The Worthington advance., 1882-09-14

trouble than was involved in . few din
ners and obsequiOus words to those who
could dispense patronage and give
away places-he, who was the most In
ctlcent officer in the regiment to be the
general of q division? The prospect of
enough money to spend, and sOme-
where to pay, with those insolent trades
men clamnering for their bills like so
many jackdaws in q nest-all overcame
the natural repugnance of flesh aad
blood; and ef0re he well knew where
he was, Antinous Greene had again
kissed Lady Julia Lambkin's white and
shriveled hands, and had sworn he had
loved her to distraction, and nothing shOr
Of making her his wife would satisfy
him.
ut will make my fortune and then I
can ensure that of the rest," said Anti :
nous to his father and mother tina; even
ing; when he told them of his step he
had taken and the plunge he had made
But his father pulled down his long
boys" and his mother cried and, said,
self away, to the old harri,lan! you
might have done 80 much better if You
had waitcl;" aud his little brothers and
sister stood all about in state Of fearful
amaze and wondered if Tinnv would be
changed when he was the grand lady's
husband, and what a queer thing it
would he to have to call her 'sisterv'
When May Budd heard the news.
which flew like wildfire over tho coun-
try, she stamped her little foot in fury
such fury rs Antinous did not know
she could either feel OF, show.
''Hc is a sconndrel!" she said passion
atcly. "And will make him repent as
never man had caused to repent be-
FORE" r-.
And with all her pretty eyes and nice
round face she looked as II she could
keep her word and would.
OF course s,lch marriage as this
made great comnlotion in the country,
and every one had his word to say and
his stone to fling. Though it has become
fashionable Of late, and the sheep of So
cicty have now we'll aeeced leaders
whom they can follow in the ugly way,
in those days, for young man under
thirty to marry woman forty years his
senior was considered i shame and sin !;
and the handsome young Heavy, with
his antiquatcd bride hanging on his arm
and looking intd his face, was fair
mark Tor all wits. Other things, too, did
not 60 very we'll. That rapid promo
tion which my Lady Julia had prom
ised so glibcly seemed to rcccde az time
went on, and the authorities ut the
war office turned deaf ear to all hints,
representations and supp|ications. The
scandal Of the marriage had been lit
tic too highly favored even tor them,
and the modern Ixion began to feel that
The Goddess of Fortune whom he
thought to have embraced was nothing
more than cloud. The Lady Julia had
got what she wanted-a fine, stalwart,
handsome young husband, and after
herself about the rest. Wisely for her
self and painfully for poor Antinous,
she had kept all her own fortune to her
self, and when the question came Of his
spending his share, she let him know
that he had no share to
spend, still less that he had any
10 pay away. His tradespeople
might be as clamorous as they liked; not
afarthing Of her money should they have.
tic might make such composition with
them as he could out of his professional
income and trust to her generosity for
pocket money. She was inexorable on
this point, and the Fates were not more
stern than my Lady Julia when the
question was one of money. Antinous
WAS forced to submit; so that he found
himself in a worse position by far than
that in which he was before he married
my lady; and many time he had to
curse his folly and the blindness which
made him trust to an amorous old wo-
mans promises and sell his manhood
for hope. What had he got by the bar
gain? Loss of liberty, loss ofrepute, loss
of such small private funds as he former
ly possessed, loss of his own selfrespect
and loss of May Budd; and he had gained
and old wife, who was stingy and selfish,
Of higher social position than his own
and proportlonately lnsoleDt to HIM ana
l'is-a wife who was his mistress, his
proprietress, his slave driver, and who,
having bought him rs her toy, now treat
cd him as her dog. 1t was sorry bar
in that he had made-a poor market
to which he had carried himself. And
all this while May Budd seemed to he
ubiquitous, meeting him wherever he
love for her nor her own unconscious
hess Of him.
He thought he had lost her, but had
he? At first she was passionatc]y intlig-
nant and showed in every word and
look how intensely she despised him !;
how her former tender feeling had cur
died into hatred and contempt. This
nearly drove him demented, but he had
to bear it as his cross, for he Coul not get
speech with her to soften or explain any
thing whatever, and when once he VEN
tured to write to her his letter was re-.
turned at the imminent risk of falling in.
to the hands Of Lady Julia, his wife, who
had thekuncomfortablc habit of opening
his letters and reading them herself be-
fore passing them over to him. As the
months passed. however, and the mis-
take of the marriage, became the talk of
the town. May Budd's looks and man.
ncrs changed. For her former defying
and indignant coldness she substituted q
sweeter, gentlcr. softer and more COM
passionate air. Her pretty eyes seemed
to say, II love you stilp' as plainly rs if
her fresh red lips had spoken; and An.
tinous more and more cursed the chains
which bound HIM, as he thought OF what
he had lost for false hopes and betrayed
ambition. OF course he forgot the fact
that he could not have married girl who
had only her fathers cabbages for her
dover. We always do forget the obsta-
clcs when We regret the loss, and in this
case the loss was all that was remem-
bcrcd.
Step by step, and day by day, May
!'udd, with the skill of an old veteran,
brought back her lover and led him still
further and further on. From looks
they came to words; from words to &C.
crcts; from secret meetings to fond en-
braces, and to letters when they could
neither meet nor embrace. The post
Office was hollow tree in Lady Julia's
own grounds, just inside the little wick.
ct gate that led from the shrubbery into
the fame bordercd on the other side by
Budd's cabbages and carrots; and botf,
Antinous and the girl wrote their minds
pretty freely. The former, especially
profited by the relief which this CORE
spondcnce gave him. He spoke of the
Lady Julia, his wife, as he might have
spoken of some she demon who had DOS
sessed herself Of him, Of some vampire
who was sucking his blood, of some
Hccate in whose hOrrid tolls he had
been caught. He was heavy Dragon,
and his orthography was sometimes a.
imperfect a. his syntax; but he knew
what he wanted TO say, and he said it.
He wanted to tell May Budd how much
he loved her, and to assure her of his
,,nsl us,,<p hn%~n-A al T.