The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-02-24

There was an expression i'll Bella S
face that Mary had never seen there be-
fore. Her eyes had grown suddenly of
darker shade, and were eager and
questioning. Her lips lay closer to-
gether; there were lines on her fore
head.
Tophgue me ?" she repeated. "Take
care, Mary ~
The friend wished now that she had
not made that suggestion; and yet,
since making it, doubt had reached
conviction in her mind. She was sure
she had not been mistaken as to Bella's
husband; but who was the lady with
whom she had seen him riding out I?
Bella had said, little while before,
that her husband had not driven her
out for a month; and yet Mary felt cer-
tain that she had seen him riding out
with lady at least three or four times
during that period. Should she hide
/ the truth; or trusting to its power for
ultimate good, let it appear? There
was no time for reflection. She spoke,
now, rather from desire to help her
friend into better state of perception,
than from any clear sight in the matter
&C 1 think" she said, "that having
now your husband, You have fallen into
the error of thinking that personal at
| fractions are not needed to hold him by
your side. Now, it is my opinion that
if Harry had found you in your present
| untidy condition-and you are often in
no better plight-in a single instance
before marriage, he would have broken
off the engagement; and I'm sure that
in a suit for breach Of promise, if L had
been on the jury, verdict in his favor
/ would have been rendered"
Bella did not smile ut this closin e
sally, but sat looking into her friend 5
face in a strange, bewildered, troubled
way The intimation that her husband
{ had been riding out with lady, when
it fairly reached her thought, gave her
o sharp pain. 1t had never entered her
imagination that he could look, with
a passing sense of admiration, into any
face but hers-that his heart could turn
from her to another for single instant
of time. She had perceived that he was
colder, more Indifferent, less careful of
her pleasures than i'll the sunny days OF
their courtship and betrothment-- but,
that he could seek another's society,
was thing unheard of. 1t was pro-
verb, this contrast between lovers and
husbands: and she had felt she was
proving its truth. That was all. 1t
was an unpleasant truth. and hard to
receive; vet She saw no remedy. But
now, by word or two, her friend has
started her into a different view of the
case. Was her husbands heart really
turned from her? She was frightened
at the remote suggestion--for in his
love lay all her world.
"Iou are not really in earnest, Mary,
about seeing Harry riding out with a
lady this afternoon q she said in voice
and with II look that revealed fully her
state of mind. The color had left her
face and her heart shook in her voice.
Probably / was mistaken, Bella,
replied the friend; Though l had not
doubted the fact moment, until | saw
you at the window little while ago"
Did you notice the lady very particu-
larly ="
No; but let the matter pass, dear.
No doubt l was mistaken. 1t is worry
ing YOU more than | could have imagin-
! ed" Bella looked at her friend for
some moments, III a strange way, then
giving a low, suppressed, wailing cry,
bent forward and laid her face upon her
bosom, sobbing and shuddering in such
wild tmbulance OF feeling that her friend
became actually alarmed.
! "You have frightened me - said the
! young wife, lifting her head at last, as
| her excitement died away. "Ah, Mary
| if | should lose my husbands love, it
would kill me -
"Then, Bella" answered her friend,
/ 'see to it that you neglect none of the
means required for keeping it. If you
would continue to be loved, you must
not grow unlovely. The charms that
Won your husband must not be folded
up and kept for holiday occasions, and
then put on for other eyes than his.
Iou must keep them ever displayed be.
fore him; nay, put on new attractions.
Is not the husband even dearer than the
lover, and his heart better worth the
holding? Look back, my dear friend,
over the brief moons that have waxed
and waned since you We're a bride Put
I Yourself on trial and take impartial tcS-
Your temper been as sweet as
when you sat leaning together in
summer twilights, talking of the
loye-crowned future Have you
been as studious to please rs then;
as careful of his feelings; as regardful
of his tastes? Do you adorn yourself
for his eyes now, as You dressed for his
coming then? As wife, are you as
lovable as you were when a maiden
Bella, Bella look to the little foxes
that spoil the tender grapes, if you
would have loves lipened frllitage.
Love is not a chameleon to feed on air,
and change III every hue of condition.
1t must have substantial food. Deprived
of this, and it languishes and dies. And
now, dear, l have warned you. Meet
your husband, when he returns home
this evening, as sweetly as when he
came to you in your fathers house, at
tracted as the bee is to the flower, and
note the manner in which his face will
Tighten up. Did he kiss you when he
came home yesterday"
The face Of Bella flushed a little.
Husbands soon lose the taste fol-
kissing" she answered, at the same time
patting her small foot nervously on the
Brussels carpet.
"If the wife's lips remain as sweet as
the maidens-never!
"Oh, you don't know anything about
it," said Bella. 4" Wait until you are
. married"
After the friend said good-afternoon
the young wife went to her room anG