Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1883-02-10

guessed l mought Just as well save
him the trouble O. sending Jake out
with it''-producing yellow envelope
from his pocket.
"Why didn't you give it to me the
instant you came in 2" cried Rebeeca.
snatching it from him and tearing it
open.
She had grown pale with apprehen-
sion of evil, and her pallor increased
as she read:
"Corne at once. Mother is very ill.,
1t was signed by her sister Jane.
Jonas" said Rebecca, trying to
speak calmly, my mother is sick, and
must go to her without delay. You
will have to lake me into Freestone in
time to catch the 2 2o'cloek tram. Hitch
up Brown Sally at once
Jonas grumbled a little at the order.
! not liking the idea of going into town
again 81 soon; but he obeyed it. and
an hour later Rebecea was on the train.
speeding away to her old home, some
fifty miles distant from the one to
which young Caleb Sterling had carried
her five years before.
"Tell my husband that 1 will return
as soon as possible" she said to Jonas.
as he left her at the station.
And she did not think until she was
nearly at the end of her journey of her
engagement to go with Caleb to the
lawyers.
"But nothing will be lost by wait
ing a week or two,' she decided.
She did not imagine that anything
would be gained. The future is very
wisely hidden from us.
"How is mother?" was the first
question she asked of Jane. who met
her on the arrival of the train at Edge
port.
Decidedly better" answered her
sister. "She has not been dangerously
ill at any time, but she wanted to have
you here. She was afraid she might
take sudden turn and die without
seeing you again
But no such catastrophe as Mrs.
Moore's death occurred. She improved
steadily unGer Rebecca's nursing, and
in the course of few days was able
to sit up in an easy-chair.
And then Rebecca had time to think
OF something else than medicines,
chicken-broth and Cruel.
1t seemed to her as if her old home
was greatly changed-as if the rooms
had grown smaller, the furniture less
than of yore. There was a stiffness
and chilliness about the house which
had been unfelt in her girlhood, and
was due, perhaps, to Janet's rigid
management.
Rebecca could not but compare
the home to which she had so
loaged to return with the one she had
left, much to the disadvantage of the
former.
And Jane had changed. too. She
had grown sallow, thin and was particu-
lar to fault; had merged from the
kindly elder sister into the prim spin
ster Of uncertain age" to whom
tablecloth awry, or spot of grease on
the floor, seemed grievous sins against
order and cleanliness.
Even the village was changed. Five
years had made sad havoc in Rebecca's
girlish friendships. Old friends had
died, married and moved away to new
homes, leaving few in whom she took
any interest.
ats well you didn't marry Seth
Talbot said Jane one day as she sat
talking with her sister. Folks saw
he treats his wife abominably-e
beats her sometimes-and never gives
her cent. He's taken to drink. too.
You made fortunate selection in Caleb
Sterling
did I?'' said Rebecca, quietly.
"And yet | don't believe the married
life of any one is all sunshine and love.
Jane, as you would find out if you ever
tried it."
81 wish some one as good as Caleb
would give me the chance" said Jane,
frankly. "The life of single woman
isn't all sunshine and love, either. And
there's the loneliness. If mother should
die there wouldn't be an excuse for
my existence"
You would find something to do.
Jane"
What? Every avenue open to
women is already overcrowded. and I
might take a place that was needed by
some one on the verge of starvation or
suicide. And then, unskilled labor
isn't worth anything. never learned
trade. and the only thing l can do is
to take care of mother
As the days went by. and Mrs.
Moore was pronounced on the fair
road to recovery, Rebecca began to
grow homesick. She would not admit
it to herself at first; but it was quite