Litchfield enquirer., 1872-07-11

| I66u1000 70 my IxOuDleQ 000SeAok0. E0L 1 it was troubled; Sophia was always del icate woman, and her attentions to her father, which were unremitting, and un
 failingly demanded, made fearful inroads upon her health. In the maddle Of the night. MT. Whites cane would sound oser our heads, and Sophia, no matter what the state of the thermometer, would have to fly to his assistance. Any other help than hers was rejected with scorn, and my dislike of the old gentleman and his selfshness became so extreme that soon refrained from offering him any attention whatever. Then his weaknesses of tenn DOT made constant soothing necessary; he was always angry at something, and Sophia was the only person who could ex- 1 ercise any control over him. What she went through to keep even ostensible peace between him and me cannot bear to think of, but she did it, and so we went on, wretched and dissatisfied, for two more miserable years. I became as cross as bear, and was as little at home as possible; MT. White lived on, and inn proved greatly in health, though not in temper or agility. Sophia, poor Sophia, between cares and annoyances, wore away before my eyes, and became victim of her own flial affection. l MT. White would not listen to my ap- peals to him on Sophy's behalf, holding the old fashioned notion that children were the ''born thralls" of their parents, and must ever be held to their duty. He held her. with grip of authority that never loosened.
 He called her up one cold night to rub his rheumatic foot, which kept him often awake. In vain implored her to resist 1 hio dor,oon1c Oho his room, and sank in the effort to make him little more comfortable. A violent hemorrhage of the lungs seized her sud- denly, and in few hours the unlucky victim of a fathers tyranny was ont of his 1 power forever
 Sophia was one of those excellent women whose sense of duty is absolutely morbid. Mine, however, was not. I could hardly refrain, while Sophia was lying dead in. the house, from representing the old gentleman and turning him out of the home he had made so wretched. But I waited, and it was we'll for me did; for by Sophias will, which was opened just after her death, it happened to be his pre- rogative to perform that office to me, which he did with the greatest good will and clerity. The whole of Sophia's prop | erty was left to him for his life, for fear, as she stated in 8 private letter, that my affection for him was not sufficient to rem l der his dependence on me agreeable to either party. So MT. White took posses sion of our pleasant little home, and was turned out to bachelor life again, with the illusions of youth shattered, at the age of thirty-one. 2gzs @ Anger has wonderful effect in miti- gating grief. I should have been quite inconsolable for Sophia's loss had she left her property in an equitable manner; l but to see my father-in-law step into our l familiar places, and make himself con- fortable on what should have been mine, destroyed much of the sorrow that would | naturally feel for such a woman. Not content with this, MT. White mar ried his housekeeper a short time after. 1 and as his health improved greatly under the new reginae, frequently met him | walking in the street with his wife, and going in and out of his house. He had evidently made up his mind to live as long as Methuselah, and the enjoyment of my reversionary interest was put off to the far future @
 Tom did not console me much under my wrongs; indeed, he insisted that was fortunate in having the property left to me at all
 Really, Charley" he said, q think, | on the whole, Sophia has behaved very we'll, and her father can't live forever and then you will have it all. If Mir. White had been your naOther-in-laU CTom would | always insist upon stating it sol, she would have managed to have you cut out | of 1t! You know you never were very fond of him, Charley, and Sopllia knew that perfectly; if you had played your cards better things might have turned out differently"
 "Not much consolation here." However, I said no more, but plunged deeper and | deeper into business, which fortunately was more successful in it's results than my ventures in the matrimonial line. After some months began to lift my head and look round the world again with some thing the same interest as of old made up my mind, however, not to marry again in years, if ever, and above all to avoid a woman whose relatives were old or trouble some
 Alas for ones wisest intentions! A few weeks at a gay watering place oyercame ! my good resolutions, and led me by | fowery chains into new and mortifying experiences!
 Florry Needham was as pretty girl as l ! CSCA OCACAA 4A AAC WACA \ uCb A1e2E HI all her glory at Saratoga Springs. She ing beauty; rosy, petite, and with the most winning, coquettish little arts in the world, she walked into my affections with a celerity wonderful even to myself. Night after night would stay up to contest the honor of her hand in the German, and when I had carried my point against nu- merous competitors, would feel as satis- 1 fled as if had achieved some wonderful distinction. It was in vain that Tom. hearing of my enslavement, wrote me let ters imploring me to find out all about the 1 young lady before I entangled myself. Two months at Saratoga did my business effectually, ,and I returned to town shackled with new letters which I neither desired nor had courage to break. ..-... l When an oldish man marries 8 very young girl it is quite useless to expect her to settle down to his standard immediate ly, and Florry did not attempt to conform to mine. Fond of society and attention she was never happy except in the midst of an admiring crowd, and the first year of our married life was spent in perfect whirl of gayety.
 In the mean time Florry's relatives, though many in number, gave no annoy ance; we lived at fashionable hotel, and I was not sorry that she chung to her own connections, who were good sort of peo- pie, and could afford her protection when I was not present to do SO. Yet her con- duct was fearfully imprudent, and many a tear flowed from those pretty brown eyes at the lectures on propriety which I was compelled to administer. Still we loved each other, and, on the whole, got along pretty till my old torment made its ap- pearance in new form Florry's father and mother had been living abroad fol years-she had been the charge of mar
 ried sister, and felt no more interest in
 her parents than did who had never seen
 them. Now, however, Mrs Needham died
 suddenly in Paris, and back to this coun.
 try, in s'red-hot haste, came my new fa-
 ther-in-law to give me further insight into 1 the possibilities of that trying relation.
 ship. ~ sfo 3s ssez
 Mir. Needham did not look much olde,