Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1873-10-01


set myself TO do is to buy this house for O
basis Of operations, and that done, we will
lay our galleries to attack the big house
The house on the hill"
" Well, dear, just as you please. And
will help all can by the most rigid system
Of economy" And they both laughed al
the idea laughed at themselves and the
whole earth and went about from day to
day. happy as two children at their play.
But Roger meant all he said, and much
moro. He was going to be rich man, and
20 have his wife rich woman. He had a
singular vanity that he called pride, and
that forbade him to rest whilo there was in
bis neighborhood anybody better off than
himsell--a quality that in o young man is
sometimes thought to be noble ambition
q reaching forward for the things that are
beyond, but which, in en- older man bares
itself to palmer view simply as a grasp
ing spirit. II was, however, almost the
only fault thgt Roge' possessed, or rather,
with It's auxiliasies, it was, for every fault
has IFS parasites; ond man who has a
grasping spirit, on the side he turns toward
the world at large, has necessarily a selfish
bias in his nature, whether thoroughly de-
veloped or mol, ,audpretty sure to be guessed
at in his home
But not by Laura wos such guessing done
notify her was the possibility Of a fault in her
idol suspected. To her, Roger was model
aud a navel Of man. lie had some OF
those qualities that always win women
the charming manner, the ready wit, and
the snowy kndliness that covers n multi.
tude Of sins As Laura looked after him
going down the garden walk, and pausing
az the gate TO wave another farewell ed
at the handsome figure, the sparkle Of
the eyes, the waving Of the crisp hair-it
seemed 10 her that the human race had
reached perfection in him, and nothing finer
could be subject to mortality. Nor would
it have made any differenceif she had been
told the truth-that he was simply an or
binary man a Claude Lorraine glass makes
every landscape picturesque. ltis, indeed,
TO be Questioned if at the last, and in spite
of everything, she ever admitted to herself
that he was not supreme satisfaction in
all particulars. Hers was a wife's loyal
soul. anil not a critics
At tie beginning the novelty and the
| freedom Of her life absorbed her so much
/ that sh6 had not time to think of those lit
tie minitp Of devotion in which discrim-
/ mating consideration would have showed
her that Roger failed; and then 1t was
such o delight to do for him that it never
occurred TO her whether or not hewas doing
for her. OF course he was doing for her
he had made this home for her, aud be was
/ kceping her in it-sell-apparent facts. And
so she proceeded, after the fashion Of typ.
ical good wives, TO develop the selfish side
of her husband by every service in her
power She never disagreed with him, tC
begin with. Rogers word was law if he
bad pronounced the sky pea-green, pea-greer
| 10 would have been for Laura. She never
kept him waiting one instant. He might
keep her waiting for hours Shehad sixty
exclses ready for him. If he did not CONT
down in the first train, dinner was delayed
for him and if the cook objected to thi,
nostponement that hindered her early even
ing visits, Laura dismissed that cook ant
prepared the dinner rhersef--prepared suct
dinner as the cook would never have
dreamed Of, and that made Roger inclined
to wish there were no other cook-unti
she could find handmaiden whose ideas
ag-eed with her mistress hours. Sh,
wanted Rogers home to be the most attract
i've place in all the world to him, indie
pendently Of her own presence in it. She
kept it, then, neatly, as a good engineer
keeps bis machinery; not particle Of sol
or dust anywhere to be seen, flowers Away
about When he came home in the even
ing there were lamps lit in the distant par
of the house, but he entered a twilighteC
region Of open windows, muslin curtains
that the breeze was blowing out in an atmos
phore ofhoney-suckle, mignonette, and roses
and it might have seemed to him, had b,
| given himself time to think about it, tha
bis cottage was built just upon the outskirt
of Eden.
And so it did seem for a while--so i
always did, in fact-only he soon ceased
to give himself that necessary time ii,
was busy with his work always drivin,
forward as if there were worlds to conquer
and only to-day to do it in. He was OF
at in the morning; he was away till il
the evening. As soon as dinner was owe
there was somebody to be seen on a matte
Of Importance to him, or else somebod,
came to see him. Then Laura sat alone
unless a neighbor came in--the busy Mrs
Clifford, or one Of the plain cousins, VIII
thought Laura's house a dull place til
Roger slammed the front-door at last, AM
declared himself too sleepy to sit up anothe
moment. But that was all in the natura
way of business it did not occur to Lauri
to grumbe about it. IF she wished b
would come home at four and take her t
drive before dinner, she never thought h
might have done it had he chosen; sh
took it for granted that he wished it, toe
and would have done it if he could. Sun
days she had him, at any rate; at churc
with her in the morning, and in the after
noon---well in the afternoon he stretche
himself on the lounge with handkerchie
over his face, then she had the privileg
Of sitting silently beside him with fan t
keep the flies away, and felt herself uncagl
monty blessed in that.
Il is true, Lauras married life was get
ting to be something different from tina
which she had planned for it. Sometime
she thought it was her fault-thougbt tha
Roger did not find her sympathetic, or un
derstanding or entertaining; then sh
read books that she fancied he must like
and which he had no time to read himself
and told him about them at dinner; an
be would interrupt her with some such il
relevant question that she saw he had nc
listened to q word she said. Or else sh
practiced some song, and spent laboriou
hours over it and when she thought tn
time was ripe, would sit herself at th
piano to sing, only to see Roger get up an
take his hat and 60 off on some erran
that had just occurred to him in the middl
fit.
Once or twice his own CONSCIOUSNESS
smote him as the remembrance of the grieve
look at some Of these Interruptions, whic
he had seen without noting, came back I
him; and so, on the night when he ha
completed the purchase of the cottage, h
explained to her that his whole soul wa
wrapt in the effort to advance their fortunes
and if he ever seemed indifferent she mui
understand that it meant nothing that b
loved her better than ever he did, and pre-