Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1871-08-31

He was disappointed, and he did
not scruple to show it. All that was
) base, and insolent, and mean,. and
grudging in him came to the surface,
Toward the two old people, especial
: ly, he displayed it; made them uh-
comfortable, insulted them, humilia-
ted them, until at last, even for
! Agnes sake, they could bear it no
longer, and they came to, her one
morning, with tears in their eyes,
: and told her. they were going away.
She knew what they had suffered, had
had no heart. to entreat them. She
went instead to Solomon Welch. He
was startled when he saw her eyes
| glitter, and beheld how tense the lines
were about her mouth. He hastened
to set chair for her, ,5a ii.a.i
i ,ia, Are, you ill?" he managed to
ask, o1.2a
/. She glanced at him with lofty
scorn. ere SOMA. -
".No, Lam well-too well. Mr..
Welch, I did not deceive you when
I married you. .Itold you 1 did not
love you, and that married you sim
ply for the sake of those two who had
cared for me all their lives. Whether
you could have won my love, after
our marriage, by any course, l know
not. At any rate, the one you have
pursued has not won it. But have
some rights, for which, God knows, I
paid a heavy enough price. I mean
to have them. The first is the right
to make those two comfortable. You
have outraged and insulted them,
and they cannot stay here they are
going back to their own home. Shall
I go with them; or, if 1 reman here,
will you give me a thousand dollars
a year, with which to provide for
them ?"
e" A thousand dollars year They
are not used to having half that to
live on ]"
"I married you that they might
have more than they were used to.
You would scarcely miss thousand
a year from your income; will not
offer them less than that in lieu of
my presence in their home" ~
"Mrs. Welch, you are unreasona-
ble." "a.
The proud, beautiful face never
changed from its expression Of cold
| scorn.
liam waiting for your decision" "
she answered, coolly. r.a
He went to a drawer and took from
it blank check-book, and drew a
check for thousand dollars.
That will be honored," he said,
as he handed it to her. "IfI bought
you, as you say, I will pay the price;
and perhaps, you will care little
more for me when they are gone.
She made no reply.
"This is what you areto have each
year, she said, when she put the
check into father Deering's hands.
Ii you will use it, will stay here
and try to learn patience. If not"
She did not finish her sentence.
She began to cry passionately.
$50 away" she said. :" I cannot
bear this scene. Use this money to
buy some comforts for yourselves.
Let me think you are better off for
my being in the world, or my heart
will break.
For her sake, rather than their
own, they humbled themselves to use
the money. 1t comforted her strange
ly to see unaccustomed .luxuries in
their simple home; to feel that they
lacked nothing which gold could buy.
But it was the last payment Solomon
Welch was forced to make. Before
they had been back in their own home
year, they died-within two days
of each other, and were buried in one
grave.
Then Agnes Welch felt herself
alone in the world for, if the man
she had married counted for anything,
it certainly was not as comfort or
consolation that she reckoned him.
There was a silent enmitY between
them, which gathered force every
day, and hourished the more rankly
because it was secret growth, which
no spectators werr invited to witness.
He felt himself defrauded, in that
she had not given him her love; for
getting that she never promised it to
him, and that to marry her without
it was an experiment he had volun-
tarily chosen to try. She, on her
part, remembering how short q time
her father and mother had lived (;
how cruelty he had contrived in that
brief space to humiliate them, felt
that the price for which she had sold
herself had not been paid.
But shenever complained, or sou ght
any sympathy-of whom, indeed,
could she have soughtit, utterly alone
as she was? She went into society
whenever Mr.. Welch wished it; wore
such dresses and such ornaments as
he chose for her; appeared in his
livery, she phrased it bitterly to her
self; contented that since he hail no
other Joy of his bargain, he should
claim the right, when he chose to dis
play it.
Father and mother Deering had
been dead two years. She was twen-
ty-siz years old, and had been mar
ried four years when one night she
went to festival, listlessly as usual,
and came back from it a new wo-
man; with more than the old light
in her eyes, something deeper than
the old crimson on her cheek and lip, a
subtle fire that ran through her veins
and made her heart beat fast. She
had seen face thatshe had not look
ed upon for nine years; and she had
read in it, with her quick woman's
intuition, an interest as keen as that
of the old time, though sadder. Giles
Hampton had come back.