why, yes, he did come once, for pair
 of pantaloons. But didn't take no notice
 of him." #
 "Now, Nabby, you may depend upon it,
 it wasn't the pantaloons he was after. He
 wanted to see if you wouldn't relent. If
 he comes again, be little pleasant to him,
 and I'll warrant he will stay. Give him
 another chance, Nabby. Josiah isn't the
 worst fellow in the world, by any means.
 He has his reckoning traits, after all.
 believe he will do better, if you will try to
 help him. You know Josiah is one that
 bears good deal of encouragement, Nabby "Well, squire, I'll think it over. Any
 how, I'm obleged to you. You talk so
 sorter comfortin' to body. Your,re your
 mothers own son; just the same good
 heart. Would you be able to eat some of
 my cheese, squire 2"
 "Try me, and see, Nabby," said the
 squire, smiling, not impervious to Nabby's compliments. Nabby made her exit just , as Mrs. Hosley rushed in, full of witcly indignation that the squire had been al lowed to see client"
 : Nabby's nome was over at "the Cor } ners," three miles from the village. She , walked rapidly along in the fast-thickening darkness. with the steady, strong gate be- coming the self-reliant woman that she was. Yet even her unimaginative nature was not proof against the depressing influ- ence of the chilly, raw November evening. The wind whistled through the bare tree branches, which creaked and groaned mourn . fully, and waved wildly up and down in the dim light overhead. The wind seemed , to cherish special spite against Nabby. , It blew her bonnet off and her hair into , her eyes, struggled madly with her for her shawl, took her breath away, and firmly resisted her every step. Finally, it began to send spiteful dashes of cold rain drops in her face-rain that seemed almost to
 free1o as it fell.
 ? Josiah used to come after me with an } umbrella when I was caught out in the
 rain," thought Nabby. "Hc was always real kind and good to me, after all. ; dunno's he ever give me cross word in
 his life, even when he'd ben drinkin'.'' Here the driving, sleety rain and pierc- } ing wind bounced down upon Nabby with renewed fierceness, hustling her madly [ around fin fiend'sh glee.
 3 "An awful night to be homeless, Nabby,' something seemed to say.
 ; "I don't care," said Nabby to herself beginning to feel cross again and generally i'll used as she grew wetter and colder "It serves him right. He's made his bed , and he can lie in it."
 3 At "the Corners," the light streaming
 cheerfully out into the night from other r homes made Nabby's little house look par. !. ticularly gloomy and uniAviting. Nabby , fumbled under the mat for the door-key 5 tumbled with stifened fingers for the key, hole, and, finally succeeding in unlocking g the door, felt her way in through the little 5 entry.
 i, There is always something uncanny' l about going alone at night in dark anc r shut-up house. Even people of the best D regulated minds experience avague suspicion ], of something behind them, sense of possi , ble ghostly hands about to clutch them 1T - the darkness. Nabby was a woman, like :. Mrs. Edmund Sparkler, with "no nonsense v about her;" but, nevertheless, a cheerfu e tale she had read only yesterday in tho
 Chronicle, about a burglar aad lone wo :, man, kept coming into her head, and sh, k carefully avoided the thick blackness o y the corners and the pantry door as sh, u groped around the kitchen for candle D Of course the fire had gone out. d "Two heads are better than one, if on, !, is sheep's head" Nabby might have beer l heard muttering out in the wood-house a. she stopped painfully down picking ul chips; by which oracular utterance sus if pect she was thinking what good supply
 of kindlings Josiah always kept on hant r for her, and how much more comfortabl y it was in the old times coming home to h house bright with light and warmth an, IS Josiah's welcome.
 l. For Josiah cherished the most profound d admiration for Nabby-an admiration no l, unmingled with awe. He thought her d most wonderful woman. She was just a s beautiful to him now as in the old courtin, s days, before the brightness and quicknes e of the black eyes had degenerated int n sharpness, before the smiling mouth ha, e acquired its hard, firmly set expression 0 before there were any wrinkles in tn IS smooth forehead. People thought Nabb, d had done well in marrying Josiah Gould tt a pleasant, good-natured young fellow. tha z. every one liked :; a young mechanic no v very rich vet it was true. but with