The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1876-03-10
AND OBEY."
CHAPTER I.

At last Philip and Nellie were married.
She had been very brave and patient, qGits
content 10 wait until he was ready; but
STILL when, after a three years engagement,
be said they would wait no Longer, she Was
very glad to leaFethe peeyish, fault-6nding
Old aunt with whom she Lived, and on whom
b was entirely dependent, and beeone
mistress Of the pretty Itle home he had
prepa ed for her.
There was but one bitter drop in their
cup His mother would not recognize her.
Before they were married, she utterly ig-
nored h engagement; and since then she
had never called on Nellie. The old lady
thought that her bright, brave, only SON
might have looked higher than the sunny
haired, portionless little niece Of old Mrs.
Trevor.
Mrs. Rayner had done more than this
she had even chosen publicly to treat Nellie
with ~insolent contempt An old friend of
hers -Philip's god-mother, Mrs. Benton
charmed with Nelie's bright. pretty face.
had thought it a pity that the two should
not become acquainted. Many were the eff
forts she made to induce Mrs. Rayner to
see Nellie, but in vain. At last, as she
considered, a happy thought struck her.
Philip was staying in Boston for a few days
Why shouldn't she invite Nellie and Mrs.
Rayner TO her housed She might invite
them both to spend the evening with her.
without telling either that the other was
coming. 1t only needed that the old lady
shouldsee Nellie for her at once TO like her.
OF that there could be no doubt.
Thus thinking, Mrs Benton issued her in
~vitations. They were accepted and, when
Nellie arrived on the appointed evening.
she our the drawing-room half filed with
people. Mrs. Benton greeted her very cor
daily. and immediately led her up to a
stately looking old lady, saying:
Mrs. Rayner, allow me to introduce
Miss Ashton"
Mrs. Rayner rose, made the slightest pos
sible bow. and Immediately left the room.
Poor child! For a moment she felt as il
all the blood in her body had rushed to her
head but, recovering herself. she sat down
beside her kind hostess, who felt the insult
almost as keenly as Nellie did.
At last the wretched evening was over,
and Nellie was free to go. feeling deter
mined that nothing should ever induce her
to see Philips mother again, if she could
help it. As for Mrs. Rayner, she may nave
" evolved" some satisfaction from her own
" inner consciousness" but the practical re-
suit of her conduct could scarcely have been
pleasing to her, as exactly a week after
Mrs Benson's unfortunate soirde. Philip in
formed her that he and Nellie were going
to be married early in the spring.
Indeed r was all she said.
Philip gradually furnished his house.
Nellie and he were quietly married, and,
after a short honeymoon spent at Saratoga,
he settled down to his work. He was a
doctor. rs his father had been before him,
But he had not succeeded to his fathers
practice, for the old gentleman had retired
long before Ralph was qualified. His in
co ie, therefore. was small and precarious.
This would have mattered little had he
married a girl after his mothers heart; for
the old lady had a considerable fortune Of
her own. and was by no means ~ungenerous.
Having married Nellie. the smallness of his
income was a very serious affair, and, no
other course being open to him. it beloved
him to work and study in order to rise in
his profession.
"Of course. Philip dear, you will do as
you like; but l never mean to forgive your
mother. She didn't choose to know Nellie
Ashton. and Nellie Rayper doesn't choose to
know her"
Thus had the little woman delivered her.
self about nine weeks after their marriage;
and Philip-big, calm, wise Philip-had
simply looked down upon her, and said:
"Hush. my darlingl 1t is one great
hope of my life that you and she will love
each other like mother and daughter"
81 am very sorry, Philip, but we never
shall, dear )" and Nellie shook her head in q
most emphatic manner.
As yet no intercourse had taken place be-
tween Philip and his mother since his mar
riage. This to Nellie was a source of I'M
mixed satisfaction. While his mother re-
fused to call on them Philip was her own
all her own-and she naturally dreaded
an influence which she felt certain would be
inimical to her own comfort.
In this conclusion she was perhaps a little
unjust to her husband. The line his mother
had chosen to take with regard to Nellie
had fully opened his eyes to her prejudice
and injustice, SO that her opinion%i in any
matter in which Nellie was concerne1would
have no weight with him.
Still, he did not regard the present state
Of affairs in the same way rs his wife did.
His mother was very lear to him he would
nave been ungratefnl in the extreme had
she not been so, for he had ever been the
idol of her heart. Moreover, it was not
pleasant that they two-mother and SON
should be living in a state of estrangement,
in the face of all the people in the little vii
lage of Trent Point.
One ofthcir three servants was an elderly
woman, who had been in his mothers SER
vice ever since Philip was a baby, and who,
when he married, had chosen to move with
him from the old house to the nev. She
was much attached to both, and grieved
over the estrangement between her old
mistress and the wife of her young master.
She frequently went to see the old lady,
and tried to the utmost Of her poor ability
to bridge over the gulf between them.
One morning she had been out early pur-
Ir