Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-04-21

Drlenl, STRONG young creature. He rest
ed on her strength with feeling of re-
lief;after Adeline had worn upon his
patience and exhausted his first sympa-
thy. Indeed, now that she began to see
her sister taking this place in Alfred's
estimation, Adeline's saintsbip, being
tiimsy in its nature, gave way. She be-
gan to scOld, to fret, to shoot her poison
ed arrows about freely, until even AL
fred opened his honest eyes with aston
ishment, and Mrs. Allen thought it best
to apologize for poor Addy's extreme
nervous irritability," and put things in
so pitiful and plausible light that her
host at last felt deep pity for the suf-
ferer and reproached himself for heart
lessness. Mrs. Allen, too, sure of her
position, became imperious and exacting
with the servants. Hiram did not take
offense at once; but Della was furious.
''Ef she thinks she's goin' to drive and
haw-gee me in this way, now she won't
do it, Hiram, jest as sure as my names
Delye Carter. / amt her waiter, nor
her slave, nuther. If so be | was, I'd
leave by daylight to-morrer. l can't
leave Alfred. His ma left me in charge,
so to speak, ,seemin'ly,O of her boy. More'n
l. IL.
You an me have sHmmered an winter
ed him quite spell-fetched him up, as
ye may say; and there amt nobody ike
that woman a-goin to pull me up by the
roots. | declar for'tp
softly. softly, Delye. Don't fly off
the handle. The world amt a-comin'
to an end becos you hear thunder. They
hain't come here to live, nd"
'Hain't theyp Della interrupted with
scorn. You're everlastin' sure O. that,
be YEP That's where / amt. l dono
how 'tis, men folks can't never see
through wimmen. Why, Hiram Cotton,
that women means to stay here forev-
er "A amen. Thet's what she's a-schemin'
and a-smilin' and bOssin' round for
I've KEEP an eye on her, / tell We. I've
seen through her softly ways. Fust she
thought our Alfred was goin' to be took
in by that Adelinei She see he was real
tender-hearted and pitifUl like, and felt
as sorry for that bosom as though she
was sufferin' saint! Saint! There
amt no great of saintness got hold O.
her. She's selfish md hystericky-that's
what she is and uglier n all possessed
besides. He got awful tired of her. l
Eknowed he would. Folks get tired of
havin' even a cobweb forever hangin'
her ketchin' of him; but t'other one has
fetched him, sure's you're born."
"Nell, you do beat all, Delye, for see
in through millstun when there's a
hole in it. l can't say but what it's so.
l amt real observin' about sech matters !;
but, eff It's so, why, she's a clever girl
enough, Clementiny is. Kinder ch6rk
and actyve. l donO but what she'll do
better by him then softlier, more per-
nickIty cretur would. He's sort O. limp
sy. Alferd is good as gold, We know !;
but sort o limpsy. Won't never set the
river atire, as folks say; but then ye
don't want to set it afiFs, as l know of.
l shouldn't wonder, now. if she kind of
smarted him up, if 'tis-so reelly."
"Oh! my land" calculated Della, in an
accent of despair, setting down her pan
of green's with bang. Can't you never
see an inch beyond your nose, man alive?
Eff he marfies her, why he marries the
hull on 'em, beSOm an all. They'll all
settle right down OH their lees. Mis-
Allen, she'll rewl an reign till the amt
no kingdom left; an Ai'line, she'll fret,
N scold, n make. believe pious from one
years end to another; an Clementiny,
she'll let things slide; an Alferd, he'll
be picked to bits betwixt 'em, jest like
angle-worm that's throwd to brood of
chickens. / can't set by an see it; now,
there! As sure as you're born, I'll up
an wIite to Doctor Packard, this bless
ed day"
So she did. And the Doctor, who had
foly hic Of
their very rare holidayS-receiyed three
weeks after date, the following letter:
"HADDoN sENTER
July the twenty-one.
''DoCToR PACKARD
''deer Sir, now take up my Pen to in
forme you wee ar all well Hoping you engoy
the saim blessing. wish doctor you wood
Come up hear soon: think Thinges is not A
going as They he'd ought too; j kno you are
Well-wisher to Alferd horton esq. and take
liberty for to Uniform you that you he'd Better
come to haddon considerable quick.
''Yours to command DELLA GARTER"
"Good gracious" exclaimed the Doc
tor, as he read and re-read this pithy
epistle. "Pcnelopel read this letter.
What on earth is the woman driving at,
DO you suppose!
Mrs. Packard laughed as she read, then
laid the paper down, and thought it
over. "I'm sure don't know she said,
at last. "Delia is a sensible woman, and
Straightforward, too, though she does
spell abominably. 1 don't think, Doc
tor, she would write such letter with
out some reason. 1 don't myself think
Ann Allen would do anything out of the
way. She is a very careful woman
about the propIieties."
"Hang the proprietiesp said the Doc
tor. "I'm not troubled, and / don't be-
lieve Della is, about that sort of nom
sense. But that Allen woman is a cat
I told you so, Penny. long since, if you
choose to remember; and if she is
scratching my boy, I'll see about it. Put
me up clean shirt, Penny. I'll go to
Haddon by the ten-forty train, as sure
as you live"
Don't be a goose, Doctorl' said Mrs.
Packard, calmly. 81 dare say Della
don't like to abdicate, and know Ann
Allen likes to reign. 1T is her nature
to- as the hymn-book says; and your
ward, you can't deny, needs a ruler and
governor Think of the tramps, last
spring. My grass has never gotten over
their feet"
Cant you see for yourself, then, the
boy needs some good advice? should
MT wonder if the cat herself has caught
him."
Doctor"
And, having shot this Parthian arrow,
the Doctor went off to order his horse,
and in an hours time was on the way
to Haddon. He thought long and deep
ly about his ward. Some idea of the
cause of Delia's urgency entered his
brain; but he was an old man and
wise man, and he knew how vain inter-
ference is in love affairs.
If he had wanted TO interfere, he had
come too late; for, as he drove up to the
door of Alfred's house, his keen eyes
canpht A plimDse of two people in sha-