The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1875-02-05

flushed brightly at his coming. and re-
ceived him with a smile. BE knew moth.
! ing of what had been passing in her
heart, and was not likely to know-she
would be shy as long as she was re-
served. He had not been going to tell
her of his resolution Just yet, but after
moving about restlessIy for some time,
out it came. "Lavinia," he said, not
venturing to look at her, &c I've made
up my mind to leave England"
&c To leave England I" she repeated.
why should you leave England ?''
Because If stay I shall soon be a
beggar," he replied, grimly.
"Oh, L am SO sorry !" she said.
What pity did not know before
And what will become of papa and
mamma ?" She said it all in breath,
rising up and sitting fully reused before
him.
Ire last words drove him wild. ''She
does not care a straw for me-" he
thought, ''Only thinks what will become
of them" 'tI shall leave you and them
all that have" he said, with passion,
"and go away and earn my bread as q
laborer."
'Leave the money to them, and take
me with you j. cried Lavinia, looking
quite radiant as the brilliant idea struck
her. SEE had not understood him any
more than he had understood her.
When she had said she was sorry, it had
not been for herself, but for him when
she had said it was a pity she had not
known before, it was that she regretted
having spent so much which might have
been his now and when she had ex-
claimed, " What will become of papa
and mamma ?" she was thinking what
they would do in their poverty without
her help, and in their loneliness without
her presence. OF herself she had not
thought at all, except for one bright
moment, as her husbands companion,
more to him than she had ever been be-
fore, and he to her.
He had misunderstood her then. It
was impossible to misunderstood her
now. He looked at her strangely.
You would miss all your fine things,
Lavinia," he said. s'You would have
to rough it as an immigrants wife,
''I don't care for fine things" she said.
Ct was far happier when 1 had not
any,"
happiness with me" he said.
She clasped her hands and spoke
more eagerly. Oh, you don't know
all that can do" she said, cor all
that can bear ;" and she poured out to
him the sad experiences of her girfish
days.
He listened with quivering lips to the
recital and when she told him how she
had to wear Emily Wardour's old pink
dress to go to the ball with him, he
burst into an odd excited laugh.
"But we should have to leave the
children behind US" he said next. He
was only trying her now, but he had
the worst of it.
" Should We? Oh, George" she
said, and paused for q moment, paler
and less eager now. Then she said,
quietly, making no question of going
from him, Couldn't I take baby Il?
Maggie might stay with your sisters.
They would be good to her, but baby
would want nurse"
"My darling" he cried and with
something like sob he flung himself at
her feet.
George Goodwin was not man to do
things by halves. He had repented of
his hasty marriage-of the haste of it,
that is to say-and he began courting
his own wife as but few maidens are
courted. He retraced his steps com
pletely. He consulted Lavinia about
everything, ways and means included,
md was not above helping her, at her
desire, to regulate the household ezpen-
diture.
1t is needless to say that they did not
| find it necessary to leave England, nor
yet to live in penury at home. Lavinia
could still help her parents, and that
more effectually, by the aid of her hus-
bands judgment. Her sister and the
sickly children could still find needful
| change at the farm, and Lavinia herself,
happy and healthfGl, looked prettier
than ever in her simple housewifely
attire. This romantic little woman had
turned into the thriftiest of wives, at
! least George Goodwin thought so, and
what was more, she made thrift a pleas
ant, and not hard, unloving thing.
There was only one step which she
took without consulting her husband.
She saw that his sisters missed the oc-
cupation and various interests of the
farm, and were pining in their little
town-house. There was plenty of room
and plenty of work for them in their
old home, so she invited them back on
the plea that things did not go SO well
without them.
And she found her reward. The sis
ters could imagine nothing better than
TO devote themselves to George and his
children, and Georges wife came in for
her share. So at the head of her in
creasing household there is not, at this
moment, happier little woman in the
country than the pretty young mistress
of Holbrook farm.