Litchfield enquirer., 1879-06-19
WHOLE NO. 2767
mother to little Helena.

AAC ududtECiAOuL OA a very dCuCdbC luIhAAG now entirely devolved on me, and, unfortu- nately, was as inexperienced as ever in do- mestic duties. George never could under stand my preference for the employment had quilted; but knew nothing of the one, and my education had made me feel capable of the other. Poor Martha often regretted during her illness that she had never taught me some of what she called her poor ways;' for she said: These London servants will worry the life out of my poor dear And SO they near ly did. This tried Georges temper, too; for he naturally missed Martha's never-failing at tention to his particular requirements; and 1 became really disheartened at my own failures. The climax was, however, at hand in a form quite unforeseen by me. One day when had been tried to the utmost by what may call my petty domestic miseries, very perempto- " letter was put into my hands from our land lord demanding the immediate settlement If his claim for halt years rent 1 knew that my recent confinement and poor Martha's ill., ness had exhausted all my resources; but hoped that George might see his way to meet l the demand. To my great consternatien, he declared he could not, and that without some help, we should have to break up our home. 1 tried to comfort him in vain. And forgot my previous troubles in trying to think of remedy for this more serious one. George gave way to despondency which alarmed me. Suddenly the Idea of parting with Mrs. Dal- rymple's present flashed upon my mind. Of course, it was with extreme reluctance that entertained the idea particularly as George valued the painting very much; but the cir cumstances seemed sufficiently urgent to justl- fly the surprise; so the following morning, af- ter my poor husband had gone to the office more depressed than had ever yet seen him, 1 sent for cab, and took the casket to the shop from which Lady Davenant purchased it. Within week 1 triumphantly presented the sum it had realized to George, at the same time telling him how had obtained it. ''For moment he looked relieved and hap py; but suddenly asked me if l had emptied | the box before parting with it.
 | Certainly, replied very confidently. There was scarcely anything in it; merely a few of my fathers old letters
 Did you he said, still more eagerly take out small piece of folded paper from the se- crete panel in the lid ?
 "'Ne,' replied. I never put any paper ! there. But why do you ask so strangely "' "'Because,' he exclaimed, looking wildly at me, I put document of the greatest conse- quence there for safety. An 1! wife you have no idea what mischief you have done! '1 was lost in amaZement. 1 really thought my husband was loosing his senses with his troubles, and lmplored him to explain himself. At length he informed me that in recent in- 1 terview with.Mr Kelly, that gentleman had ] warned him to take special care of our mar riage certificate, and he had placed It in the safest receptacle he could think of I tried to comfort him by suggesting that no doubt the. purchaser would be known at the shop to which I had taken it. But on inquiry l | found. unfortunately, that they had no clue l whatever to their customer.
 "When MT. Kelly heard of the loss, he hard ly knew which to blame the most George for concealing the paper without mentioning it to me, or me for parting with my property with out consulting him.
 II am not married myself, thank God | he piously remarked but in the course of my l professional experience I have observed that many of the worst troubles of married people are caused by their singular want of confidence l in each other His displeasure reached It's climax when he was told, in reply to his searching inquiries, that two very young ladies had purchased the casket. 'Ah, then, madam he exclaimed, turning almost fiercely to me, then there is, indeed, little hope. They have probably curl ed their hair with your marriage-lines long a. 1 go.'
 'I could scarcely refrain from laughing at his vehemence, and ventured to observe that ! if they aoere lest, no one was likely to doubt our marriage.
 "'What another concealment ?'-this time l addressing George. You are very much to uOG C6lll0p H0F tTuLn. Then taking my hand, Mir. Kelly said, kindly; Do not frighten yourself, my dear girl; but you must now be told that your fathers amia- ble wife has given him to understand that you are not married. have written to him to as- sure him of the fact; but have no confidence that he will see my letter, as, regret to say he is very i'll, and Mrs. Wyndham, no doubt, | can intercept any she does not wish him to read.
 "'Why asked, trembling from head to ! foot does she wish my father to think me so wicked ?s
 My poor girl replied MT. Kelly, do you not see that by traducing you she may induce him to leave every shilling of his property to her son?'
 "I do not care for the property passion- ] ately exclaimed; but will see my fathermy self, to convince him of the truth, if 1 walk every step of the way Then I angrily told George that I should never forgive him, if my father died in the belief of my unworthiness and insisted upon going to Rosemere immedi- 1 ately.
 "Mr. Kelly had some difficulty in persuad- ing me of the futility of such a step, and tried to console me by proposing his own plan. He had, he said, fully intended going himself to Rosemere to take the certificate, not daring to trust it to letter, when he heard of my fath- CTS illness, Now, l can still, l hope, carry out my intention, so far as seeing him. In a few days, my dear, he shall know all
 ''Sorrowfully we left MT. Kelly's office, counting. the hours to the time he had named, and thinking how slowly they would pass. But 1 was not destined to wait so long. The very next day Mir. Kelly was summoned to Rose mere, my father having become suddenly ] worse. Always prompt, his friend and solicit l or lost no time on this occasion, as the letter written by our family doctor described hIs DatientS state aS-Iu0St critical n Mrs. Mortin,er's emotion was at this point | of her narrative 50 evident that her consider ate auditors begged her to defer the sequel to another opportunity, and for the rest of the evening they tried to cheer her by every means in their power.
 The whole story was afterward written by Dora for Aunt Barbara, and may be repeat ed here in her words from the point at which Mrs. Mortimer seemed unable to proceed.
 On Mr. Kelly's arrival at Rosemere he was ushered at once into the invalds room. Mir. Wyndham had been seized with paralysis, and was fearfully altered though perfectly sensible, and look of indescribable relief passed over his countenance at the sight of the lawyer.
 Mrs. Wyndham, on the contrary, could hard ly conceal her annoyance, and received him with the utmost coldness. Bnt her husband at once requested her to leave the room, and
 
 to remain, as he felt unequal himself to explain his wishes Upon this, the good doctor, deli cately avoiding names, stated that in conse- quence of very painful information which had reached MT, Wyndham, he had unfortunate ly been induced to disinherit his daughter, but having since had reason to doubt it's accuracy, he wished the necessary steps to be immediate ly taken to secure to her the provision origin ally intended for her. Mir. Kelly then heard that will had been prepared by friend of Mrs. Wyndham; and suggested codicil to be added as the readiest way of carrying out the dying fathers wishes. s '.-< .r5v
 A restorative having been administered by the doctor, the sufferer in broken accents made known his intentions. First, he left his daugh- ter his entire forgiveness, as he hoped for for giveness from her and from his Maker and on the production of ''Iegal proof" of her marri- age within three months of his decease, she was to be entitled to receive twenty thousand D0unNC Mr. KaIlxy xuO,1ld hou oAa rk