Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1877-04-28

Have l not always wished to make
you happy in your own way, Antony :?
If Miss Hutton is necessary to your hap
piness, why, l will speak to father about
her after Ada's wedding. II won't do be-
fore it, indeed it won't
Antony was very grateful. Love is
always hopeful, and he went to see Mary
that night, quite confident in his
mothers final success. A few days after
wards Ada was married TO the richest
commoner in Airedale, and the presump.
tive heir of Towton baronetcy. Aske
was deeply enamored of her beauty, but
by no means the man to be its slave.
Many things rivaled Ada in his heart,
even in the earliest days of her married
life; his estate, his hunters, county mat
ters, and politics.
He was an Englishman of the old
order, and had no very exalted ideas of
women, except as the mistress of house
holds, and the mothers OF children.
Ada's efforts to establish female auto
cracy in Aske hall seen came to disastrous
failure. Athrst George "Pooh! poohed"
her orders and tried to laugh away her
petting and tears. But he was not the
man to put himself out of the way for
an unreasonable woman. and even this
concession was soon given up.
In three months it had come to SIM
pie announcement Of his intentions, and
a perfect indifference as to how she &C.
cepted them. Thus he would say:
"Ada, 1 am going to meet the Towton
hounds in the morning; you had better
go with me-a gallop will do you good"
But if Ada met the request with q
negative of any kind, he accepted it
without demur; and if this produced
tears or complaints, he generally began
10 whistle and left the room. This
"rudenes" brought on passionate At
tacks of hysteria, and George went to
the hunt and sent the family physician
to watch her through them.
Very coon poor Stephen had a double
burden of household trouble to bear.
Ada began to bring her wrongs and hui
Mutations home, and Mrs. Thirske
warmly espoused her cause. A COM
planning daughter and a weeping wife
were enough to make the most splendid
house miserable, and they were but the
elements out of which far greater troubles
were to come.
In the meantime Antony's affairs were
equally unsatisfactory. Mrs. Thirske
bad spoken to Stephen about Mary Hut
ton, and for the first time in her mar
ried life admitted . failure. Antony
would not believe that she had done her
best, and he forgot in this one denial the
ninety and nine unreasonable favors she
had before procured him.
Stephens opposition to Miss Hutton
was sulky and positive. He dare not,
in the first place, disebey his wife's Or
ders to forbid the match. In the second,
he was angry at the authors Of this new
element of discomfort in bis home. In
the third, he was not prepared financially
to support another household. Ada's
settlement had been a drain on his bust.
ness; he had other losses, and another
wedding and house-furnishing, with the
increased allowance necessary to main
tain it, was really beyond his present
means.
He was quite sensible of this last rea-
son, but he did not want to admit it
even to his wife and SOD, 30 he sullenly
and authoritatively forbid Antony to
marry any one at present; and for some
months there was Q growing feeling of
anger between father and son. Then one
day, after q stormy interview, Antony
left his home without word Of farewell,
and Stephen, too proud and angry to
seek after him, had to bear, in addition to
his own sorrow and disappointment. the
mothers fretful reproaches and anxiety.
The very day on which Antony left
his home Ada returned to it. There had
been between her and George Aske a
wearisome succession of fierce disputes,
and at length, in a moment of intense
passion, George had struck his wife.
Mrs. Thirske was dumb before two such
sorrows, and WIS really i'll, and Stephen
was dangerously angry.
Aske suffered three days to pass and
then sent for Ada. Ada refused to re-
turn, and Mrs. Thirske supported her in
the refusal. In a week Aske's messages
became 50 insolent that Stephen was
compelled to reply to them, and the poor