The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-03-03

AhOlhCAbo WIN luC OA III nun
he f1ourished over the heads of his wife
and Madge, causing the former to shrek
in terror, and the latter to laugh in his
face.
"Strike me just once, Mr.. Andrews,
and I'll sue you for assault!" said
Madge, with a look in her eyes that
plainly meant, 81 dare you"
".Sue, indeedy I'd like to know how
ye'd go about it! Yer not of age"
"But my mother is"
"What good would that fact do We,
little fo0Lr ~ exclaimed the family head.
"You see how it is" said Madge,
"You are nothing but Jason Andrews
wife. You could not testify against
him, no matter what he did. He might
murder me before your eyes, and your
evidence would not be allowed in testi-
mony. Nay, more; the law, being un-
able to convict him because you, the
only witness, could not testify, would
still compel you to remain his wife,
ODeuleuL 10 Ills euJilO OGuColos
AZ see We understand the situation,"
said the step-father, with an exultant
chuckle. cam now, the best thing ye
can do is to be off with yerself at once,
for ye've eaten the last mouthful under
this roof"
"Don't faint, mother, and don't worry.
I don't intend to gow And Madge
again flashed defiance from her snap
ping eyes into the face of her mothers
husband, and nodded her head saucily.
'I've as good a right under this roof
as Jason Andrews has. It's a partner
ship house, IN fact" she continued, gaz-
ing around the walls and speaking with
provoking good nature.
Jason was nettled beyond self-con-
troll. Catching Madge by her heavy
braids of hair, and dragging her, in
spite of her mothers shrieks, to the
center of the room, he was just about
ready to bring the whip across her
shoulders when George Hanson ap
peared, as he had done once before on
similar occasion, just in time to rescue
her from his fury.
"Madge," he said, tenderly, as he led
her away from the reach of her furious
master, "yOu must marry me, and then
l can protect you always. l love you
too well and too unselfshly to submit to
seeing you thus mistreated. Will you
give me the right to shield you from
every annoyance ?"
Now, Madge Morrison, like every
other maiden who had read novels and
seen little of the world of men and
women except through fictitious chan
nels, had had an ideal lover long before
! George Hanson had crossed her path;
and this ideal was the very antipode of
the real article that had lately engrossed
her thoughts. Yet, in spite of her bet
ter judgment; in spite of the dark cloud
which she asserted that she could see
sometimes between herself and him;
in spite of the fact that her ideal had
jetty hair and dark eyes and stalwart
form, with deep, melodiOus and man
ly voice and great physical strength,
she was wildly, madly in love with
George Hanson of the golden hair,
petite physique, blue eyes, feminine
voice, and womanish hands.
"Leps go out under the great fir tree
near your fathers grave. I want to
talk to you, Madgey," said he.
Led partly by her lovers will, and
chiefly by her own longing heart,
Madge obeyed, and they were soon
seated upon the great struggling roots of
mighty forest monarch, with only the
two solitary graves to keep them COM
pany.
81 wonder if it's safe to leave your
mother alone with that protector and
head" said Mr.. Hanson.
81 guess So" Madge replied. ''He
won't be apt to attack her when he's
sober. provoked him by questioning
his absolute power over US. Mother
manages him differently. At first she
J would only protest and weep. Some.
times she does the same thing now; but
generally she will manage to outwit
him by some sort of feminine maneuvel
that only exasperates me. Do you
know what I'd do with a husband if he
f should deceive me ?''
Her lover hung his head for an in
r slant, and then, looking up, recovered
t himself with a smile as he answered
through his bushes,
s "Oh, you'd love him so devotedly
l you would overlook everything tha
you couldn't deny, and you'd deny
/ every accusation against him that yol
couldn't overlook"
}, 'That isn't the way mother does, ex
s actly. Yet I've caught her in many
- fib when she's been trying to concea
:, her husbands faults. Catch me eve
y doing that ~
''If you love your husband, you'll
garnish every fault with the brightness
u of your own purity, my Madgey.
have sometimes committed little indis
=, cretions, but 1 know I wouldn't, any
r more, if 1 had always a strong,- BRAY
r woman like you to sustain me in goo
a resolves"
Suddenly Madge conceived a new an
r exalted opinion of herself. She ha
-