Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1882-02-18

riage is close" he replied. glancing up
at the little trim figure arrayed in dark
.ilk, trimmed with pale blush roses in
her purplish black hair, and at the
white throat half yelled With flmy
lace. He smiled bitterly rs he saw her
going out in her happy, childlike inno-
cence, as sne might never go again
among people who had no sym
pathy for failing merchants, and who
would not give his wife thought il
she were not rich in this worlds goods.
al with you could go," she said, be-
seechingly, lingering at the door to ad-
just her cloak. " Mr.. Austin will OK
pect you."
Mr.. Shelton smiled, thinking per-
haps of the forhidding face Of a
man of whom he had begged a loan
that afternoon, whose curt "cannot
spare a dollar, sir" rang in his ears
yet. he rose from his seat near the
FIRE, and going over to his wife's
side fastened the wraps closer about
her throat.
"Be careful of yourself, little woman"
he said, with forced attempt at gay
ETY.; land enjoy yourself, for it is i'm
possible for me to go"
He accompanied her to the carriage,
and, as he closed the door on the placid
little face, he inwarlly aaathematized
the weakness that prompted him to
withhold the story, of his difficulties
from her, when sbe daily ran the risk
of hearing it from lips less liable to
soften the details. Yet he still hoped
that the morrow would bring some
chance Of redeemiug his lost credit /;
although his efforts to raise the four
thousand dollars dine on the LIST were
still unsuccessful He was almost worn
out with physical and mental labor,
yet he put on his hat and overcoat aud
dragged himself YEARLY downtown
through the fast-falling snow and murky
darkness, to spend the dreary hours OF
his wife's absence in poring over ledgers
in his couDtipg-room.
Meanwhile Mrs. Shelton, not satisfied
with Marks strange freak, as she called
her husbands refusal to attend the
party, was zealously trying to feel at
ease among the stylish guests. For
somehow she felt depressed and ill at
ease among the fashionables who had
hitherto welcomed her as the wife of a
prominent young merchant who was
steadily rising to emihenc1 in the com.
mercial world. There was an under cur
rent OF coldness in their greetings thai
her sensitive nature detected Instantly,
and an angry flush rose to her cheeks
when she overheard remark relating
to Mira. Shelton's old silk"
She slipped out of the gay, over
crowded parlors into the library, where
she found refuge in the hangines of tho
bay window. She dropped into low
scat and sat watching the streams of
gaslight Pickering across the street, now
ankle deep with snow, wishing that
Mark would remember her orders and
send the carriage early. The heavy
sensuous odors of the tropical plants
filed the room with fragrance that al
most took Ler breath away, and in the
distance tho music of popular waltz
rose and fell, the soft, voluptuous CO.
4snce soothing her m nd into calm
ness that was broken by the entrance OF
two ladies, whose first words chained
her to her seat, and held her in the un-
questionable light of an eavesdropper.
" was astonished to see Mrs. Mark
Shelf out tonight" said the elder OF
the two ladies. whose diamonds flashed
N the gaslight.
"Why~
"Have you not heardP Why, Mrs.
Lamar, Shelton is on the verge of bank
ruptcy."
Mark Shelton2 Impossiblel Why,
he is considered one of the shameless
merchants in the CITY,"
sand was. But he has lost credit
somehow, He las been on the treets
for days trying to raise money to cancel
most Of his urgent debts; and l wouldn't
be surprised it his wife had to give up
her stylish home before the winter is
over"
"She is nobody, anyhow. Her father
was only a soap chandler, and I have
often wondered at Mark Shelton's choice
in choosing her for wife," remarked
Mrs. Lamar, who had once O decided
fancy for Mark herself.
Soap chambers are as good as other
men, provided they are sober and re-
spectacle" returned the lady with dia-
monds, whose father had once been
peanut yender, while Mrs. Lamar's an
cestors were famous for blue blood and
reckl ss dissipation.
"I don't pity Mrs Shelton, though"
went on Mrs. Lamar, ignoring the elder
lady's home thrusts; "for / expect she
is just like other women in the same
Situation; Mark made oceans Of money,
aud she spent it."