Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-02-09

She waylaid him, accordingly. on his re
) turn, and gave him a rather exaggerated
account of Lavinia's condition-an &C
!, count which vexed him exceedingly. AM
made him more angry than ever.
9Fretting, is she?" he said to himself
"What more does she wantp Is she no
satisfied with running me?"
He could be very perverse, this mai
but he could not be cruel; SO he went VI
stairs and inquired very kindly for La
vinia and her baby. He did not think sht
looked very i'll and miserable, however, fo1
she had flushed brightly at his coming
and received him with a smile. He had
not been going to tell her his resolution
just yet, but after moving about restlessly
for some time, cut it came.
"Lavinia," said he, not venturing tc
look at her, sI've made up my mind to
leave England"
"To leave England !" she repeated
"Why should you leave England?"
because if I stay I shall soon be a beg
gar" he said. grimly.
30, I am sorry!'' she said. "What a
pity / did not know before. And what will
become of papa and mama?"
She said it allin a breath, rising up and
sitting fully aroused before him. The last
words drove him wild.
"She does not care a straw for me-" he
thought, "only thinks what will become of
them. L shall leave you and them all that
I have,'' he said to her with passion, 'and
go away and earn my bread as a laboreR"
'Leave the money to them, and take me
with you'll" cried Lavinia, looking quite
radiant as the brilliant idea struck her.
She 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 said it was
a pity she had moi known before, it was
because she regretted having spent so much
which might have been his now; when she
exclaimed, "What will become of papa
and mammal" she was thinking what they
would do in their poverty 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 before, 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. You would have to
rough it as an immigrants wife,"
II don't care for fine things. I was far
happier when I had not any,"
"That doesn't say much for your happi-
ness with me" he said.
She clasped her hand and spoke more ca
gerly.
"Oh, you don't know all that T can do,
or all that l can bear;" and she poured
out to him the sad experiences Of her girl
ish days. He listened to the recital with
quivering lips; and when she told him how
she had to wear Emily Wardour's old pink
dress to 60 to the ball with him, he burst
into an old. excited laugh.
"But we should have to leave the chill. |
-dren behind us,'' he said next. He was
only trying her now, but be had the worst
of it.
"Should we? Oh, George |" she said,
and paused for a moment, paler and less
eager now. Then she said quietly, eCould
not take baby? Maggie can stay with
your sisters they would be good to her,
but baby would want a nurse"
"My darling" he cried, and with some,
thing like a sob he flung himself at her
feet.
George Goodwin was not a man to do
things by halves. He had repented of his
hasty m~arriage-of the haste of it, that is
to say-and he began counting his wife as
but few women are courted. He consult
ed Lavinia about everything, ways and
means included, and was not above helps
ing her at her desire. to regulate the house. |
hold expenditures.
1t is needless to say that they did not
find it necessary to leave England, nor yet
to live in perjury at home. Layinia could
still help her parents and more effectually,
by the aid Of her husbands judgment.
Her sister and the sickly children could
still find needful change at the farm, and
Lavinla herself, happy and healthful, look
ed prettier than ever in her simple attire.
This romantic little woman had turned
into the thriftiest of wives, at least George
Goodwin thought so, and she made thrift
a pleasant and not a hard thing.
There was only one step which she took
without consulting her husband. She saw
that his sisters missed the occupations of
the farm, and were pining away in their
town house. There was plenty of room
and plenty of work for them in their old
home, SO she invited them back on the
generous plea that things did not go so
we'll without them. And she found her
reward. The sisters 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
increasing household there is not at this
moment, a happier little woman in the
county than the pretty young mistress Of
Holbrook farm.
A HAWK AMONG HENs.-Gilbert White
tells a most dramatic story of a neighbor
who had lost most of his chickens by a
sparrow-hawk that came gliding down be-
tween a faggot pile and the end of his
house, to the place where his coops stood.
The owner, vexed to see his flock diminish