Wilmington daily commercial., 1873-06-28
THE.HOUsEAOtD.
,,1rLt BOB AND TBE pocTOR.

,4 a.rs. had brought up sons and daughters
soan anne of them married and some OF
l,.od, and now in her old age had settled down
Ia quiet life, in which her own sinAii want,
soro easily provided fol, her daily entertainment
.sn,DI, furnished by her Bible and newspaper
-, .r,ne occupation found for idle hours In the
-s,,i,,1 of worsted scArfs OF the gAyest oolors
-, .ooLs and mittens Of every size,for far away
orsnd children ,,
:, Gas dull. monotonous life but the widow
,aS hseu hard working woman, tollng oteh o,
ni,h fired hands, and oontriylng with
nnzzled brain TO make nsr % har ssnoiI.
sulnVo -, Vgaa sweet and she was minded thus TO
',," w." tha retaAinler OF her days But when her
pan yio6n. on his dying bed, sent Tor nus old
oatner and begged her with his latest preatl, 70
nm. and live with and caro- for MS chlidreh, VINO
couio aan snn mntherless, and soon would be or
sna the widow had no choice. sue couio NOT
plans s And ao when she had thought her wor X
eas ail done. and life had no more care or re-
snnn.lbity for her, she suddenly Iounu herssli
% nonnSer years, with ohildrens voices in her
sIl asln Mi a Youthful family In charge But the
oSe ~" "a alNAys been q brave woman, and
T,oU@ shau@h she had toiled ali the day long and
tho"e e. ~ the evening OF life had come, longed
for repJse she yet took up nor WORK again Will
nnt ,nnrmur resolved to do her Dost.
o"I fonn Fletcher had been merchant, doing a
,hyyine business, and living IN a comfortable
avan Generous way. When he died, all MS town.
',aonle remarked upon the easy clrcumstanc 8
n which he had left his chlidreh' put wneh ms
anastaading debts had been paid, 1t turned out
that there was but slender fund remaining
Th .circnmstances" were not easy, after all,
.nd athnnQh one son, a lad OF fifteen years, was
taken in charge by an uncle, there was sum Nate
aas,n forced into the practice OF all sorts OF eco
nomioal lodges for making the ends meet
Thns when the silver haired old village doctor,
having been gathered to his fathers, tue young
doctor who came TO take his Bplace asked the
'Ins IN reoeiye him as q boarder, she made a
mel, little estimate OF possible profits, and con
seated TO give him place in her family She
did not enter upon this arrangement, however,
without some serious misgivings as to its WIS
dom. ,,. d i., ~.
.evsnteen she told herself, were Tightly crea-
times, Kate, she thought, was as sensiDle as III"
hest of thembut they were all easily captivate
And Young men of twenty-five were apt to thinh
IA very delicate amusement TO turl thelr heaus
with aiten, ,ionswhlch mean nothing
"No youpg man shall play that game wlthr
John Fetcher's daughter AZ long as lin ne
grandmother !" said the old lady to herself, and
Ter black eyes snapped behind her spectacles
with A Aprlt which had survived her seventy
years.
So it happened that when young Dr. Brent
came To take up his quarters with the Widow
Fletcher he was given to understand, IN no very
ambiguous terms, that any special attentions to
''mv granddaughter" would not be Acceptabiei IN
short, that no Irritation would be allowed on the
The doctor stared at the old lady and did not
look as though he designed making himself
specially agreeable to anybody, as he replied
Give Yourself no uueaslness, Madam; think
can promise that you shall not have occasion
for complaint on that score
The doctor was as good as his word, and limit
ed his attentions to the carefully guarded young
lady to aformal good morning, or good even
ing polite thank you" for any slight service
rendered, or. whom occasion required. reply o.
remark the brevity of which, however, always
touched upon the very verge of good manners
Kate, being by nature lively and chatty, was
at first disposed to be social with the new men,
ber OF the household but finding the doctor
about as genial All iceberg, and not much
more responsive to the efforts at sociabllity, she
soon gave up all attempts at conversation, and
met the doctor each day with stiff bow, as cool
aud dignifed as his own. Kate was modest
girl not given to overestimatlng her own attTac.
tons and not disposed to look for any greater
amount Of attention thsn would naturally fall to
her share but she was not accustomed to being
entirely overlooked, and did not relish being
treated as OF no account whatever. On the
whole, she was considerably piqued by DIR. Brents
behavior and resolved to pay him in bis own
coin for the cool snubbing he had bestowed ut,-
OIL her.
He thinks himself irresistible, no doubt"
she said to herself land takes me for young
smpleton who would be certain TO fall in love at
the first civil word and be slghinR and dying for
him before month was over. He shall soc y
she exclaimed aloud with such scomful tors
Of her pretty head that one loose carl tumbled
ont Of place. and there disorderly friz ruff ID
itself up, as though determined to show pro-
pei spirit in the matter.
As for the widow, although she could not COM
plain Of the result of her warning, she was
obliged to own to herself that the situation was
sometimes awkward and uncomfortable, and
that the young people were carrying the matter
ASood deal further than she had bargained for.
But the member OF the family to whom this
belligerent state Of affairs was most Incompre-
hensible was little Bob, Kates younger brother
He had gotten up quite violent attachment foI
the doctor, who WAS at considerable plans to
make himself agreeable to the little youngster
often asking him to ride, playing games of all
sorts with him, and at last winning his heart en-
tFely by present OF a small whip and the high
privilege Of certain horseback rides, which, al
though limited to the back door yard were look
ed upon by Bob as wonderful performances
Bob considered the doctor Jolly" But Bot
also loved his sister Kate deArly-better than
anybody else in the world, he sometimes tolt
her, when in specially atfectionate mOod-anC
be found it hard to understand Why two people
whom he liked 30 very much should notlke eacl
other He occasionally tried TO Investigate the
tlOns, and receiving very unsatisfactory answers
But when Kate returned home after havinl
been away on three months visit, and was me
by Dr. Brent with "Good evening, Miss Kate,
as sereney Indifferent as though her absencI
had been quite unnotced, little Bob was aston
lshed beyond measure. He was amazed at sucl
display of indifference, and with wids-opeu
eyes, exclaimed:
Why, Doctor, aren't you glad Kate has COM
homef"
VERY" the doctor anawared with an cd
sort Of emphasis, looking Kate full in the face
Then why don't you" began Bob bu
Oetore he could finish his ques ions, whic
seemed in fair way to prove an embarrassing
one, kate's hand was over his mouth. and loOh
lg very much as though the hand might hav
started on mission to his ears, she exclaimed
There Bob don't ask questions that al
not OF the slightest consequence to anybody.
foor Bob having thus been ignomniousl,
put to silence, WAS Immediately despatched o
an errand.
To tell the truth believe the doctor was
earnest in his answer to Bob's question, and wa
really and honestly glad to have Kate at HON
again. Though he had never had ten minute
conversation with her, the house had SCENE
lonesome without her and when he came hon
from long ride in the cool autumn evening al
looking in at a window where the curtain ha
not been drawA, saw Kate sitting in front OF I'll
CRATE in a big chair and little Bob perched @
one Of its arms, with his cheek lying cloi
against hers, while she read aloud to him,
could but own that ii was pretty sight.
Kate had one foot upon the fender showing
ualhty slipper and narrow strip of white Htoo
ulg A ROft radianpa fha Hra Oh