Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-12-26

city women keep for evening use. She
drew this over her shoulders and started
down the path.
"TMlookforyo you tomorrow, Fancy"
she insisted, without attending the lat
ter's remonstrance and excuse.
Fancy watched her going up the
road. She looked voluminous and I'M
wieldy with the afternoon sunlight on
her black satin dress and her red and
tinsel shawl. By and by she vas quite
hidden by the trees-the beautiful
trees!
Fancy remained at the door. Richard
Fairweather came out of his study and
spoke with something more than his
usual tenderness:
GLOW is it. my DEAR" he queried,
''that you always look so nice. and
young, and-bright? = 1 think
it must be the tasteful way you have
with your hair. Martha is hardly your
age and she looks ten years older"
Fancy smiled.
care you going to work any this
afternoon, dear?" she asked. "Do you
want me to come and help?"
81 think we will not begin until after
supper. What in the world would 1
do without you, Fancy? You really
inspire me. But for you I should lose
all confidence"
II am of some use, then! Martha
says l am timorous and insignificant.
Do you think SOP"
81 don't know about the timorous-
ness" said F~airweather, "but you
signify a vast deal-to me, at least"
He was impelled Herewith to draw
her to his knee and kiss her soft cheek
several times. He remembered this
afterward and blessed Heaven for the
impulse. He also remembered how
she laid a small hand gently on his
hair, not a very pretty hand, for hands
that have toiled are never fair to see.
Martha says a mouse would brighten
Richard?'
Fairweather laughed.
"Im sure / couldn't say as to
that, dear. Most women are a little
weak in that respect"
Fancy glanced across the room to
where her cabinet organ stood.
"There is a little mouse" she said,
argumentatively, "thatcomes out every
morning to hear me practice. I never
feel especially frightened. II y
L haven't been a bad wife, have /, dear,
because I have thought differently
from most people on some subjects?"
"You've been the best wife in the
world" said F~airweather, quite
fervently, and kissed her once again
ere she left his knee.
Fancy returned to the open door,
and stood there looking out. Her
husband, watching her, must have felt
c%omplacent. He leaned back in his
easy chair and dreamed awhile. He
was, at times, most thoroughly q
| dreamer.
By and by he rose, stretched his
rather indolent frame, and joined his
wife, resting his fair-complexioned,
amiable face upon her shoulder.
els anything the matter, dearp" he
asked, after a little. ''You seem un-
like yourself, FESTIVE and dissatisfied
with something. Has Martha said any,
thing?"
She answered, reluctantly:
81 hardly know. Martha has never
a very good effect upon me. She al
ways makes me long to run away
somewhere" Fancy paused alb
ruptly; this was the nearest she had
ever approached to criticism of Rich
ards only sister. 'She makes me
feel" she presently resumed, 'as if I
were living a lie" She turned about
and faced her husband, who had lifted
his cheek from her shoulder in mild
surprise.
"Why, what do you mean?" he
asked, very slowly.
81 mean that because | am outward
ly quiet and peaceable isno reason peo-
pie should believe me timorous or cow
ardly. There's more strength and am
bition in my nature than even you
know, Richard. If 1 were out in the
world / would show people that one
woman could amount to something
She seemed to lack words with which.
to properly express her thoughts.
However, Fairweather must have had
a vague idea Of her meaning. y
81 wish you wouldn't talk so," he
answered, gravely. "You distress me
1t would be a great calamity for to
become discontinued with our life. A
discontinued woman is a husbands
curse. There is no place for a woman
like her home. This going out into
the world is a deplorable mistake.
Woman is not fitted for the labor of a
man."
When he had finished reading her a
lecture, TO which the foregoing served
as Introduction, when he had sue
ceeded, as he felt confident, in con
vincing her that women were but fair
and fragile flowers, ever to be sheltered
and shielded from rough winds by the
interposing arm of a manly protector
he returned to the doorway and stood
again beside her.
She seemed by no means vexed; she
smiled and shook her head, but she said
no more.
Fairweasscr looked up the road.
"What nladman is that, 1 WONDER"
he began %curiously, "driving down the
hill at such oreak-neck speed? If the
horse veers 70 either side farther down
they'll go over into the gully"
Fancy followed his gaze at the first
word. Perhaps her eyes were clearer
than his own. For a second she stood
motionless, hardly breathing. In that
second she must have seen certain