The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1874-02-25

grave hesitation, tne young lawyer
allowed himself to be over-persua-
ded into giving the desired promise;
but lie left the station house and
returned to his office a troubled
and anXious-hcarted man. lie did
not like deception in any shape,
and he seriously doubted his ca
pacity for concealing anything from
his dear little wife.
And so it was that when John
Albany went home that evening,
and silently handed Carrie an un-
postmarAed missive, over which
her blue eyes glistcned, and made
her kiss the babe twice, he did SO
with a flush on his cheek and a
cloud on his brow, which. never
left him the whole evening. In
vain Ire tried to be gay, orto make
the crowning youngster a means Of
concealing his perturbation; fol
the quick eyes Of lis wife penetra.
ted his clumsy artiiccs, and then
if he had been in trouble
before, he was badly enough beset
now. John Albany was accounted
a promising young lawyer, and re-
markably good at cross.question-
ing; but never had any witness
suffered under his own hands az
he now did under those as his wife.
Of course John kept his promise
of secrecy. but at the expense of a
red face and a flushed manner. He
was not half sure that his con-
science had not caught him in sew
cral pretty well defined fibs. and
equivecations. More than that,
Carrie was quite well aware that
she had not penetrated her hus-
bands secret; and she was not on
ly a true daughter of Eve as to
curiosity, but as sclf:willed and
imperious a little body as she was
loving, with a good deal of that
peculiar element of character out
of which jealousy is manufactured
under favorable circumstances.
And so, though at first she tried
not to show it, Carrie was more
than a little offended !; and John,
poor fellow, could not help seeing
and feeling it.
And thus the next day passed,
and the next, and matters down
town looked worse and worse, and
matters at home grew cloudier at a
rate which John Albany would
hardly have thought possible. So
much for keeping a secret from his
wife; and the poor fellow grew
gloomier with every glance at the
fretful and discontented face that
had hitherto been so sunny. Even
the baby was compelled to suffer
his share of the household trouble.
In her irritated mood, Carries
thoughts naturally turned to her
brother; and so one day she sat
down and wrote him a letter, in
which she had a great many things
which were intended for his own
eyes. Perhaps no harm would
have followed but that Carrie mail
ed the letter with her own hands,
without saying a word to her hus-
band, and that, more by accident
than by anything else, it was open
ed and read by a young married
lady, in one of the larger New Eng
land towns, on the following day.
It was the same cell that John
had looked into before,
and it was nearly two weeks later.
The prison was the same, however; !;
and, with all his confinement, he
was hardly as pale as his worried
and badgered looking visitor.
"It's all up, Caleb !"
"What's up, Johu?''
"Why, this wretched secrecy
business. Lucille's coming %
"Lucille? How do you know %
sRead that telegram. Got to
meet her at the cars this afternoon. y
John Albany had the better in
color now, very decidedly.
ooh. John, my boy, what is to
be done?''
"She must hnow p
"And Carrie -
"We'll see about that. Don't
see what I can do but invite her tt
the house."
And John Albany looked more
ikea baited wild animal than ever
as lie had flung himself out of tho
cell.
John didn't so home to dinner
that day, or he might have discov
cred that the nurse had been LET
alone with the baby while his wife
had "gone out,'' no one knew
whittier. So, in uncomfortable ig
norance Of the dangers that bese
him, John went to the New Havei
Depot that afternoon, and waitet
for a lady who should resemble, a
much as possible, the miniature
likeness which had been showr
him. And he found her very read
lily. There was no chance for mis-
taking the striking but nervous
looking beauty; and, in fact, as ne
advanced to meet her, the trem
bling lips parted slightly JUS
enough to say,