The Northern Pacific farmer., 1882-09-14
the grande dame of the place had fallen

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
ehccnt officer in the regiment to be the
general of Il division? The prospect OF
enough money to spend, and some
where to pay, with those insolent trades
men clammering for their bills like 50
many iackdaws in a nest-all overcame
the natural repugnance OF flesh a.d
blood; and efore he we'll 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 shol
of making her his wife would satisfy
him.
1T will make my fortune and then l
can ensure that of the rest," said Anti :
nous to his father and mother thas 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
upper lip and said, IL do not like it, my
boy" and his mother cried and, said,
1T is crime, Antinous, to give your
self away, to the old harridan! you
might have done SO much better if you
hail waited;;" and his little brothers and
sisters stood all about III a state of fearful
amaze and wondered if Tinnv would be
changed when he was the grand lady s ::
husband, and what q queer thing it
would be to have.to call her "sisterr'
When May Budd heard the news,
which flew like wildfre over the coun-
try, she stamped her little foot in a fury
such fury as Antinous did not know
she could either feel or show.
II s0 lo
ately. "And I will make him repent as
FORE"
And with all her pretty eyes and nice
round face she looked as if she could
keep her word and would.
OF course such marriage as this
made great commotion in the country,
and every one had his word to say and
hisstone to fling Though it has become
fashionable of late, and the sheep OF So
ciety have now we'll feeced leaders
whom they can follow in the ugly way,
in those days, for a young man under
thirty to marrya woman forty years his
and the handsome young Heavy, with
his antiouatcd bride hanging on bis arm
and looking into his face, was fair
mark tor all wits. Other things, too, did
not 90 verv we'll. That rapid promo
ton which my Lady Julia had prom
ised so glibely seemed to recede astime
went on, and the authorities at the
war office turned deaf ear to all hints,
representations and supplications. The
scandal of the marriage had been a lit
tie 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
the first few months she did not trouble
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
to pay away. His tradespeople
might be as clamorous as they liked; not
Il f,rthing of her money should they have.
lie might make such a composition with
them as he could out of his professional
income and trust to her generosity for
pocket money. She was incxorable 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 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 of frepute, loss
Of such small private funds as he former
ly possessed, loss of his own self-respect
and loss of May Budd andhe had gained
and old wife, who was stingy and selfish,
of higher social position than his own
and propOrtlonately lnsoleDt to HIM ana
his-a wife who was his mistress, his
proprictress, his slave driver, and who,
having bought him as her toy, now treat
ed him as her dog. It was sorry bar
gun that he had made--a poor market
all this while May Budd seemed to be
went and never letting him forget his
love for her nor her own unconscious
ness Of him.
He thought he had lost her, but had
he? At first she was passionately indig-
nunt 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 theiuncomfortable habit of opening
his letters and reading them herself be-
forel 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
ners changed. For her former defying
and indignant GOODNESS she substituted a
sweeter, gentler, softer and more COM
passionate air. Her pretty eyes seemed
to say, 81 love you still" as plainly as if
her fresh red Ii ps 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-
cles when we regret the loss, and in this
case the loss was all that was remem-
bered.
Step by step, and day by day, May
Rudd, 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 Sc
crets; 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 bordered on the other side by
Budd's cabbages and carrots; and both
Antinous and the girl wrote their minds
pretty freely. The former, especially
profted by the relief which this CORE
spondence gave him. He spoke Of the
Lady Julia, his wife, as he might have
spoken Of some she demon who had pos
sessed herself of him, of some vampire
who was sucking his blood, Of some
Hecate in whose horrid tolls he had
been caught. He was heavy Dragon,
and his orthography was sometimes as
imperfect as his syntax; but he knew
what ke wanted to say, and he said it.
He wanted to tell May Budd how much
he loved her, and to assure her of his