The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1873-12-30


be very quiet" a,a
"Jupiter Tonans ten days What
house is this?'' sFa.
{" 1t belongs to my grandmother, Mrs.
Sally Smith. l will call her to see you"
"Thank you; / can wait. Perhaps the
sight of another stranger might fatigue me
too much" rlalW
But 1 thought he might safely be left
alone for awhile.
"He will talk all the time," said my
grandmother when she went up stairs.
81 don't see but he is quiet enough"
she said, coming down again in few min
utes.
He says he wants you to write lettcr
for him.,
wrote one in this wise, from his dicta-
ton:
"DEAR MARY: came to grief within
mile of your residence, and they tell me /
have been light-headed for a matter of
ten days. Tho business that l came on
will have to be done all over again. Never
theless, will not abandon hope till l
enter at the door which, according to Dante
bears that inscription.
"Ever yours,
]. j. DEANE."
"You must not speak another word,' l
said, simperatively.
;"'I promise, If you will sing again what
you were singing when found myself in
the body this afternoon I.
So 1 sang, "Allen Percy and "Auld
Robin Gray" and two or three other
ballads, of which l had store, and my
patient soon fell into a healthy sleep. The
next day he found his appetite, and from
that time came back to health with won
derful rapidity. He was docile as a lamb
to my grandmother, but with me he be-
came the most exacting and troublesome
convalescent that ever tried a woman's
patience. He openly preferred my grand
mothers dainty dishes, and if left him
for an hour his bell would ring, and went
back to find his pillows on the floor and
his head so hot that nothing but stroking
it with cologne and singing all the while
would cool it. To keep him still read
aloud for hours, thinking far more of him
than ofmy book. ~
We grew very we'll acquainted in these
long Summer days, till went to Meriden
on shopping expedition. found thick
letter at the post-ofice for Mr. Deane,
which had been lying there nearly three
weeks. 1t was directed in lady's hand,
and l thought the sight of it brought a
shadow to my face.
He looked SO glad to see me after my
two hours absence that went up stairs
in quite flutter of spirits. Could it be
possible that / was to taste at last the Joy
of which had heard and read with unsat-
isfied longing? But would not stop to
think about it.
Here's a letter for you that Job brought
in while you were gone,' said my grand
mother. d
l took it and glanced at Mr.. Deane. lie
sat by the open window reading one sheet
of his letter, with knit brows, while the
other lay beside him. Suddenly light
breeze whirled it out into the fower-plot,
and / ran out to get it. 1t had not oc.
CURED to me to be curious about the letter,
and nothing was farther from my thoughts
than TO read even the date Of it but the
writing was large and plain, and as
stopped to pick IL up, tho first four words
were burned into my mind like letters Of
fire.
"My own dear husband" Surely il
should have been nothing to me that Mr.
Deane's wife had written to him but,
woe is me, the fact of his having wife al
all was like death-blow to me--lilse the
instant before dying, when one sees at a
glance the whole map Of ones life. yi
gave him the sheet without looking al
him, and went up to my room.
Doubtless this was the :" Dear Mary tC
whom had written that first letter from
his dictation, and had foolishly taken Il
for granted that she was his sister. He
had never spoken of her but married peo
pie are always mysterious, and her price
might be far above rubies, nevertheless
He had done nothing to make her jealous
Once he had taken my hand and touched
it with his lips, and all the rest Of the
foundation of my castles in the air lay il
looks more or less expressed.
But the above, it appears, was all OF
my side. He was idle ana grateful, art
that was ALL
i would 90 away at once, no matte
where. Mr. Deane was SO far recovered
that my grandmother could easily talk