Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1877-07-10

dreamed of getting it. We were terri
bly, disappointed, having counted 9
surely upon an addition to our means
and when our wrathful feelings were q
their height who should suddenly wall
in but Uncle Jocelyn! He had1neve
been in our house since we were married
1t was, in fact, a great event for him t,
leave Conington, but the freak hat
seized him. He wanted to see his oil
favorite and his new grand-niece, SO h,
had come. He only meant to stay fo
the day in the evening he intended t,
return home. In my inmost heart
was as fond of him as ever; but hi
visit was ill-timed. I could not rally
from my disappointment for Henry
and our cares were now assuming tOt
serious an aspect to be easily set aside
"You have a beautiful little house
Kate" he said. II had no notion Hen
ry was such rich man."
Hadn't you, uncle ?" I said, trying
to laugh unconstrainedly.
II am truly pleased to see yeu so com
fortable," continued Uncle Jocelyn
kindly. "This room must have cos,
you pretty penny, Kate, and I dart
say you have nest-egg somewhere az
WE'LL"
"Oh, it isn't very much, (" I answered
really referring to the room, but as he
thought to the nest-egg and imagining
that meant that the latter, though OF
small proportions, did exist, he respond
ed most cordially:
Doesn't matter how small, Kate
there's plenty of time to make it larger. u
1t was no use undeceiviDg him, though
at that very moment an ominOus enve.
lope was delivered to me with the an
nouncement that the person who
brought it was waiting for an answer, to
which I returned the usual formula that
Mr.. Arden was out, but would call in a
day or two. tried to look as indiffer-
ent as possible, but 1 .feft Uncle Joce-
lyn's eyes were upon me, and my face
colored painfully, nor did my confusion
escape the kind scrutiny. 1 felt thor
oughly convinced he had drawn his own
conclusions. Soon afterwards lunch was
announced, and we descended to the din
ing-room, where Sophy, my parlor maid,
had, to my horror, arranged some of our
best china on the table-with the best
intentions l knew, meaning to impress
my visitor with our grandeur, but little
imagining the real effect such superflui-
ties would have upon my uncle. He
noticed it directly and admired it very
much.
"Where did you get that figure ?" he
asked, indicating a lovely china centre
piece. ~ : les
II am not quite certaih,n replied,
carelessly; 1--WE have had it for some
time"
"Was it very expensive?" pursued
Uncle Jocelyn. 3~
20 no, not very; at least I didn't
think so," answered, recollecting with
q painful throb that it certainly had not
cost us much as yet, considering we had
not paid for it. ~
need not give all the details of I'm
Gle Jocelyn's visit. Suffice it to say that
it was one long martyrdom that after
noon to me; and it was positive relief
when his kind old face vanished and I
found myself alone once more. He had
gone away no doubt thinking our lines
were in very pleasant places, feeling as
sured not only of our prosperity, but of
our happiness. Poor deceived Uncle
JOcelyn! He little knew that I was
just longing to throw myself into his
arms and make clean breast of all our
extravaganza and consequent troubles.
How envied him going back to quiet,
peaceful Conington! How I wished
Henry and were just one half as hap
py as he was!
However, our struggle then was just
beginning, for we sank deeper and
deeper. 1t was like quicksand- the
more we struggled the deeper we GOT
We dared not openly retrench-we lack
ed the moral courage; and our private
attempts were the merest drops in the
ocean of that mighty sea into which
we had drifted, simply and solely be
cause we had at the outset ignored the
golden rule, SO impressed upon me by
Uncle J0celyn, to live within our means,
and to pay ready-money. And what
had our extravaganza done for us? We
had large visiting list, and I periodi-
cally paida host Of visits, always hoping
a pretty house, and were able to enter
had heaps of fashionable dresses and
useless finery and Henry was as per-
feet as ever in my eyes; but we were
both miserable; debt stared us in the
face whichever way we turned; and
how long we could keep our creditors at
bay was beginning to be source of con-
siderable anxiety to US.
Henry's position in his business de-
pended solely upon the pleasure of the
senior partners. There were curious
conditions in their agreement with him !;
and if they heard of his embarrass-
ments, no doubt it would injure him
greatly, and might make them consider
themselves justified in perhaps some
thing far more serious than remon :
STRANGE. O.! that we had acted differ
emily that the past could be lived over
again with our present experience!
Once or twice thought of eonfiding
our woes to my mother; but dared
not intuitively I knew that although in
his prosperity Henry was great favorite
with her. she would regard him very diff
ferently if misfortune came; and I felt
I could bear anything rather than hear
him blamed, especially as in my inmost
heart knew was equally if not more
to blame than he was for now see
clearly how true it was what Uncle
Jocelyn said, that wife can make or
mar her husband. If had quietly set
to work at the soutset, and advised him
Alright, all would have'b been well; but
now every day brought some hateful
dun or threatening letter. A ring at the
bell would cause me to start; and the
sound of q mans voice in the hall par
leying with Sophy was enough to make
me tremble all over.
"The crash could not be stayed off
long; a crisis must surely come" So
said Henry one lovely June evening,
when we were sitting disconsolately
discussing all manner of wild, impossi-
BILE schemes. 1t was an exquisite night !;
the heat of the day was over; not a
breath of wind stirred the delicate bios
SONS of the plants which adorned our
balcony, and the moon was rising in all
her liquid loveliness, casting clear cool
light over the scene, Everything look
ed calm, quiet, and peaceful; the pulses
of the great city were hushed; there
was nothing to break the silence, except
poor Henry's hopeless tones repeating,
's "A crisis can't be far off, Kate. What
we are to do, know notw
We fancied the amazement of ouI
friends-the nine days wonder our mis-
fortunes would cause, little dreaming
that our ending had long been conf
dently predicted by them, and that oul
hospitality had been roundly censured
and condemned by the very partakers
of It. Still less did we imagine thai
Mr.. Trevor, SO far from being favorably