Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-10-18

Lonely, with nothing to do, deter
mined to look about the house. I had
| from childhood filled it with romances
in imagination, but how unromantic
l found it all. A lumber room full of
old and uninteresting furniture, all
/ placed about in stiff and uncomfort-
| able manner, the bed in its particular
corner, the one which in every room
| originally intended for sleeping pur-
| poses suggests the bed. The bureau, of
course, stood between the windows.
| The architect, when he planned the
house had evidently said, as he
worked, - must leave space here for
buraah, there for washstand, some
chairs might be placed here. and one
particularly large one over there. And
so had the whole arrangement of the
house been carried out from end to end.
went dolefully down under the
shadow of the statue in the hall, and
| cried my lonesome little self to sleep.
|: L did not wake until heard my hus-
band at the door: then l jumped up,
| and once more felt the curl of his under
lip to my very marrow, and knew in
stantly that for the second time in the
first day of my married life [ had
proved myself in his eyes unworthy the
dignity of my position.
3 At elast another meal time sarrived.
and went to the table spiritless and
disheartened. Every one thinks. his
trouble the greatest on earth: and, in
deed, why ,shonld he not, since he is the
sufferer? And SO | thought that there
could be no position more dreary and
pitiful than mine. The very thought
of my situation Inundated me. Why
had SO meekly submitted to this wish
of my dead parent? Why had this
man, whose nature seemed actually
Shiny With this stagnation, wished TO
have so young and inexperienced u
creature as | to share his dreariness?s
And why hy-why was there no
door opening into that ghostly wing?
Finally the thought came to me that
possibly | might be misiudging this
man whose wife | was. Why not talk
to him apa 'sInile, in spite OF his solemn
countenaace, which seemed to forbid
any lelit ~ Why not talk about the
wing and laugh as my fears. and see
what he would say? Em5oldened by
my free thoughts, said, without look
ing at him:
"John''-the name almost turned my
gorge-''why do you not put a door
ioiil INC IIoHt halfway lHlo lne east
wing and make coy little sitting
room of it for me to sit in? 90
We both looked up from our plates at
once, and he said cruelty, and with
smile which was hideous:
Il consider thirteen rooms and
stairway sufficient, for a child to play
in.' IS
"Heavens, thought I, s:where did my
awful audacity spring from?" But the
mystery seemed to increase and | went
to bed that night with the whole weight
upon my young mind of the wing, the
wall, my husbands smile, and my own
lonely situation. And when I slept
dreamed, and my dream changed the
whole course of my life.
| seemed to have been out, alone, in
my carriage, and had just returned at
midnight, finding the usually dark
house full of light, tho source of which
| could not see.
Pleased and wondrously happy was
at the sight, and, almost laughing aloud,
l actually jumped, like a school girl, up.
the steps and into the hallway. One
becomes wonderfully well bred under
the influence of dream. so [ felt
not the slightest surprise to find the east
wing opened, beautifully furnished, and
its atmosphere almost sutfocating with
perfume and the warmth from its dag
zling Eight / stoodhntranced. and felt
my soul growing under. the influence of
the grace and beauty which lay before
it. The floor was tiled with Pompeiian
designs, Persian rugs, whose colors were
so bright and mingled so closely rs to
dazzle my sight, soft lace and softer
satin fell over long, low windows in a
mass to the floor. The walls were
painted to represent a blue sea in the
distance, seen from yeranda, from the
roof of which hung long vines that, in
fancy, could see swaving in the breeze.
Soft ottomans, oriental divans, and
gilded chairs seemed absolutely to grow
out of the beauty that surrounded them,
so naturally were they placed in their
different hooks and corners. The only
article of furniture which seemed for
eign to the scene was Il piano; but this
was so richly covered and so artfully
curtained into small ante-room that it
looked more piquante than grotesque to
my charmed eye.
A step farther, and | discovered that
the room was occupied. A man was
seated at the instrument His left elbow
rested on the music rack before him;
his temple leaned heavily against the
knuckles of his clenched hand, with his
right hand she was striking chords,
which even at this distant day sound to
me harsh and discordant; and, as they
grated upon my ears, l thought, ''Those
chords spring from soul that can find
no pea &c on earth. -
Half hidden by the heavy folds of the
curtains, I.could see a woman, whose
white hand was thrown behind her,
grasping the curtain in a manner which
told me every nerve was at work in con-
trolling her.
| did not stop to wonder who these
two might be. did not need to. for,
as we say, when we feel a cool touch
upon the cheek, "that is the breeze
so | said: This is my mother and my
husband, as they STOOD on the night of
her disappearance, fifteen years ago.
and | longed to throw my. arms about