Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1872-01-31
THE MYSTERIOUS STRaNGER.
Or MY Husbands Brother.

She was O. fresh, fair, blne-eyed
thing! and as her young husband clasp
ed her waist, and raised her till her lips
touched his beared ones, he thought
what delicious estate was "FooPs
Paradise" and whct very unnecessary
attributes were experience and common
sense in such pretty little wife as the
one of whom he had been the happy
possessor about three months.
ooh, Fred nearly two whole days.
What shall do?''
Fred was manly fellow; and, there
fore, though an adoring husband, ad-
verse to scenes.
"My darling pet" said he, ''don't be
silly. One would think [ were going
to see the Antipodes. Men often have
to take these little journeys. Don't be
a goose, Ellie, but just sit down and
put button on that shirt of mine, and
mend the holes in my gloves, and Ishall
be back before you can say Jack Robin
son.
With this playful speech the husband
tore himself away from those tender
encircling arms, and was waving his
wife cheerful farewell from the knife
board of suburban omnibus before
sentiment had eliminated to flooding
point. Indeed there was little demand
for sympathy; Fred Wilson being
merely clerk in banking house, who
was off to Southampton to meet broth
er who was returning to England, after
ten years absence.
Elizabeth or Ellie, '-as her young
brothers and sisters, and subsequently
her husband, more endearingly styled
her-was of too volatile temperament
to grieve long after the rumble of the
wheels had died away but [ am sorry
to say, having an especial aversion to
the use of woman's weapon, the needle,
she postponed the repairs of the shirt
and gloves for the more agreeable con-
sideration of what nice little pudding
she should order for dinner, and wheth-
er their somwhat limited income would
Justify her in a little extra indulgence
in the shape of salmon or some early
peas, as a consolation. No, Ellie was
not greedy; but, dear reader, did you
ever try the wonderful potentcy of
creature comforts, y under these mock
sorrows for ourselves? Ellie was not
sensualist ID any extraordinary degree
neither was she anything of a heroine,
who would starve herself for love, or pine
away in absence. She was soon singing
merrily, as she ran down the stairs Of
their little cockney villa, and then re-
membering her grievance, descanting
upon it somewhat too freely IN the
kitchen to the servant they generally
employed, who had to wash her hands,
after blackening the boots and CRATES,
to concoct the puddings; but Gas pov-
erty makes strange bed-fellows, so
must it rule and regulate those who are
it's subjects everywhere.
A clerk, on a salary of hundred a
year added to the interest of a thou
sand pounds left him by his maternal
| grandfather, with childish, portionless
girl bride, cannot afford to be squeam-
ish and Fred and Ellie never dreamt
of being so, or of quarreling with Bet
sy, their maid-of-all-work, when she
left the imprint of black thumb on
the dinner plates.
"Lor, man," the aforesaid damsel is
saying to her young mistress, I'D
never be frettin' after master already !
Think O. me and my Bill, as is on the
high seas, and has never met three
years come next Michaelmas. There
was some lovely mack'rel cried just
now, and I'll be bound the man ain t
gone far. ~
Ellie ceased her plants at the sugges-
ton, and awoke to she realities of life.
After she had just stepped out to one
or two shops, gossiped with the next
door neighbor over the paling, sewn on
the shirt button and forgotten the
gloves, the morning had slipped away.
Betsey's lovely mackerel at dinner,
and a nap after it, were great CONSIDERS
but as the shades gathered round, Ellie's
spirits tagged again, and nervous dread
siezed on her. She took up book and
tried to read; but Mrs. Fred Wilson
was, at the best of times, far from lit
erary, and in her present desolate con.
dition she was utterly unable to fix he1
mind upon the pages before her, sc
she wandered round the room, and
took up some cases of photographs,
which seemed companions to her in hen
solitude.
There was her husband in every
phase, from infancy to manhood; but
the one that most arrested her gaze was
a double picture of himself and a youth
two years his senior. There was just
enough resemblance to tell them to be
brothers, not enough to make the like
ness to be striking and this brother OF
Fred S, clerk in a mercantile house IL
China, and whom she had never seen
was on his homeward voyage, and
might even now be setting foot on Eng
ish ground-no doubt as manly look
ing as Fred-utterly unlike the ruddy
smooth faced Charlie IN the photograph
| she held. Th n came the natural spec
ulation, ''Shall L like him will ht