Litchfield enquirer., 1872-08-29
From Scribners Monthly. ONE DAY AT ARlE.

C0aSt-t06re SE0o0 aG the door OI one OK the cottages near the shore Q woman lean ing against the Intel post and looking out: a woman who would have been apt to at tract strangers eye, too-a woman young and handsome. This was what a first glance would have taken in; second would have been apt to teach more and leave a less pleasant impression. She was young enough to have been girlish, but she was not girlish in the least Her tall, 1.-the, figure was braced against the door-post with tense sort of strength i; her handsome face just at this time as dark and in expression as if she been woman with years of bitter life behind her her handsome brows were knit, her lips were set from head to foot she look ed unyielding and stern of purpose.
 And neither form nor face belied her. The earliest remembrances of the coast people concerning Meg Lonas had not been over pleasant ones. She had never been favorite among them. The truth was they had feared her, even as the si- lent, dogged, neglected child who used to wander up and down among the rocks and on the beach, working harder for her scant living than the oldest of them. She had never word then, and never satis- fled their curiosity upon the subject of the treatment she received from the ill., conditioned old grandfather who was her only living relative, and this last peculiar ity had rendered her more unpopular than any thing else would have done. If she had answered their questions they might have pitied her !; but as she chose to meet them with stubborn silence, they managed to show their dislike in many ways, until at last it become Q settled point among them that the girl was an outcast in their midst. But even in those days she gave them back wrong for wrong aud seorn for scorn and as she grew older she grew stronger of will, less prone to forgive her many injuries and sights, and more prone to revenge them in an obstinate, bitter fashion. But as she grew older she grew handsomer, too, and ths fisher boys who had jeered at her in her child hood were anxious enough to gain her goodwill
 deied them openly; the men found it and her defiance of them was more scornful than her defiance of their mothers and sis ters. She would revenge herself upon them, and did, until at last she met woo- CT who was tender enough, it seemed, to move her. At least so people said at first; but suddenly the lover disappeared, and two or three months later the whole con- munity was electrified by her sudden mar riage with suitor whom she had been won't to treat worse. than all the rest. How she treated him after marriage mo- body knew, She was more defiant and silent than ever, and gossippers gained nothing by asking questions. So at last she was left alone.
 It was not the face of tender wife wait ing for loving husband, the face that was turned toward the sea. If she had hated the man for whom she had watched she could not have seemed more unbend- ing. Ever since her visitor had left her (she had had visitor during the morn ing) she had stood in the same place, even in the same position without moving, and when at last the figure of -her -huc-- band came slouching across the sands homeward she remained motionless still.
 And surerely his was not the face of happy husband. Not handsome face at its dull best, it was doubly unprepossess- ing then, as, pale and breathless, he pass ed the stern form in the doorway, his nervous, reluctant eyes avoiding hers.
 ''You find yo're dinner aw ready on tn table" !" she said to him as he passed in.
 Everything was neat enough inside. The fireplace was clean and bright, the table was set tidily, and the meal upon it was good enough in it's way i; but when the man entered he cast an unsteady, un- comprehending glance around and when he had flung himself into chair he did not attempt to touch the food but drop ped his face upon his arm on the table with sound like little Rroan.
 She must have heard it, but she did not notice it even by turn of her head, but stood erect and steadfast until he spoke to her. She might have been wait ing for his words-perhaps she was.
 ''Tha canst come in an say what tha has to say an be done wi it, he said at last, in sullen, worn out fashion.
 She turned round then and faced him, harder to meet in her rigid mood than if she had been a tempest.
 "Tha knows what I ha' getten to say" she answered, her tone strained and husky with repressed ferceness. 'sAye tha knows it we'll enough. I ha' not much need to tell thee owt. He conn here this morning an he towd me aw I want to know about thee, Seth Lonas-an' more too."
 "He comm to me, ," put in the man.
 She advanced towards the table and struck it with her hand.
 s'Tha'st towd me power O ies," she said. '"Tha's lied to me fro first to last to serve thy own eends, an tha'st gained 'em--tha'st lied me away fro tn man as wur aw tn world to me, but tn times comm now when thy days OCT an his is conn agen. An! thou bitter vilinl Does ta mind how that conn an towd me Dan Morgan hs gone to tn fair Lake vi that lass O. Barnegats? That wor lie an that wor tn beginin'. Dost ta mind how tha towd me as he made light O me when tn lads an lasses plagued him, an threeped 'em down as he didna mean to marry no such like lass as me-him as wor ready to dee fur me? That wor lie an that wor tn eendin', as tha knew it would be, for I spurned him fro me tn very neest day, an wouldna listen when he tried to straighten out. But he got at tn truth at last when he wor fur fro here, an he browt tn truth back to me to day, no"
 The man lay with his head upon his arms nntil she had finished, and then he looked up all white and shaken and blind. "Wlt ta listen if speak to thee? he asked.
 "Aye," she answered, "listen to more lies i"
 And she slipped down into e sitting pos ture on the stone door step, and sat there her great eyes staring out seaward, her hands lying loose upon her knee, and trembling.
 There was something more in her mood than resentment In this simple gesture she had broken down as she had never brok- l en down in herlife before. There was pas sionate grief in her face, wild sort of despair, such as one might see in sud- denly untamed creature Hers was not fair nature. I am not telling the story of gentle, true-souled woman lI am simply relating the incidents of one bitter day whose tragic close was the
 ending of Q rough romance. @ Her life had been long battle against the worlds scorn she had been either on the offensive or the defensive from child
 hood to womanhood, and then she had | cailRht one glimpse of light and warmth.