The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-09-25
THE PRESS.
mot a Word to Dinah Ann.
mot word, mind, to Dinah Ann.

~ shO Salc,duu net uuSDdllu ueSCcHucu from
1t. She was pleasing little woman of sew
en- or eight and thirty, with dark brown
eyes, a fresh face, and natural propensity
to take her own way in the house and out Of
II. Drawing back from the gate behind the
well-kept hawthorne hedge, she waited for
what was to come next.
Mot word for your life, mind, to Dinah
Ann"
mo fear" replied voice, which she
recognized as that of her brother, Harry
Leete. II know what women are. She'd
be for-ior revolutionizing the house and
herself too, once let her get an linking of
this. No fear, James! Take care on your
side, that you don't lose that-or let Dinah
Ann find it."
III take care. When are you coming to
smoke quiet pipe with me? l shall want
your advice as to"
lone of these evenings" interrupted the
lawyer, as he drove on up the lane Good
night"
James uarbury, substantial farmer and
agriculturalist, came through the gate and
turned to fasten it. Had he turned the 9TH
er way, to the left instead of the right, he
would have seen his wife standing against
the hedge, as close as she could stand, al
most into it. He did not see her, and went
straight up the path to the house. When
his footsteps had died away, Mrs. Earbury
wound her light summer gown over her
black silk apron, caught hold of her lilac
cap strings lest the cap should fly off, and
ran swiftly up the narrow sidewalk, got
round to the back, went through the house,
let drop her gown and calmly entered the
sitting room as soon as her husband.
Got back?' she exclaimed with quite a
look of surprise.
Just come" replied the farmer; liar
ry drove me in his gig''
What brings Harry up here in his gig at
this time? and why did you not come back
with Hall?" inquired Mrs. Harbury. who
liked to be at the beginning and the end Of
everything.
'Harry had to come" said the farmer.
~hn seemed to be walking about rather
restlessly, and who never thought of such
thing as refusing to satisfy his wife's ques-
tons. HE got message from the Down
Farm to go over there without loss of tine.
l thought might as well come with him.
Dinah Ann. As to Hall, left him stuck in
the tap room of the rawny Lyon;' he didn't
order his gig to be ready before 10 O'Clock"
"Just like Peter Hall! You'd have taken
the relns Yourself, James, reckon, had you
come back with him.
Oh, he'll not get as bad as all that! But
IL say, Dinah Ann, it's sad thing about Pat
idge at the Down Farm. A day or two ago
he went out with the haymakers-and YOU
know what man he is to work when h.
gets set about it-got into heat and drank
lot of cold cider. 1t struck to him for
death, they say, and Harry has gone to
make his will"
''What dreadful thingr' exclaimed
Dinah Ann, who had feeling heart with
all her curiosity.
cay, tits. think I'd like snack Of cold
beef, Dinah Ann. though it is late. l got
talking with your brother in the office and
missed my tea; SO I've had nothing since
O'Clock While Phoebe puts it on, Tll lust
go and take look at Waite Bess.'
white Bess is all right" said Mrs. Har-
bury. $50 much better that Evans thinks
you might have ridden her in to-day No
need to go and see her now"
Better, is she? 1 should like 10 give her
a look"
He took up his hat which still Law on the
table, and went out. Mrs. Harbury's ewes
followed him; they were full of speculation.
and her mind Also
II don't believe he has gone to look at
the mare" soliloquized she. "He'd not
disturb her, now he hears she is all right.
And how absent and fidgetty he seemed I!
There is some mystery agate, and 1 should
like to know what it is. 1 wonder whether
II should not think-no, l should not
think he can havessstolen out to meet some
Ill
spite of the stress laid on the ''not."
Stepping lightly into the kitchen and CIV
ing her orders to Phoebe about the supper
tray, she caught up an old waterproof cloak
that hung in the back passage, threw it on
to hid her light dress and crept out after
her husband. 1t was very light and beau
tiful night-in fact it could not be said to
be yet as dark as it would be, and that is
never dark in the fine nights of summer.
or h inn toll l. iE 49, 7
thoughts, "of all things. 1t must be urgent
business to induce James to forego a meal
OF any kind. l do wonder what secret they
have got between them. Not word to
Dinah Ann cries he. No fear,' answers
Harry; L know what women are; and she'd
be revolutionizing the house, and herself
too Yes, that l should; but it's them /
should revolutionize, not myself" she said.
1T may De that old love affair croppe up
again! that woman who threatened to bring
an action for breach of promise when James
letters to him. Mind you don't let Dinah
Ann find it, says Harry. Or perhaps-per-
haps James has been foolish enough to let
her meet him! Harry, not married man
himself, and lawyer, would lend himself to
any earthly thing, without scruple. All
lawyers do.''
This rural district, remote from the
haunts OF willy men of the world, was given
over entirely to farmers and farming inter-
ests, simple minded and simple hammered
people, who lived out their uneyentful lives
in the routine of daily duties. The small
market town of Northam, four miles distant.
was sleepy and primitive, never awaking
from Its slumbers save on the weekly mar
ket day. 1t had its parson, its doctor and
its lawyer-Harry Leete-all three of them
being nearly as simple as the farmers. Not
simple in point of intellect, it must be un-
derstood, but as to life and manners.
This Thursday was market day. James
Harbury had gone to it in the gig of broth
er, Peter Hall, his own mare, whichjhe eth
er rode or drove generally, being sick. He
was tall, slender man of nine and thirty
years, very fair, with exceedingly handsome
features and mild blue eyes, looking as un-
like the popular notion of farmer as man
could look, and presenting a marked con-
trast to his agricultural neighbors. So far
as appearances went, none of them, poor or
rich, could vie with James Harbury, and
his temper and his bearing were alike gen.
tie.
He had one fault-though perhaps all
people would not call it a fault-loye of
money. That he was one of the "warmest''
farmers in the district, was universal
~ believed, and the most saving of men.
Too saving, his wife would tell him; and
where was the use of it, she would ask,
considering she had neither chick nor child?
and every now and then she would make
the money fly, for she was dear lover of
smart attire and of having pretty things
about her. James would vince and bid her
to be careful, but he never went the length
OF teIilng her Sue spent too much. He was
fond of her and she of him.
Neither chick nor child" In that fact
had lain sharp sting They had been mar
ried eight years low, and the sting was
wearing itself away. Time softens all
things. He had never given her cause for
an unhappy thought-until tonight. He
had never had any secrets from her, except
that he never could be brought to tell her
what the exact sum was ttat he had been
enabled to put by at the end of each wear.
Dinah Ann Harbury did not care for that:
she knew however much it might be it was
all for her.
But she did care for this, this mysterious
secret which had come to her hearing TO-
night. She knew how good looking James
was, how universally he was liked, by man
and woman, and what kind heart he had
she put it SCOTLAND something like
Jealousy began to torment her spirit.
When James came in again the sumner
tray was at one end of the table and Dinah
Ann, an unusual light in her eyes, sat at
the other end near the lamn boy;rr +oLo.,