Sharp County record., 1881-05-19
Bu, this was only the beginning.

| Sarah and DorcaS, my TWO eluer slslers,
he said, quite pleasantly at dinner one
day. well, they must come when you
girls have to go back to mother. Re
! lieve guard, ehP I'm so afraid of Rose
finding the house dull in the winter, !"
he added. with mock humility.
The Hon. Mrs. GrilfingtOn's daugh-
ters were far from amiable young wOm-
en-. They were somewhat in awe OF
their brother, who they knew detested
rows; and the first week or two OF self
interest also went far enough to keep
them on their best behavior before their
new sister-in-law. The force of habit,
however, is stronger than all. John
evidently thought. having provided his
spouse with such sweet company, he
was forthwith emancipated from home
cares, and he lived at his club as in
former days constantly, even dining
there. Il must not be thought that
Johns clannish love for his sisters eX-
tended to any particular relish for their
society. He would probably have been
quite astonished had some fairy told
him that he rather disliked them than
otherwise; vet such was the case. No;
he liked to know they were in clover,
and through him. He liked to stroke
himself down and tell himself he was
the best brother in England. That was
all. So as soon as the novelty of the
situation wore off these two sour virgins,
Jemima and Anne, betook themselves
to the one great occupation of their
lives-squabbling with each other. They
did their brothers wife the doubtful
honor of not minding her at all. Each
was only just so far ashamed as to ex-
plain to Rose, when the other was not
by, that she-the speaker-was the most
sweet-tempered and peaceful of women
and that it was all her sisters fault, who
was jealous of her.
Their faces, always plain, assumed
during these pitiful vulgar chickering's
expressions which were not pleasant to
look upon; neither was their language
of the choicest. Scarcely day passed
without poor Rose being the unwilling
witness of at least one of the low-life
brawls; and, to get out of the din and
escape being appealed to, which never
failed to make matters worse still, she
frequently abdicated her own drawing
room, and had even been known to seek
her bed at undue hours, with bad
headache, thus artifcially produced.
Such measures, it might be thought,
would have sbamed these resident WIS.,
itors into better manners. But no; they
would drive her from dinner before it
was half through, and 60 on conscien-
tiously eating of every subsequent dish
without the smallest apparent ebb OF
relish.
Rose hoped and hoped, not fora clear
house-that, she knew, was out of the
question, but that the two elder sisters
of her husband might prove of differ
ent genius, morally, if not physically
but alas and alack! to sum them up in
a word, they were the evident models
upon which their JURORS had been
formed, and both past-mistresses in the
art of being insupportable. A year
thus dragged by. Rose was expected
to take out this four-cornered arrange
ment in turns, and if she did not find
them partners at balls she got cold
words and hard looks from John. He
never did society as he called it; at
least he only dined out and gave occa-
sional dinners. Rose tried hard, find
ing herself so heavily handicapped, to
give up going out likewise, but Mr..
| GritfinptOn was aphaSt,
mot go into society Inever heard OF
such thing! And who is to take my
sisters about?" he exclaimed in his
most injured tone. 81 should like to
know what next, indeedr' and he
stalked out of the room.
1t was long, very long before the
whole truth dawned upon the poor
wife. She was still under thirty
younger than the youngest of the terri
BILE quadrangle-and her entire life was
bhghted. Home she had none and
there was no seeking pleasure and
oblivion elsewhere, for the ghosts in
her cupboard stalked everywhere by
her side, soaring away her pleasantest
acquaintance and losing her many Of
indeed, nearly all-the invitations she
most cared to accept. They were
clothed, and that richly, by her money,
which John and they seemed to divide
pretty evenly between them. Were
they not GriffingtonsP 1t is difficult to
say how long her endurance would
have lasted had it not been possible for
her to continue in the delusion that
John loved her. Slowly, very slowly
indeed, it wore away. What fight we
all make before we will part for life
with the one delusion upon which we
care to exist! 1t took Rose Just year
and half to divest herself of the last
shred of her dream. The bitterest part
of it was that, when she at length did
see clearly, she discovered not only
that her husband had no more love fol-
her than she had for his family, but
that he had never cared one little bit
for her IN his life. When all had be-
come thoroughly clear to her brain, she
determined with her characteristic
good sense and self-command, to dc
nothing whatever, until she had taken
some time to chew the cud of her misery.
She was resolved, if possible, to make
no more mistakes. The effect
of some weeks wisely given to delibera-
ton was to further open her eyes to the