Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1879-12-15
The Wife's Dream.

| Angora cat on the velvet rug before the
fire, wise-looking pup stretched lazily
on the flowing skirts of pretty woman's
pretty dress. Truly, a sweet. domestic
picture. But. stopl Surely that is a
frown between those prettily arched
brows. and the full swell of the under
lip is very like pout. And, as live,
there are two great tears on the long
black lashes And now she breaks out
into torrent of petulant, impatient
words:
1.-The same tiresome things every day,
frat hraaLfast, +hA,, b;ss- Oh. -l;a GOOD.
| bye, then directions to look out for the
6 o'clock dinner, and after that, needle
work-how l hate it !-or calls, made or
received. in which one is treated to
full account of Mrs. Blanks extrava-
gance, of Miss Honiton's firtations, of
that horrid Col. st. Cyr. $50 awfully fast,
my dear, and so distressingly good-look-
ing How tired [ am of it all And
there is Charlie. Who would have be-
lieved he could change so in SO short
time? He no longer cares for ball, thea
tire or opera, but dons dressing gown,
smoking cap and slippers directly he
has swallowed his dinner, lights that
horrid meerchaum, and passes the even
ing behind newspaper enveloped in
smoke clouds. o dearl l wish [ had
not been in quite such hurry to get
married. o. go away, Bijou," and with
her slippered foot she thrusts the teasing
pup from her.
A rap at the door, and to her sharp
Come in" a servant appears bearing a
card. Madame looks flushed, says Il
will be down directly" and flies to her
dressing-room, brushes her flushed cheeks
with the cooling powder puff, pats the
brown waves of her hair with two pretty
dimpled hands, glances at herself IN the
glass, smiles and descends to the draw
lng-room.
A tall, gentlemanly-looking man rises
and comes forward as she enters.
"Mrs. Thornton"
That is all he says, but the tone and
the manner are most impressive, and
thrills through the heart of the wife as
Charles words and tones used to before
he took to neglecting her for dressinG
Sowne, sle~ry h~llnu- IL ----~i.aume.
Well, they talk of the weather, the
last new opera, etc., commonplace sub
jects enough. But why should his eyes
cause hers to waver and drop, glad to
shelter themselves behind the white lids g.?
Why, at parting, is the little white hand
so hastily withdrawn from the close,
warm pressure of his? Why, after he
has gone, does she gaze so tenderly at
the hand she had SO hastily withdrawn,
raise it almost to her lips, and then sud-
denly let it drop to her side ? Why?
can tell you that. She loves her hus
band with her whole warm, passionate
heart. And for a year and more she has
been living on husks. He considers his
whole duty done when the table is boun-
tifully supplied, the wife well-dressed,
and he does not waver in his allegiance
to her. Possession has dimmed the
bright lustre of his love, and so the wife
is hungry for it; and this old admirer,
whom she gladly threw over for Charlie,
is welcome to-day, for the sake of the
ripple he makes on this dead-sea monot-
ony, down which she is slowly drifting
And his eyes cause hers to drop, his hand
pressure causes her heart to throb, be-
cause there is love in the eyes and ten
derness in the hand pressure.
She does not care one iota for this Ray
Remington. Still. she has hungered SO
long that this crust is not SO unpalata-
BILE to her as it would once have been.
There sir, or madame, you have the
explanation. AS for you, Mr.. Jones or
Robinson, is there so much difference
between your conduct and this Charles
Thornton of whom I write, that you can
afford to pass the lesson by as not appli-
cable to you? If so, Mrs. Jones or
Robinson is to be congratulated. She is a
happy woman, and God bless you, sir,
say /, and l wish there were more like
you.
Now am not going to make of this
handsome Ray Remington a fend incar-
nate. No, he is simply what is termed
a genuine good fellow. Which means
he was witty, generous, a warm friend,
nobody's enemy, and a little, just lit
tie, weak and impulsive-enough so to
follow up his own desires and inclina-
tions, reckoning little of the cost or con-
sequence to himself or others.
He had been very much in love with
pretty Mrs. Thornton before she became
Mrs. Thornton-when she was pretty
Lou Tremaine, and had asked her to
change her name for that of Remington
But pretty Miss Tremalne was very
much in love with some one else, and a
few months thereafter made herself and
that other supremely happy by going
through certain ceremony in Grace
church. resnlendent in white satin and