The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1882-10-04

But Mrs. Whitaker did not hear the
noise, for no sound % her coming
reached the ears of her impatient and
indignant husband.
He grew angrier every moment He
felt a sense of injustice. 1t seemed un-
kind, inhuman for his wife to be sleep
ing away calmly upstairs, while he was
locked up in the dismal recesses of the
cellar.
I'm make her hear me or I'll break
something" he exclaimed, seizing the
poker and hooking it upon the bell
wire. Then he pulled the wire with
such furious energy that he broke it,
and the jangling of the bell died away
into silence. 81
1t is little short of scandalous,"
said Mr. Whitaker, in a rage. 81
have spoken so often to Ellen about
sleeping with her deaf ear up that it
looks like malice-dehberate fiendish
malice-when she persists in doing it,"
What should he do next? He could
not stay in the cellar all night and he
did not like to batter down the door
with the poker. A happy thought
He went to the furnace, and, with the
help of the hatchet from the ldndling
wood pile, he cut the tin fiue which
conveyed the heat up to Mrs. Whit
aker's room. Certainly he could COM
pei her to hear him now. He put his
mouth to the broken flue and called,
"El-len, El-lenp Then he stopped
and listened. He thought he could
hear Ellen breathing softly in her
sleep, but he was not certain. He
called again and more loudly, and then
put his fingers in his mouth and
whistled. Probably 1 can wake the
baby anyhow, and the baby will wake
her" he said. But no response came
own the flue. The baby seemed to be
sleeping with almost supernatural
soundness, and, manifestly, Mrs. Whit
aker had her deaf ear up.
Mr.. Whitaker was almost beside
himself with rage. "a woman" he
said, "who would treat her husband in
such a manner as this is capable of
lnything. Either Ellen will stop sleep
ing with her deaf ear up or we will
separate A third time he applied his
lips TO the tin pipe and bawled into it
until he was hoarse. He thought he
heard his spouse walking across the
door, but when he called again there
was no response, and he knew that he
was mistaken.
The soul of Mr.. Whitaker was filed
with gloom. In his anger he indulged
in sardonic humor. II suppose she
rather relishes having me down in the
cellar here all night it is a good joke!
But let her take care! She may laugh
upon the other side of her mouth be-
fore we are done with this business p
And he laughed a wild and bitter
laugh.
Poor Mrs. Whitaker, sleeping sweet
ly upstairs in perfect unconsciousness,
would have been deeply panied to learn
how gravely her husband wronged her.
81 must get out of here somehow or
other" said Mr.. Whitaker. "The win
dow is small, but I can crawl through
it reckon, if l try"
He unlocked the frame containing
the wire screen which protected the
window and pushed it outward. Then
procuring a wash-tub and climbing
from it TO the window-sill he thrust his
head out and dragged his body through.
When he reached the front pavement
his face was covered with cobwebs
and his clothes with coal dust; but he
eXulted in the thought that he was q
free man.
He took his dead-latch key from his
pocket and was about to try TO open
the front door when he remembered
that he had locked the door and put up
the chain bolt. There was no use
trying to ring the bell. The wire
was broken, and Mrs. Whitaker
wouldn't hear the bell if the wire
hadn't been broken. There was but
one last hope of making her hear, and
that was by throwing gravel stones
against the window. Mr.. Whitaker
tried the experiment. The first hand
full produced no effect The sleeper did
not hear it. Neither did she hear the
second handful, nor the third, nor the
tenth, which was dashed against the
glass with such violence that Mr..
Whitaker expected to see it shiyered to
fragments.
Mr.. Whitaker was at his wits end.
There was faint light burning in the
room, and as he looked up at it and
thought of hiswife slumbering quietly
on while he was in such great trouble,
his wrath grew so fierce that he felt
capable Of doing something really ter
rible. But what should he do9 The
poor lady was as much beyond his
reach, for the time, as if she had been
in China. He thought for moment
of trying to borrow a ladder; but
where could he get a ladder in the
middle of the night2 No; as his sense
of personal injury deepened he more
and more firmly resolved that he would
punish Ellen somehow or other for her
indifference. AS he could not obtain
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