Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1880-05-01

-udIdCbcT, anu ptOplt make enough dc-
count of it. 1t seems preposterous to an OBJ
'tinate man that his son or his daughter should |
De obstinate; yet what could be more natural! |
Indeed, the trait becomes a deeper offense
20 the progenitor from his own possession of
It. Mr. Deane was outraged when he found
Edna had a will of her own when he chose to
have her follow his will. AS soon as his voice
returned he said, with sort of cold fury:
: Pack up your trunk, miss. We return to
hartford tomorrow morning"
Edna was not daunted.
" First, want to know, sir, what is your
objection to John Hacket."
i've got plenty of objections. hear bad
things about him. I hear he is very immoral
young man.
&c don't believe it," said Edna, Indignantly.
"Of course you don't. But l intend to act
on my own convictions, not yours. You will
get ready to go to Dartford at once.'
Edna was furious; every feminine instinct
told her that John Hackett was not bad man;
she felt sure of his delicacy and self-respect
not the traits of an immoral person. She
turned as she left the room, and said every
well. l shall go to hartford, of course, if you
say so; but l shall not give up John Hackett
No, indeed! If John had asked her to stay
in Hyssop as his wife, and let her father go to
hartford alone, it is the present chronicler's
belief she would have consented, but he was
not SO selfish. He did not want to destroy Mr..
Deane's comfort and happiness to build up his
own in its place, or to separate Edna from her
father; he preferred to try conciliation, pa
tience, time; and as he sensibly said, there is
no real separation now for lovers, since
even paternal rage can not do away with
telegrams, and the postal service,
so he and Edna parted sadly enough, and
the Deanes established themselves in Dartford
till needful business arrangements could be
made before going to Europe. Daily letters
Ito receive which cost Edna some ingenuity,
to be sure), occasional kilograms, interviews
now and then when John could run in and
of the n h0fp1-a11 served
to keep the lovers tolerably patient. But Edna
had her own troubles. Her friends-that is,
those of her own age-stood by her manfully.
But relatives are not necessarily friends; and
representations which, to do him justice, he
believed in honestly-used all their efforts to
persuade her from marrying John Hackett,
and there came from Hyssop reports now and
then which served to exasperate this we'll
meant opposition. A girl who had also boarded
at the Hyssop House, and angled openly but
unsuceessful1y for John, visited in Dartford,
and having gathered up the centipede that
scuttled about his native village stinging John
Hackett's character, brought it with her, full
venomed and many-legged, to the city, and set
it at work there.
But all this did not move Edna.
81 am going abroad with papa" she said,
"because want to give him good chance to
see things in right light out of this chatter
and gossip, but give you notice shall marry
Mr.. Hackett when / come back"
And such determination rang in her positive
tones that aunts and uncles and cousins quailed
before her, and thanked their stars that there
was Europe to go to.
do not present Miss Edna Deane as model
heroine. l am aware many people will disap-
prove of her. There are persons who think the
relation between parents and children involves
implicit obedience on the child's part to the
parental dictum, however unreasonable; there
are others who think it unwise, and even wrong,
that child should sacrifice lifetimes happi-
ness to the tyrannic demands of an incOnsider-
ate parent. Between these two poles Edna
must take her chance. I am merely her histo-
rian, and must say that, dauntless as her cour-
age appeared when challenged by interference
or opposition, there were many sad hours when
her heart, loving, tender, and desirous ofright,
was torn by inward conflicts.
In the mean time John Hackett, aware for
the first time in his life that he had enemies,
and was injured by their tongues, was yet ut
him. Had he once known of Mrs. Green's
story, and AlOnZo Filley's confirmation of it,
he could and would have set things straight at
once; or had Mrs Parke heard the slander, she
but she had left Hyssop to live with her daugh-
ter at the West, and, as we have said, Mrs.
Green unluckily broke off her story on Mrs.
Parke's arrival at Lucelia Pratt's room. Had
not this mischance have stopped Mrs. Green's
tongue my pen would have been idle, and va
rious other things besides-at least in this con-
nection.
Edna, however, was spared her voyage. The
first icy day in November, just as they were
ready to go to Europe, even their passage paid
and state-rooms secured, Mr.. Deane slipped on
the pavement, as he was on his way to the
bank to procure money for the journey, and
broke his leg and arm. 1t is bad enough for a
young and amiable person to contemplate six
weeks in the house as inevitable; but when
one is old, cross, obstinate, and just ready for
a voyage to Europe, such an accident is not
calculated to produce peace or pleasantness.
Mr.. Deane, laid up for the winter in a board
inO-hOnSa frptta6 himself into a fever
his age, and the feverish action of his system,
prevented the bones from knitting, and ex-
hausted his strength; his vitality was used up
too rapidly, and by spring he sank into his
grave.
Deeply as Edna regretted her father, she
could not blame herself for his death. He was
just as liable to slip on ice at one time as an
other, and that he never carried a cane was the
result of his own obstinate vanity There
were people, to be sure, who said that if he1
father had not been obliged to take her abroad
in consequence of her undutiful conduct he
never would have gone to the bank that day.
and would have lived indefinitely; but Ednass
mind was too healthy for such moral wire
drawing. She did not feel, either, that hel
fathers death changed her affection for John
Hackett, or her opinion of him; nor vet that
the must defer to his wishes when he was dead
any more than when he was living, but rather
less, for she was not sentimental or morbid
like the young ladies in books.
In six months she married Mr.. Hackett, and
| relation as fallible mortals can be, and devel
oping into a wonderful housekeeper. But the
Hyssop centipede did not die yet, and otter
after Edna had told John what her father ha6
said about him did they both wonder what he
could have meant; and though like good wife
she kept from her husband the various insinu
ations and hints that Hyssop danes could moi
refrain from dropping in her ears, she coul6
not but mediate with curiosity on the cause o
all the talk, for she had too youthful an opin
| ion of human nature to credit it with the en-
| tire creation of scandal
BUTT was not till some three or four years aftel
| their marriage that they found out all that LAY
at the bottom of their troubles They were a
| picnic one day, held ON the shores of the lake
and John had just introduced his wife to Mrs
Parke, who was visiting in Hyssop.
By the way" said that lady, in the course
of conversation, heard of you out at Medi
ma last winter, John.''
How did come to be known in Medina?
asked Mr.. Hackett.
| the doctor; he seems to have worn out New
| England, and has taken to the West lately
She met Lucy at sewing circle, and asked al
about Hyssop people. Lucy mentioned you
| marriage, and Mrs. Green tossed her head will
that indescribable sniff she always gave, if yol
remember, and said she pitied your wife. Luc,
| was indignant-you know she always liked vol
and inquired why Mrs. Hackett needed pity
pened to come into the room behind her ant
heard it all. Do you remember that afternoon
you sent Will over to Canaan and forgot t.
send me word about it!''
| "Yes, l do" said John. I" 1 never quite for
gave myself for making you so anxious. Yo,
| see, Edna" he went on, turning to his wife
| eWill Parke was in the bank with me, to d.
| errands and such things, on his promotion
and one afternoon / had to send him twent
miles on a moments notice. 1 promised t.
| send his mother word, and wrote on the edg,
OF her daily paper, which Willis old dog USE
| to take home every night, where Will ha,
| gone, and that he would not be home till mex
day; but the dog followed Will instead of goin,
| home, SO she never got word, and about tw
O'Clock in the morning down came Mrs. Park
| and her sister to the bank, knocked me up, an
demanded Will I don't wonder they wer
frightened. I ought to have gone up mysel
instead of relying on Bose.''
THAT was not all, - added Mrs. Parke. 81
| was moonlight night in June, and a very ho
one, which made Mrs. Green restless, so sh
left her bed and sat at her window in the Hys
sop House, and saw two women whom she di
not know go to the bank, knock at the wir
dow, talk to you, and then you came out an
| went away with them, and she did not wait t
see you come back. This was enough for he
active mind to interpret into scandal; and
she had not left Hyssop that night for Chicago
1 don't know what would not have been sal
about you.''
Here John and Edna exchanged looks.
"YOu should have seen her face when, a
she concluded her story with, Il never kne,
who those women were, but of course
suddenly stepped in front of her and said, ,Ns
was one of them, and my sister Adeline tn
other proceeding then to tell the truth of tn