The star of Pascagoula. [volume] (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1873-1878, 1877-05-25
TEN YEARS AFTER MARRIAGE.

Rowland was alone. She had Eeh !
,hl husband 10 the little room where m
usually Eat together through the event,
Whlle she put the children 90 bed
Mrs. Rowland did not feel inclined
return to the family sitting room. WIN
I'M she had left her husband, but remain
ar. within the chamber with her sleeni,
-r, little ones, in q musing, brooding. II
happy state Of mind. Something of col
ness and alienation had been growing !
between her and her husband for ! II,
nd time past. The old tenderness of mann,
ing winch had been so sweet was all pon
me lie was kind, thoughtful in regard to h,
5G comfort, honorable and true, but pettin
more formal and less affectionate in maj
~ ner every day. His wife, who had love
ny him very tenderly, and still loved him
mad tailed to give her life ADEQUATE re
100 sponSes to his; had, in the fret and feye
or. OF disciplinary existence, suffered hersel
10 to work amid disturbing elements in
" stead OF taking her place s~erenely by hi
side. And so, harmonious things hat
as been permitted to jar, where all might
1y have been peace.
is 1t was pressing upon the mind of Mrs
$. Rowland that her husband had ceased Ia
love her, and this conviction was taking
# all the sweetnes out of her life. 1t did
not once occur to her that she was herself
;, growing unlovely, that she had laid aside
nearly all the external things by which,
when a maiden, she had sought TO win
= MN the sunny countenance, the alluripp
! voice and manner, the %scrupulOus attire,
the difference to his taste and opinions.
the guard upon her temper, the wOmanlv
elevation OF character that made her seem
as one who ruled in the kingdom Of her
own soul. This was the being he had
loved, this was the woman he had taken
to walk with him through life. Alas. for
the fading idea! He had found, instead,
one who made scarcely an effort at self.
government, whose feelings and impulses
were not springs of factions. Deeply. mas
sionately she loved him, but not wisely
selt-abnegating love pleases both itself
and the object of its devotion. Without
some change on the part of Mrs. Rowland
1t was impossible for them to grow to.
gether again.
For nearly half an hour after her chill
dren were asleep, the mother sat in her
wretched mood, apart from her husband,
and feeling no inclination to Join him.
"All love has died." said She, @" am
nothing now" And as she said this her
heart shivered with an instructive reali-
cation OF what her words involved. Then
fear for the loss of a thing so precious as
a husbands love seized upon her soul
II inspired a new purpose. A love
worth winning was surely worth an
effort to retain. And was not the wav
to win, the way to keep? A new LIGHT {
broke into Mrs. HOwland's mind. She t
began to see things in herself that were |
very far from being in harmony with her q
life when a undertakings that would I
have certainly repealed a lover, and were
they bonds for a husband? A
These thoughts startled the awaken. r
ing wife. Then old memories were re-. I
vived. bringing back old states, pictures o
warm with the hues OF love came out of Fl
The dim past. 81
Is the cup broken and the wine spill. S
I'd = she asked of herself. Good forbidr" il
from her lips in due utterance. Then h
he left the chamber where her children al
lept, and with silent feet went towards n
he apartment in which she had left her O,
husband alone. h,
On the way she paused, stood sail for a,
moment, then returned. The gas was h
low. She threw up the light and m
'aught a reflection of herself in the toilet tt
lass. One glance sufficed. That was not III
he style in which she appeared before 81
Ter lover. Taking down her hair, she eli
.pplied comb and brush rapidly for some til
Moments, and then arranged the plos,s an
masses with taste and skill. Next Ike tn
Dlied and tum5led wrapper was removed, all
nd her person attired in a neatly fitting so
ress, around the neck of which was laid
snowy linen collar fastened by a small tel
'ral PIN, her husbands gift of other days. he
lready her checks were filled with a glow tn.
I'd her eyes filled with light. One long M,
ance at herself in the mirror revealed q Sh
Onderful transformation. How the old Dire
emories were crowding in upon her wa
DIV soft her heart was growing! How /
IL of tenderness was every Thought of mo
r husband! Her lips were athirst for in
sses Al
And now Mrs. Rowland left her cham tin,
r again. Her slippered feet gave no usu
ina as they moved over the carpet, and exp
? came to the open door of the sitting the
without betraying a sign of her ap- witt
zach. There she stood still. Mr.. NOR
'wland was not at the table reading. TEN
had left him, but at his secretary and
lch was open. He was reclining his pins
I'd on one hand and gazing down upon plat
held in the other, and seemed was
oily absorbed. For more than a min. all, /.
he remained in this fixed attitude cont
wife was as still as himself. Then a 81
: sigh trembled on the air, and then ing!'
ng the object toward which his gaze Of Il
directed MIR. Rowland pressed It to smili
lips, kissing it almost passionately. Il
e or four times. A wild throb leap liftin
long Mrs. Howland's veins. Then kiss.
heart grew still as if in the presence an
ONE unknown but stupendous evil. and |
Iethlng impelled her to spring for chair
and read this mystery, and some moth
g as strongly held her back. As she "a
pale now, and in a tremor, the eb- land
was Kissed again, and then returned his Iii
.ne oIdwer 10 the secretary from lips {
n 1t had been taken. In this act across
n instant, the mlniture of a lady her ey
the gaze of Mrs. Rowland. Locking thew ,
irawer her husband put the kew in not i,
'ocket, and then resting both arms stirred
ne leai OF the secretary, buried his ries a
in them and sat motioniess. crown
lrnlng away as n0iselessly as she had Ten
cached, Mrs. Rowland fled back to lamp
hamber in wild fight, and sat down exhau
ing IN bewilderment. As soon a. tive n
zht began to move in a determined ing ba
the hrst result was a flood of indig- the lal
a burning sense of wrong, and il a supp
My by an effort that the outraged bridal
hold herself hack from con shall N