The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1884-04-11
II think not. No-none."

II think not. No-none."
need not warn you my dear Mis-
Christie, to avoid all reference to that sub
ject, or anything that might suggest it, IL
talking to her, but OF course without any
appearance of constraint And am sure
such a sensible girl as you are will not take
needless fright at this unhappy disclosure
which thought 1t safer to make to you,
trusting in your discretion. l still hope
that IN time she may recover her old health
and spirits, consent to see people, and even
move away from this place for little
change, which l am sure would do her
good. have begged her to do so over and
over again, always unsuccessfully. / can
| not bear to be harsh to her; but there is
| an iron strength of resistance in that
woman of strong intellect and weak frame
which, confess, even have not yet been
able to overcome If you will allow me to
advise you, do not mention that subject
either to her. One of my reasons for wish
ing for young governess was that might
provide her in an unobtrusive manner with
cheerful society and let her get accustomed
to seeing bright young face about her;
but am afraid her obstinate reserve has
SO far defeated my object. However,
don't despair. Now that you know some
tHillS VI ilcI DlstOIy, you arc LuOTb likely
to sympathize with her and to make some
allowance for her seeming GOODNESS. Be-
lieve me, underneath all sho has warm
heart still. And am sure you will spare
little sympathy for me, condemned to
see the wife | adore living shut-up life,
as it were, seeming to ignore the undying
affection of which she must still be con-
scious."
There was something SO winning in
his voice and manner as he said
these last words that / felt for the
moment even more sorry for him than
for her, and took the hand lie held out
as he rose to go, and looked up with all the
frank sympathy felt. He seemed touched
by it, for, as If by sudden impulse, he
stopped and let his lips lightly touch my
hand; then, pressing it once more in his,
with look OF almost grateful kindness,
he left the room.
I was a little surprised by this demon
stration, which l thought rather out of
place to dependant. But he was an i'm
pulsive man, the very opposite in all things
to his cold, statuesque wife, and the union
between them seemed sometimes like a
bond between the dead and the living
When thought over all that he had told
me, after he had left the room, it was i'm
possible, even setting apart my natural in
clination as a woman to put the blame on
the woman, not to come to the conclusion
that the fault in this most unfortunate
household was chiefly on the side of Mrs.
Rayner. l had never seen more atten-
tive, ong-suffering husband, nor more
coldly irritating wife, From all had seen
judged that Mr.. Rayner was sociable
man, particularly alive to sympathy, fond
of conversation and the society of his fei-
low men To such a man the sort of exile
his wife's obstinate reserve and dislike to
society condemned him to must have been
specially hard to bear with patience. IL
was true he scoffed at the society the neigh
borhood afforded, and made me laugh by
his description of country dinner party,
where one could almost predict with GER
tainty what each lady would wear and
where more than half the gentlemen were
clergymen, and how the talk would drift
after dinner into clerical shop" and one
of the ladies would play a colorless drawing
room piece on the piano, and one of the
gentlemen-a curate nearly always-would
sing an unintelligible song, in husky voice,
and, when told-by a lady-how well it
suited his style, would reply modestly that
Sankey's songs always did.
But / fancied that, dull as it might be,
Mr.. Rayner would have been glad of more
of even such society as the neighborhood
afforded, and, from the bitterness with
which he laughed at the paltry pride of
small country gentlemen, l soon began to
imagine that he must have been snubbed by
some among them
The first Sunday after my arrival was SO
wet that we could not go to church, SO that
had been there ~ fortnight before saw
general gathering of the Inhabitants. But
ON the very day previous to this event I
had an encounter with two Of the ladies OF |
the neighborhood which left most un-
pleasant impression upon my mind Haidee I
and l were taking our morning walk, when |
a big Newfoundland dog rushed through a
gap in the hedge and frightened my poor
little pupil SO much that she be-
gan to scream Then young girl of |
came up to the hedge, and said
child but that he would not hurt her.
And she and I, having soothed Haidee, ex-
changed little talk about the field and her
dog, and where the first blackberries were
to be found, before we parted, my pupil
and going on by the road while the girl
in the field. We were only c few
steps away when heard the voice of an
other girl addressing her rather sharply.
:" Who was that you were talking to,
Alice'"
The answer was given in low voice
Well, " the other went on, you should
lot have spoken to her. Don't you know
he comes from the house on the marsh!"