Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1884-09-17

Alas for the Inconsistency of men
even the best of theml If his relatives
could have penetrated into the secret
thoughts Of Edmund Darby,s soul that
night, they would have learned that
poor darling Essie's'' image held but
a secondary place in his memory.
some seven years previously Esther
beaulands had come to Croft as the
! glrllsh bride OF her Staid cousin Edmund
Darby, who was her senior by nearly
ten years. With her the widowed
mother had also returned by common
consent to take up her abode in the
house where she was born and had
spent a peaceful girlhOod and there.
AFTER ESTES death, she still remained,
almost as quiet ana unobtruslve rs the
/ grave Old tabby cat who dozed by the
| parlor fire.
When Edmund darby married his
gentle little cousin Essie, it could
scarcely have been called a love. match
Oh either side, the affair had been tacitly
arranged 50 long before between the
two families. Esther was the very girl
lor Edmund's wife-so said his mother;
and Aunt Jane, as docile and easily led
as shy little ESSie herself, agreed To the
dlctum of her more energetic sister-in-
/ law.
The pair were welded and Edmund
1 Darby brought his bride and her modest
dover home To Croft, where henceforth
she WAS merely "Edmund's wife, ''never
the head of the household or the ruler
OF domestic affairs, for the elder Mrs.
Darby was not the woman to abdIcate
50 long as she could contrIye by hook
or by crook to hold the reins of govern.
ment and EsSie was far too timid and
characterleSs To strive to oust her from
her post 50 she submitted, with little
sigh of relief that SO much responsible
ity was taken from her.
Thus it was that no storms came to
rutfle the matrimonial calm of Esther
Darby's life and when, in the course
of five years, she had born Edmund two
haby-girls, tiny replicas of herself that
faded out of existence from sheer lack
Of vitality within few months of their
becoming acquainted with a troublesome
world. ESsie began To fade too-so
quietly and uncomplainingly that 10
one ever suspected how strong the i'll
Stinct of maternal love was IN the other
wise chardcterleSS woman, or what
I bitter crushing grief the loss of the two
children had been to her. Very surely,
If slowly, she faded and almost before
any one about her had begun to realize
that things were looking serious with
Edmund Darby'S wife she had passed
from their midst and had rejoined her
children.
Her death was great shock TO Ed
mund, and he grieyed for her III his
own quiet tundemonstrative way. though
he had long since been fain 10 admit,
In silent communIng with his own
heart, that, 50 far as he was concerned,
his matrimonial venture had been 4 to-
tai failure.
Two peaceful years. with changing
seasons of sun and snow, had gone by
since Edmund Darby became a widow
er, and no temptation had come TO him
To change his solitary condition. Indeed
he thought little of contracting sec
ond marriage, despite his mothers
hopes and covert hints and poor aunt
Jane was secretly rejoiced because he
had not sought wife to ill her daugh-
ter's vacant place, and she fondly i'm
agiued that he cherished Essie's image
even as she did, and that such unsub-
stantial visions could fill and satisfy the
eager soul and warm heart of a man In
the very prime of life.
The simple explanation of his appar-
ent contentment lay i'll the fact that, as
yet, Edmund Darby had not found
woman capable of meeting his matured
requirements. The woman he could
love, as he told himself, must be his
equal in heart and brain, to complete
and'make perfect the full summer aud
autumn of his life and he was content
To wait 4 while, or perchance finally to
seek his fate farther alielG than ErlS-
mere.
But dreams of welded bliss had only
small share in Edmund Darby's act
i've life. His daily work and the long
evenings spent with his scientific friend
the Rector had a much stronger and
more substantial hold upon his affec-
tions, until, in an evil hour for hlm-as
his mother thought-he began to find
mis- ideal realized in DOrothea Wynde.
His straying fancy was first arrested
by her utter unlikeneSs to any woman
he had ever met before-a piquant orig
inality which rendered her totally dis
similar and distinct /; and by slow de-
grees he began to recognize her rare
charm of manner and perfection of
culture combined with intellectual
powers considerably above the feminine
average She usually talked little; but,
when she could, through her own keen
interest in the subject under discussion,
or by direct appeal to her, be drawn
into conversation, Edmund experienced
a new delight i'll listening TO her words,
and often found himself at idle times
dwelling upon such "reminiscences. The
mere tones of her voice fingered in his
memory like the echo of song, and
the nameless little graces which made
her 50 specially delightful in Edmund
Darby's eyes frequently required to
hlm; again and again he pictured the
girls 1.-the slender shape with the cling
ing folds of some soft material which
formed her dainty gown-Dorothea's
dresses, he thought, always lifted her
50 exquisitely-and her small we'll
shaped head. with just hint of pride
in its carriage, set So gracefully on the
taultless shoulders.
In this way Edmund Darby caressed
the secret idol he had enshrined for
himself, and yet from day to day de-
layed to cross the Rubicon. Vanity
had no place in Edmund's moral nature,
and his irresolution arose from two
causes, the chief of which was, as he
now acknowledged to himself, that, low
ing DOrothea Wynde with all the passion
and intensity of a strong nature which
had hitherto suffered from lifelong re-
preston and the fallur re to find Its spirit
uaI counterpart, he dreaded the issue.
Fate decided for Edmund Darby that
which he had been 50 slow TO decide for
himself.
On paying one of his usual visits to
the Rectory, he learned quite casually,
in the course of conversation with
Mrs. Fame. in which she alluded
! 10 her own extreme regret at parting