St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1874-07-10
John Randall's Trouble.
AN ENGLISH STORY.

AN ENGLISH STORY.
''Will you let me have it. John -
NO. Gcorgy. can't"
John Randall uttered his refusal OF
his witr'S request very decidedly, as if
he felt the request WAS unreasonable
| and vet there was an under current ot
| gIicvcd impaticmcc in his voice. and a
look of pcrplcNity and SeIf-SatiSf:lction
III his eyes. He waited to see his wife.
rise from the breakfast table. and there
hy signify her acquicSccncc in his de
ciSion. before he went off for his morn
ing walk to the mill.
Gc"lgy. however, did not rise. Her
looks did not express acquicSccncc. She
was Il pretty woman very pretty: tall.
slight. very fair. with large. clear.
steady eyes. and proiuSe brown hair.
Besides her beauty. she had an air of
delicate graceful comp0SuIc rather pc
culiar, and IL voice that suggested alto
flute notes. For all this. she WAS simply
the wife of Il master machiniSt. in the
great Halliburton Print Works. of Mill
VILE. and mistress in one of the small.
white factory tcncmcntS. whose long. or
derby rows constituted Millyillr proper.
But Gcorgy did not belong To the
factory element, although she had mar
licd into it. She had been brought up
10y IL relative. upon whom she had been
left dependent. and whom she called
Aunt Appleton.
Aunt Appleton lived at the other end
of Appleton the west end among the
Ilaliburtons, the Dilloways and the
Verses.
Perhaps. under the circumstances.
Gcorgy might have looked il little higher
than John Randall. But then. John
was rs good as gold, strong, steady,
manly, true.
Aunt Appleton had the sense to re
.ioice at the perception of her pretty
protc%c, and the generosity to give her
Il liberal outtit-hcr furniture, Il com
plctc wardrobe, Il nice wedding.
1t had been very agreeable to Gcorgy
to have these things. She WAS faStidi-
ous to the core. She enjoyed the adj
vantagcs of her position her good
clothes, her prestige among the wives
of the officials in the print works. She
was fistidious. perhaps Il little too fas-
tidious for her place.
John Randall had reached his last
button, a somewhat shiny button on il.
Sollt'N lldl SIldbIpN todi. llt llItl HtlllltT
time nor prctcXt for lingering AT this
moment his wife raised her eyes, clear
ly, untlinchingly, to his face.
"Why not ," she asked i'm her own
sweet voice.
1t is never pleasant for il man to he
called to an account to an account
about money (and of course it WAS
Gcorgy wanted,) by Il woman,
and that woman his wife. Johns face
flushed Il little; IL hot retort prick-d
the very tip of his tongue. hut he did
not utter it. He was Il patient man
naturally and then he had that deep.
pure love for his wife which over-reach-
ed all slight shocks.
Il have exceeded my salary every
month since we were married, Gcorgy,'
he said. "Thc first week of January
will he here in few weeks, and | shall
not be able to meet all the bills that are
due. don't feel that we ought to tritie
away Il penny of money. don't be
lievc You do, either"
Il shall say no more about it, she
returned. Il ought to wear Il new pair
of gloves to call on Paul's bride, but If
you cant give them to me | must do
without them"
John Randall's brain was fine enough
to understand that this was not the
he wanted. He would like
to indulge her, hut there was the fact
that, if he began it, he should he al
ways poor.
This was the fact. Georgy had hers
also-that she was always to be denied
and disappointed. She didn't mind so
much wearing the old gloves on this
particular occasion; that which was
itself painfully into her con-
victions, was that she would have to
give up all the little luxuries and ele-
gancies that she SO craved that her
future was to he plain matter of fact
routine, deprived of those qualifications