Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-03-08

Bella gave me all thith white paper.
wanted new, but she thaid it wath good
enough for me; there wath nothing on
it but some thilly vertheth that big fool
she thaid hith name, but Iforget-had
written to her. Don't pinch me tho;
I'll thcream."
Oh agonies of unrequited affection |
There, curling gracefully around lamp
lighter, destined perhaps to light one of
his rivals cigars, were the tender lines:
"Arabella gaze upon me
With thy soft and gentle eyes"
The rest were gone, unless they might
be discovered on the vicious morsel of
paper that wouldn't twitht."
In less than two minutes Mr.. M'Gov-.
ern was in the street. oh, the dismal,
dreary, sleeting iniquity OF that night /
Where was the station? 1t had disap-
peared. Down in torrents came the rain,
freezing as it fell; slippery and more
slippery grew the pavement; only cat
or some animal with claws could have
maintained a systematic perpendicular.
Suddenly down went Mr.. M'Govern.
Perhaps it was blessing, for the sud-
den application of cold ice to the back
of his head restored his consciousness of
where he was, and he turned toward the
railway station, having in his excitement
wandered half mile in the opposite
direction.
Had that partial bath suddenly cooled
his passion? Clarence could not have
told, but somehow he did not feel as
miserable as he had expected, only very
wet, and the ride home seemed INTERIM
inably long.
Two or three days passed by, and even
yet Mr.. M'Govern was in q remarkably
serene frame of mind for disappointed
lover. A week passed away, when sud-
denly he began to feel q serious distress
in his left ankle. This struck him at
once as peculiar, as, according to all
precedent, the anguish should have pro-
ceeded direct from his heart.
But pretty soon the invisible tweezers
of most malignant imp began to wrench
him in the knee; before long the grip
was upon his arm; thence it struck to
his hip; and utterly in the power of the
enemy, Mr.. M'Govern awoke one morn
ing and found himself, not like the
Philistines dead, but unable to move d
limb, and helpless before the eyes of
Kitty, the waitress, who, late in the
morning, poked her head into the room
and inquired if he were ever going to get
I up
"Get up?" no! Not for weeks upon
weeks did Mr.. M'Govern rise from his
bed. They bistered him, they poulticed
him, they dosed him, they drugged him; /;
but all to no effect. The fever would
have its way in spite of the whole medi.
pharmacop9ia. First Of all, they placed
him in the charge of monstrous male
nurse, whom Clarence, in his impotent
fury, mentally denominated "great
hulkiug BRUTE" but without whose assis.
tance the unfortunate victim of his at
tentions could not even turn in bed.
How he grew to hate the horrible crea
ture who stood over him day and night!
Even Mrs. Gibsons creaking boots and
high-pitched voice became a blessing
when, in the intervals of her domestic
labors, she looked in upon the sufferer.
But Annie-if he could have had Annie
Finally, in his semi-delirium he began
to call aloud for her; and Mrs. Gibson,
whether out of the motherliness of her
own heart, OF because she had her own
ideas about Annie and this thriving
young dry-goods salesman-too much
cannot be expected of landlad1es with
manageable daughters-promised him
that Annie should be sent for.
AT last she came; and whether the
strength of the enemy was spent, or
whether he did not dare apply his
freezing, burning implements of torture
in Annie's gentle presence, the demon
of rheumatism was exercised and peace
began to reign.
Mr.. M'Govern began TO fancy that he
had lapsed into paradise, such was the
glory of convalescence. And Annie was
everywhere. Once more the dust dis
appeared, and Clarence himself wit
messed the magical gestures through
which it suffered annihilation; he also
saw the very process by which all holes
| depart from stocking, save the one by
whicA the foot enters it. Annie's fair
fingers, that only wrote poetry under
compulsion, seemed to luxuriate in the
composition of broths and soups and
jellies.
And then, while the fresh air Of the
spring-time stole in through the flowers
that Annie had placed in the window,
and Mr.. M'Govern lolled upon the sofa
in all the enjoyment of valetudinarian
luxury, great strife arose in his mind.
He was. thinking-of Annie2 No; of
Mrs. Gibson. Could he; could hep
the blood of the M'Governs
But when Annie came once more, and
her little hands were busy around his
refractory pillows, he found he could;
and he did.
"Annie, Annie, love YOU"
"And Arabella?"
1t was a cruel blow, and the spirit of
the invalid was reused. Excitement
began to gleam in the great hollow eyes,
and he had just time to calculate, "Con-
found her !" when Annies hand was
over his mouth, and Annie's soft voice
reiterated the doctors INJUNCTION to
"keep very quiet" Then, in meek
voice, "Say yes; won't you, Annie ?"
I" I haven't been asked anything"
"Then put your arm under my head,
and letme go to sleep. II you don't, I'll
go into rage, and make myself sick"
Annie did as she was bid.
Some two hours afterward, when Mr.
M'Govern condescended to awake, his
first distinct articulation was, "AudI
Annie, a-about-your-your mother ?"
Annie withdrew her arm, and began to
look severe. Not a word about
mother. There isn't such cook in the
universe"
"No; that is true" And sundry
visions of the days when he had an appe-
tite began to rise before Mr.. M'Govern's g
eyes. "Annie you are right. She shall
live with us"
And Annie, who had remembered what
she had suffered from Arabella, replac-
ed her arm, and, like true woman,