The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1878-03-07
"Did you ever see them?" demanded
tho mother sternly

"No; but she told me where she
placed them, and the picture is gone"
She then explained, and the mother
only consented to let her remain at home
on condition that proof their marriage
could be found.
Time moved on, and spring came, but
no clue could be found. The town was
afOat with rumor. Henry had written
to some of his friends and acknowledged
his marriage, but when the time came
for his return it brought only letter,
saving he had started for Europe with
DR.. Ufford and his wife and daughter
He would never again have such COM
pany as the doctors fer study abroad,
and the six months would soon pass
away.
Gertrude Ufford was a very lovely
young lady of eighteen, and a dangerous
travelling companion for a young married
man like Henry. In his last letter to
Lillian, before leaving Philadelphia, he
said: "You need not write while l am
travelling. 1t will be very uncertain
about your letters reaching me. Cheer
up, darling; in few months all your
troubles will have vanished"
Henry's long absence only confirmed
suspicion, and when Lillian's little boy
opened his eyes on the world he was stig-
matized as evil and even Henry's moth
er refused to look upon her little grand
son. Though Mrs. Sharpwell had threat
ened, yet her daughters helplessness, her
pale face and speeches. pleading caused
her to relent, and she was suffered to re-
main at home.
On board the vessel in Which the
Ufford family sailed were few passengers,
and Henry and Gertie were much alone.
They played chess, dominoes, sung and
played duets, and the parents were well
pleased with the intimacy. But what
ever might have been Gertie's sentiments,
Henry did not forget other ties. Gertie
longed sometimes to lay her head upon
his shoulder, and feel his arm supporting
her; but he would only sit at her feet
and rest upon his elbow. Sometimes she
would stroke his glossy hair and bend
over him till her auburn curls touched
his cheeks; but he was incapable of being
moved by her advances. 1t was in her
retiring moods that he liked her best
then she seemed shy and modest, like
Lillian, and he longed to kiss her and
hold her in his arms. Sometimes his
large tender eyes met hers and read her
secret; but the lashes would drop over
his own, and the words she waited for re-
manned unspoken.
The summer passed quickly, and
autumn found them on their homeward
voyage. No words of love had been
spoken, and once more on his native
shore Henry hurried to Claysville. He
sought his own home first, and from his
mothers lips learned the extent of Lii,
lian's disgrace He was very angry when
he understood how much she had suffer,
ed, and fastened to rectify the wrong
He was exceedingly surprised to find that
not even his own mother or Lillian's be-
lieved they were married, and through
their obstinacy the suspicion had grown
into fact. His own letters were not be,
lieved, and everybody thought them
false. Nothing short of the certificate
would ever rectify the mistake.
His conscience smote him as he gazed
upon the wreck of his once beautiful
wife. Travel, cultured society, and high
life had added dignity to his handsome
face and manly form; suffering and dis
grace had robbed her of the rose hue, the
ripe lips and sunny smile. Pity only
seemed to move him for her now, and his
boy was nearer than she. He tried to
live with her under the old marriage, but
Mrs. Sharpwell drove him away with
bitter words, and Lillian, in opposition
to her mother, resolved to fulfil her
marriage VOWS, and departed with hi II
from home. Both concluded that a
second marriage would only confirm
public opinion against them, and they
resolved by true lives to prove their in
nOcence.
Henry commenced practice in a neigh
boring village and soon proved an inval-
liable physician; but in the preparation
of his medicines he used the best wines,
brandy and alcohol His taste for liquor
was such that he soon became a slave to
habit, and within four years he lost his
practice. Poverty stared them in the
face, and with three small children,
stricken and smitten, Lillian appealed to
her mother, who offered her home on
condition of her leaving Henry. The
cries of her helpless children, and her
own suffering decided her, and she re-
turned to the home fold again. Hattie,
loving, mOtherly Hattie, nursed her back
to health and helped care for the little
ones.
Henry sank lower and lower, till his
own father scarcely recognized him.
For two years he went down, when one
day he found himself in Claysville Two
little boys were playing on Mrs. Sharp
wells portico as he staggered by. He
stopped to look at them; they were his
boys, and at the window sat Lillian with
his blue-eyed baby-his little Maud.
His wife had caught sight of him, and
turned away; the boys ran into the
house and shut the door. That moment
he BEANIE sober. Then and there he
vowed never to touch, taste or handle
the intoxicating cup again.
He appealed to his father for help, and
receiving it, started for Danville, New
York, resolved to become a hygenic ply
stefan. Total abstinence and change of
diet made new man of him in six
months. The traces of dissipation be-
came less and less, and in eighteen
months he visited his former home with
the pride of his early manhood. He
sought an interview with his family, but
he was still debarred. Lillian was sup
porting herself by teaching, and must
forfeit her home the moment she suf-
fered him to approach her. The old
stigma remained, and every one now be-
lieved their intercourse to have been
criminal and that the beautiful chill
dren were all born of dishonor To help
matters, Mayberry Hoyt had often
showed the old picture to his boon COM
panions and said he knew Lillian of old.
Henry remained several weeks in town,
and sometimes met Lillian on the street,
when she slightly bowed, he touched his
hat and they passed on. Sick and dis
couraged, he sought his old friends, the
Uffords, and found Gertie still single,
though many a sutton had knelt at her
feet. From her mother he learned that
for his sake she had refused all attention;
and careless of consequence, he offered
himself. Gladly she gave her hand
where her heart had so long been, and
the wedding was fixed at an early day.