The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1871-07-15
2Hiscellaneous.
Il Wife'S Secret.

| "A WVe>S SccTeC.
"The Lawrences going abroad" said
Robert Dana to his young wife one evening. 81
met Tom to-day, and he said he and Carry would
sail on the 26th, and the furniture be sold at
auction"
ooh, how we shall miss them and what a
pity to have that handsome old furniture scatter
ed among strangers We have had many happy
times there, Robert"
''Yes. Annie it was there first saw you, do
| you remember you were playing chess on that
old Chinese chess-table, so absorbed that you did
not see me come in; and stood wondering who
| that little maid in blue could be. don like to
| have that table sold at auction, DEAR | wish it
| would occur to Garry TO send it TO US as q fare
well present"
"That would be very nice; but as she is not
! al all romantic, she has no iden how or why we
value it"
IL suppose if offered TO buy it., Tom would
not accept any pay and then we should feel as
i. we had begged present"
"Yes; and, besides, not afford it.,
Robertn
''How much is it worth ~
at must have cost n hundred dollars when it
was new but presume it will 90 for fifty as
| it is somewhat defaced. We must not think of
it, though, dear You know the last of our
luAuit-luuu Wcul lOl blNhCHo iCouluSi anu
we agreed to have no more treats till fall. dare
say we should not play very often if we had it
reading aloud is much nicer"
Thus the brave, conscientious little woman
turned away from the tempting theme and it
was not resumed between them. Annie Dana,
however, had a great fund Of that tough quality
which is now blamed as ''obstinacy," then prais-
ed as "firmness." The more she told herself the
chesstabe was unatainable, the more did per-
sistent inner voice reply, 81 must have it ~ But
! how Dozens of schemes occurred to her, but
none that seemed practicable. When she awoke
in the night, the weary question flashed back,
and with it., like an inspiration, its answer She
would write n story for the - Mdgdzine and
so earn the needful money. Had she not at
school, several years before, sent two or three
anonymous stories to country weekly, just for
the rolic of it, aud had they not been printed u?
| To be sure, they were not paid for. She would
almost have sc0rned money then, so deciously
suilicng was ii to see her own words in print
But there must be the sordid reality of payment
now; and how delightful to surprise Robert with
the table, show him her article, and enjoy his ap-
preciating praise But before this dizzy climax
could be reached, much must be done. What
should she write about? When find time How
bid for the table? And all without Roberts
knowledge Absorbed in these questions, she ap-
peared sadly absent during breakfast, greatly to
] her husbands surprise and mystification. After
| she had pat two spoons In his saucer, asked for
butter when already supplied, and poured maple
syrup over her steak, he began to be alarmed, in
| siste;. on feeling her pulse and inquired if she
had Aept well. Annie disclaimed sickness, but
admitted that her night had been restless and,
finally to please him, promised to take nap
during the day. Never having concealed any
thing from him before, the weight of a secret
| T. hnt cEo oonco1od barcolf
by thinking how well it would all end. For the
first time since she knew him, she was glad to
have Robert go, so eager was she TO be free to
plan, perhaps to write, her story. Her usual
duties about the house were faithfully performed
but the outline of a romance was fitting through
her head all the time, and she was glad when
free at last to sit down at her desk.
For an hour her pencil flew busily; ideas
thronged at her bidding words came freely to
express them. The first sentence only troubled
her Five or six beginnings were made only to
be scored out; this seemed too formal, thattoo alb
rupt, another too sentimental. She feared she
must resort to the charming old formula, "Once
uron a time" But the right words came at last,
and then all went on bravely, till neighbor
camein, and the already-beloved heroine had to
be exchanged for Roberts afghan and everyday
| chat Then came other interruptions and duties
no more writing that day. The promised attempt
at a nap occurred about half an hour before
Roberts return, having been entirely forgotten
till thea and though Annie lay on the sofa,
with her eyes conscientiously closed, for fully
fifteen minutes, her thoughts were on her heroine
all the time, and once she sat up and made pen
Gil memoranda on the back OF letter, hastily
pocketed as her husbands step was heard. By
the second night her plot was fully sketched in
| her mind, and it only remained to put it upon
paper Sometimes a whole day would pass, and
not moment Of time could she find for writing,
| though exactly in the mood for it. Again, she
would have leisure, but an almost unconquerable
aversion to her pen and If she tried to rally her
powers by reading what was already written it
sounded like arrant nonsense; certainly no sane
editor would accept it. The native persistency
of her character, however, enabled her to finish
her task, in defiance of many Interruptions and
discouragementS and the rough draft of her
story was completed in two weeks. 1t was a
funny looking affair, on no less than twenty
three pieces of paper-half sheets and whole
Sheets backs of envelopes and concert pro-
grammes; white, brown and tinted paper; some
| in pencil, some in ink--a most disreputable med
| ley but she was happy little woman as she
| scrawed the last line, Strengthened her cramped
shoulders, pushed her hair back from her flushed
cheeks and whispered, 'Done at last" A time
| ly term of bad weather gave her leisure to copy
| it promptly. She was arranging her neat pages
when Roberts step was heard on the piazza
She neryousy crushed the MS. into her portfolio,
and was just turning the key as her husband en-
tered but she looked so guilty and confused
| that he exclaimed:
Chow, scared you look, Annie Did you take
me for burglar? p
"Oh no but aren't you early There's no
bad news, is there?'
"No, no, little woman nothing OF the kind
Been writing to mother? She'll be glad to hear
from you. Are you going to let me read your
letter ?' Annie was in the closet getting his slip
pers so be did not see her troubled face as she
made some evasive answer, and changed the sub
| ject. Robert referred no more TO her writing,
and Annie believed his suspicious were not excl
ted-tbat be would think Of it no more. This
was far from being the case, however.
The day before the Lawrences sailed Annie
| mailed her precious MS. under the non de plume
of "Cynthia Sullivan" She. was very uneasy
on her errand to the post, for fear some one might
suspect her mission and was glad to start on her
way homeward, thinking herself unseen /; butshe
was mistaken, for although her husbands office
was in another part of the town, he saw her, and
wondering at her strangely-agitated face, his
Jealous heart instantly suggested that she came
from the direction of Tom Lawrence's office, as
Tom had been an old and ardent admirer of hers
But he sought no explanation, and grew moody
and sullen his wife attrbuting his conduct to his
old enemy, the dyspepsia.
| AS days went on she had her own inward
anxiety to bear, for no reply came from the
editors. Every other day she inquired at the
post-ofice for "Cynthia Sullivan" but without
success, TILL at last, during the third week of
suspense, an envelope bearing that name was
actually handed out to her. Well was it that
the postmaster was boxed in behind high
wooden barriers, or he must have observed
Mrs. Dana's strange agitation over the letter.
She lost all sense of the ground beneath her
feet as she hurried through the village, and out
on a by-road, where, seated in gap of the wall,
behind tangle of clematis vines and barberry
bushes, she read, through happy tears, these
beautiful words
"Mrs. Cynthia SulliUan:
"DEAR MADAM,-Your MS, ''stella's Summer
by the Sea- is accepted for - Magazine, and
we herewith inclose for it our check for forty
seven dollars and fifty cents. Yours, etc."
There was the crisp, range-lettered check,
the more than realization of her widest hopes
She felt that these editors were her dearest