Macon beacon., 1871-08-19

WORK was done. she was arranging
her neat pages, when Roberts stcl
was heard on the piazza. She nCr-
vously crushed the MS. in her port
folio, and was Just turning the key
when her husband entered, but look
ing so guilty and confused that he ex.
claimed:
How scared you look, Annie
Did you take me for a burglar?'
ooh nc; but aren't you carly
There's no bad news, is thcrc?"
"No, no, little woman, nothing ol
the kind. Been writing to mother
She'll be glad to hear from you. Arc
you going to let me read your let
ter| Annie was in the closet get
ting his slippers, so he did not sec
her troubled face as she made some
cvasivC answer, and changed the sub
jcCt. Robert referred no more to her
writing, and Annie believed that his
suspicious were not cxcitcd-that he
would think of it no more. This was
far from being the case, however.
The day before Lawrence sailed,
Annie mailed her precious Ms. Ii
was too large to be put into u street
box, nor would she have dreamed of
cntrusting 50 sacred a secret to any
thing less impOsingly official and safe
than the central Office itself. Had
not dreadful tradition reached her
of lighted matches dropped into the
boxes by ticndish boys? 1t was not
pleasant to 90 down the street alone.
She hoped she should not meet any
ono she knGw-RobCrt least of all.
Fortunately his Office was safely re-
mote, in Pcmbcrton Square. AT last
she gained her destination, pushed
by the crowd, flushed from being
stared at, breathing fast with hurry
and excitement, but quite rcsolutc,
and with a sort of vague belief that
she was more likely to succeed in her
plan as it was painful in the cxccu-
ton. In her ignorance Of postal law,
and her fear lest some harm might
bciall her MS, she had wrapped,
tied and scaled it with comical sccu-
rity, thereby doubling its weight.
She was somewhat surprised to be
charged thirty-siX cents postage but
had you told her to cut open the ends,
label it "Author's MS" and put on
a couple Of two cent stamps, she
would have been shocked by the III
security and publicity ofsucha a meth
cd. In her anxiety to make the ad-
dress lcgible She had printed it so
that editors Of -- Magazine"
etc, might have been read across the
street. mcloscd with the story was
a note asking the editors to accept
" Stclla's Summer by the Sea- and
address reply to "Mrs. Cynthia Sui
livan, Brooklinc, Massachusetts,"
This elegant nom dc plume had been
adopted, aftCrmany days of dclibcra-
ton, for two sage reasons: "Cynthia"
was so uncommon there would be
small probability of its being borne
by any one else, while the common
Irish "Sullivan" might induce the
postmaster TO suppose, when she
called for letter, that she inquired |
in bchalfOf her cook, She could not |
but laugh at the sagacity and ugli- |
lincst Of the combination. Her darl |
ing was now fairly committed to the
rude world. She felt like woman
on the marriage ofan only daughter. |
as she hurried away, frightened, |
proud, hopeful, and was soon safely |
hOmeward bound in brown car. |
All Annie, you little knew that your
husbands eyes were on you as YOU
fitted through that crowd; that his
evil genius was whispering that Tom
LawrCncC's Office was ON State street,
whence you came with that agitatcd |
look! All the evening hc expected
to hear his wife mention her trip to
the city; but having had but the one
secret errand, she made no allusion
TO it, and Of course, her silence con-
lirmcd his fears of something to con-
ceal, and was laid away in his mcm-
ory, with many another little mys-
terry, TO be broodcd over in solitude.
Annie was naturally so entirely in
gcnuOus and COniiding that il was
impossible she should have secret
occupations without bctraying the
fact in hundred little ways, and
her husband having--unf0rtunat3l
for bOth-a suspicious and Jealous
disposition, had been tormcnting
all this time in silence, and
giving dozen morbid intcrprcta-
lions OF the prcOcupation, the chang
Ds of color, the willingness to be
alone, the reluctance to account for
her time, and the locked dcsk-all of
which hG had noticed since the Law
rences decided to 20 abroad. Yes,
he had been keen enough to date the
change correctly, but his unhappy
temper led him to argue thence in a
sadly unjustmannCr, In his defense,
let it be known that his childhood
had been warped and unhappy
one that until he met Annie he had
been lonely, almost q misanthrOpi-
,al man, who having contcndcd long
against poverty, injustice, and re-
DCatcd loss, had acquired certain
,ynicism, want of faith in others
sincerity or his own success. Bright
II days, truCr friends and Annie's
owe had done much to free him from
.hcse chains, but the tendency was
still there. In an evil hour he re-
that Tom Lawrence had
)ncC been a sllitOr for Annic's hand,
md fancicd that perhaps she now re-
5rCttcd her choice. Was not Tom
'ich and successful, and far more
genial and lovcablc man than he?
This demon of jealousy, once admit
cd, was not easily exercised; and
hough Robert struggled against it,
md sometimes banishcl it for davs,
t would return and torment Lin,
ill even Annic's carcsses seemed but
Indications that she was acting part,
rying, from sense of duty, to love
lin. With such a fire within, no
wonder his moods were titful-his
manner now strangely harsh, now
nourntully tender. Sweet tempered
Annie aScribed it all to the cares of
business, dull weather and cast
Winds ; fearing he was dLspcptic, and
trovo with forty-sunbcam power to
harm him into serenity. AS days
vent on she had her own inward
InXicty to bear, for no reply came
rom the editors, Every other day
hc inquired at the post Office for