Litchfield enquirer., 1873-02-13

up" he said, pathetically, and Though tortures would not have wrung from hel the confession, it was equally true that Laviny needed him to keep her down. Some leaven is safest hidden in it's three measures of meal Certainly in her hus- bands presence, Mrs. Hinkle had been a patient Griselda compared to what she now was, freed from home restraints. She fretted and fumed in an explosive manner, raising an unwonted fermenta- | ton in the Tripp household. She hated his folks, she hated Reuben for not hating them, she hated herself for having borne their interference so long, and declared she had not the temper of hy"-which indeed, was quite true. But as the week wore on without bringing the coveted vision of her husband at her feet, the effervescence of her mood was fast subsid- ing, when the rumor that Miss Phebe was welding her domestic sceptre agitated it anew. Pretty work it was, to be crowded out of her own home by his own folks She knew now why Reuben did not come to see her. They had been setting him against her. What if he should never come? For the first time this thought in- truded itself, and in her anguish she sought relief in the camphor bottle. What night had Phebe in her kitchen, solacing Reuben in her kitchen, solacing Reuben with delectable cookery. when he should have been hungering in solitude after his wife She declared such conduct would provoke a saint, though she did not give authority for this conviction. One thing was sure, Phebe should not have the washing of her teaspoons, and without delay Mrs. Hinkle sent a juvenile Tripp to remove these and other personal valuables, choosing the dinner hour for the errand, that the scenic effect might be greater. When Mir. Hinkle was forced to stir his tea with a fork, perhaps he would be in more haste to conciliate his wife The plan was we'll lad but it failed in the execution through the tardiness of little Joe. who, having woodchuck to attend to on the way, did not reach his uncles till the remains of the dinner lay cold on the pantry shelf, and MT. Hinkle was half mile away at his afternoon plow- ing.
 Miss Phebe sent the spoons obediently, inwardly resolved that Reuben should not know of this proof of 'Laviny's ugliness," |" for she was we'll aware that only her own repeated assurances that Laviny would soften toward him if left to herself had kept him passive thus far.
 Seems if wasn't doing the handsome thing not to go nigh herr"
 elf she comes of her free will she'll be likely to stay put" Miss Phebe would answer; "but try to drive her, and you know what Laviny is."
 Mr. Hinkle did know, unfortunately and having schooled himself to patient waiting
 Thus the days wore on, and he plodded through the spring work, cheered little in spite of himself by Miss Phebe's earn est efforts at making him comfortable, while Laviny, mortified and then alarmed by his non-appearance, worried herself in- to course of exasperating sick headaches and in every sense, shut out the sunlight from the house of the Tripps. In the midst of paint-scrubbing Mrs. Tripp found no leisure to devote to her com plaining sister, but left one of her chil- dren to wait upon her. Mrs. Hinkle felt abused. When had Reuben been too busy to bathe her aching temples Little Joe made her nervous as a witch, and one day she told him so, and 8 moment after had the satisfaction of hearing him say to his mother in the kitchen that he couldn't get along with Aunt Laviny no how"
 Why, that was just what Reuben had sald-Reuben who had never spoken hast fly to her in his life Was she an uncom- fortable person to live with?
 Faint in the power of mortal man to get along with you, Laviny." The words came back to her with the startling force of a proof-text, and haunted her after ward continually. =.
 It must have been in rhubarb time, for 1an1al;n,, had nx1 xr,har1 morning little Joe rushed in with the ter rible tiddings that s'Uncle Reuben had fallen ker-chunk from @ beam in the barn."
 Mrs. Hinkle tore the bandages from her head and started up.
 'Where g my bonnet, Susan? I'm go- ing home r
 "Maybe he isn't badly injured. Wait till we hear further" urged Mrs Tripp.
 ''I tell you I'm going home. Susan Tripp Where's my bonnet ?" and snatch ing it by the string, Mrs. Hinkle sprang into the wagon just vacated by her neph- CIV, and drove away at doctors pace.
 Little Joe turned series of somersaults, and then lay writhing on the grass in fit of uncontrollable giggling.
 Didn't Aunt Laviny streak it ?" shout ed he. "And Uncle Reuben wasn't hurt a mite, but she wouldn't let me tell her 1! Tee-hee-hee !'
 Yet, though no bones were broken by the fall, it is fact that Mir. Hinkle found his two hundred pounds avoirdupois con siderably shaken, and he was actually, according to his wife's prediction, "camp- ing down on the lounge in his boots, Y" when, opening his eyes, they rested on her frightened face in the doorway.
 Why. bless your heart come right in, Laviny," said he. And she went in, and shut the door, Five minutes afterward, as Miss Phebe lifted the latch, she heard her sister-in-law :-
 ':I know I have hectored you awfully, Reuben but do mean to live peaceably now, and put up with your folks"
 And Reuben answered, heartily 'I haven't blamed you bit, Laviny. I knowed twas Miss Niddlins' work. But after we'd lived together so long, she might have let us be till God divorced us. :" -Harper'S BazGr.