Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1882-05-12
TOMS WIFE.


laid down an egg spoon he had been toy.
ing with and looked across at mother.
Aunt Anne, think I'll take wife, he
said exactly as he might have said, Il think
i I'll take another cup of coffee
1 "Take wife?" repeated mother, by no
i means receiving the information as tran
/ gully asst had been given. ''What for?''
+ .'Well. don't know" answered Tom.
/ thoughtfully. 'It's notion I've got into
my head, somehow
SAN nonssnse!" said mother, sharply.
''Do you think so ?'' said Tom, ap-
parently doubtful, but not in the least
4 put out. f
"Think so I know It. What in the
/ world can you want of a wife After
all these years we have lived SO comfort
ably together, to bring home somebody
to turn the house upside down And
then what is to become of that poor
| child ?''
| The sspoor child"--that was I-redden-
ing at being brought into the argument in
this way. was about to speak for herself,
4 WuOu 4Om lACoi pOoOu
'I'm sure May knows 1 would never
have any wife who would MAKE it less q
home for her-don't you May2"
"Of course said.
! ''And I IN sure she knows nothing of the
sert," persisted mother, "nor you either.
Tom Dean. How can you answer for what
wife may take it into her head to do,
ence you get her fixed here? You can't ex-
pect her to forget, as you do, that Mary
has no real claim on YOU"
"That have no real claim on her,
suppose you mean, ma am,' Tom put in
for the second time, just as 1 was getting
thoroughly uncomfortable. "But, for all
that,I intended to keep her-that is, add
ed Tom with one of his short sighted
blinks sidewise at me, las long as she will
stay with me, eh, May T? And whoever has
anything to say against that argument.
will have to 60 out of my house to say it
not that am afraid of any such result in
this case-and on the whole, Aunt Anne,
I should like to try the experiment.
Mother smiled grimly, but Tom was SO
evidently bent on his experiment" as
he called it, that she gave up the argu-
ment.
"You can dance, if you are ready to
pay the piper" she said shortly. "And
pray, how soon do you expect to be mar
ried ?"
Toms face fell little at this ques-
ton.
"Well," said he, II can't say exactly.
I suppose we shall have to be engaged
| frst''
What" said mother, opening her eyes.
l''Why, you never mean to say, Tom, you
havn't spoken to her yet?"
"Not yet," answered Tom, cheerfully.
''Time enough for that, you know. after I
had spoken to you"
| Mother as minister's widow, was not
much given to the idle mirth that is as the
cracking of thorns under the pot, but now
she leaned back and laughed till the tears
stood in her eyes.
"Well. >" she said, ''if it was anybody else
I should say they were cracked but you
never were like other people, and you never
will be, Tom Dean. But at least you have
fixed on the lady?"
"Oh, yes" answered Tom, but il you
| will excuse me, Aunt Anne, I would rath-
er net say anything about her just yet; for
! Tiff anything should happen, it wouldn't
be pleasant for either party. you know"
with which yelled allusion to his posi-
BILE rejection, Tom took his hat and left
the room.
Our household was rather aueerly put
together. There was no particular reason
why should nave been there at all for l
was not really related to Tom, nor even
to mother" as called her, though am
sure we we're as dear to each other as
mother and daughter could be. She was
the second wife of my father, who, like
most ministers, had been richer in grace
than 10 goods, and had left us at his death
with but little to live on. Then it was
that Tom Dean came forward and insisted
on giving a home to his aunt and to me,
whom he had scarcely seen dozen times
| in his lite before. "That was exactly like
Tom-queer Tom Dean" as his friends
were fond of saying, ''who never did any
thing like anybody else." suppose that
4 in spite Of his clear head for business,
tbere is no denying that he was whimsical,
Int am sure whenI think of his unfail-
ing generosity and dslicacy, ! can't help