Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1884-08-22
I sfl'rt Etory.
THE CAPTAINS WIDOW
BY NJ. X. ID.

ZIP, there came INTO the village {
Rudleigh, where she had been Dor
and which she had never left since.
dashlng Sea captain of thirty-six o
eight, who spent his money freel
enough to make him an acquisition t
! the one hotel of the place, and VIII
I was so far from bashful that. before h.
had been there week." every woman
IN Rudleigh had either been "stare,
Z at or followed quite home, nv dear.
: The Young chambermads had eacl
been kissed, the landlords daughte
bad beed chucked under the chin, anl
{ the landlaiy herself, striving to blusl
a and failing because no red rose coull
!. be redder than she was already. declar
ed that a little more and she mus
really mention it to Mr.. Landlord
: As for Captain Waters, he consider.
ed all this the proper thing for a man
OF spirit to do. and continued the gen.
eral admirer of the fair Of Rudleigh,
: until, falling one day into the society
! of Matte Harley, he became at once
her particular slave. He courted her
one week, proposed the next. and mar
rled her on the third. He was well
enough to do to retire from sea- faring
life, was owner and hitherto captain of
the Steamer Amanda, aud was more
over widower; his first wife having
taken advantage of his absence on a
voyage to elope with a Frenchman,
who, so report ran, poisoned her.
This he told with a grave face to
little Matte before he popped the
question.
'lf thought women-folk were al
alike. Id fight shy of them, can tell
you,' he said. but I'm sure Won have
heart, aud true one, Matte
And so Matte gave him her heart,
and her hand with it.
For year or two they were very
happy. Then the jolly. red checked
captain fell i'll; aud in his illness a
baby that had come to them, boy of
n few months old, was stolen from the
wagon which careless nurse had left
-S-anling-Ay-iAa-Iaa.Isi.la-~~A.!s-al.
the neighborhood, and suspicion natu-
rally fell on them; but they were fol-
lowed in vain. and none Of the rewards
which were offered threw any light on
the subject.
The agitation did the captain great
harm. and probably FASTENED his end.
He died in few months, and poor
Matte. heart broken and desolate,
prayed to die also. What good could
come to her. now that Frank and the
baby were both gone: In vain the
clergyman preached submission, and
spoke of tempting Providence by re-
hellion."
Matte heard none # the sierotyped
phrases that were poured into her ear
heard nothing AMI saw nothing ill
one aav a tall, bold feed woman
walked unannounced into her presence
and before the I'D Clergyman himself.
announced the fact that she Was Cap
tam Waters wife--t that her child and
his were at the hotel. and that Matte
was "a mere usurper.
That arousel the widow at last. Her
Frank so vile a creature. Her Frank
+ deceive her so, She could not, would
not believe: aud no one else would.
/ She ordered the woman out of the
/ house, and the woman went, but only
/ to LAWYERS hard bv. There she pro-
duced proofs that were conclusive y
certificate signed by a well known
clergyman. aud letters from the cap
tain and in a certain church register
was found all that was necessary to
establish her claim.
! Matte asseverated in vain that the
captains wicked first wife was dead
that this woman was an lmpostor, and
that she did not believe one word of
all the story. Other people believed
1T. No one knew the captain previous
10 his sudden appearance at Rudleigh.
4 And sea-faring men are not supposed
to be good, especially in quiet, inland
towns, to have d dozen wives apiece.
The end of all this was that the new
Mrs. Waters took possession of the
dwelling and property of the captain,
,and disgraced and wretched Matte
:. returned to the maiden aunt, who
having been opposed to the match
rather triumphed in It's result as what
she called "a Judgment
Mrs. Waters tried to make herself
friends in the village. but, on the
whole, failed to do so. She was course
and vulgar. The servants said sht
drank, and her treatment OF her child
little creature half the size 1t should
have been for its age, was such as
shocked everybody. She never mani
tested any love for it. 1t was said SHE
beat it cruelty. At all even's her man
ner and the stories about her made
every one of responsibility shun her
- and even had she been woman the.
y could esteem, to settle down in tina
d way in that VILLAGE would have seem
ed indelicate enough, the women SAID
Bat some who thought only OF he
money became intimate with Mrs. Wa
ters. And dashingIy dressed men cam
down bv rail to visit her, and sh
drove with them in her snowy carrlag
straight past Mattie's humble home
and threw upon the sad face, bent owe
some work at the window, such look
of scorn as might have been Matte
due, bad she been a very wicked crea
ture, but which, under the circum
" ces, were quite uncalled for.
1t All this went on for two years a
s. s. least, and by that time Mrs. Water
il boy-five years old she called him, bu
L. he hardly looked three-was runnin