The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-12-11
THE THROCKMORTONS.


"AND so you are going to marry Mr..
Theodore Throckmorton?" said Aunt
Jane, with sniff of disapproval.
"Yes, 1 believe 1 am" answered
Rose.
"The Throckmortons were always
stiff-necked race. [ wish you well,
Rose-I wish you well; but don't care
to have one of my girls marry into the
family"
Rose forbore to answer that her girls
were in no danger of marrying into any
family.
eyes," she pursued, "they've always
wine in the cellar, and their capon on
the spit, and their brocades and dia-
monds for the confusion of the neigh
bors.' There was General Throckmor-
ton, who used to lock his wife up in the
old mansion house, when he WENT to court,
for fear she would enjoy herself too
much. Who knows but your Mr.. Theo-
dore is chip of the old blockP A tyran-
nical set, the Throckmortons were,
never at peace with their wives. There
was Tristram, the first member of Con-
gress from this district, or State, or
whatever it was in those days-well, he
married the prettiest fool, and he broke
her heart, and they used to say that her
ghost wandered about the old mansion
house; that young lady who was visit
ing there years after-visiting her sons
wife met her in the corridor, dressed in
an old-fashioned changeable silk, with an
ancient brass candlestick and lighted
candle in her hand, holding it up to
look at the portraits on the wall. Oh,
know the Throckmortons, root and
branch"
"But Theodore doesn't belong to this
branch" said Rose, who was used to
Aunt James TRADES.
"They all come from one stock-all
from one stock: masterful people, the
Throckmortons, carrying all before
them; walking over friend if he stands
in che way, breaking the hearts of
women. I've even heard say that your
Mr.. Theodore, with all his soft manners,
never got on with his wives"
"You speak as if he had had harem,
Aunt jane" cried Rose. Theodore
has never been married but once; and
if he didn't get on with her-which
don't believe-it must have been her
fault"
"I wish you well, Rose; but I'm
thankful that neither Ellen nor Amanda
is going to trust her happiness to a
Throckmorton."
Could there be any grain of truth in
Aunt James insinuationsP Rose pom
dered. Of course there was not par
ticle in her innuendoes about Theodore /;
but were the Throckmortons a hard
familyp Of course Theodore was an
exception, if they were as hard as flint
and as for his first wife, Rose had
scarcely thought of her wildly before.
What had she been likep had Theodore
loved herp had she dreamed of another
woman filling her placer 1t seemed
just then to Rose as if that must be the
bitterest thing in all the universe. She
wondered if Theodore did not possess a
picture of her somewhere, that she
might satisfy her curiosity one day, and
judge if it had been painful for him to
part from her-what manner of woman
it was who had won his heart first. And
she plagued herself conjecturing which
he would have chosen had he known
them both. She felt sort of anguish
in behalf of this dead woman, who had
stepped aside and let the sunshine upon
her.
Now that she reflected upon it, Theo.
dore had been strangely silent in regard
to her, it was certain. Was it indiffer,
ence, or because the grief was toe
sacredP Does a man, she questioned
ever make his first wife the subject o.
conversation between himself and hel