St. Landry democrat., 1884-03-01
ONE NIGHT IN THE COUNTRY.

ONE NIGHT In THE COUNTRY.
happened to come home late that
might, for / had dined some old friends
at the club by way of sparing my w fe
the trouble of entertaining. Now,
Fanny was the most amiable woman in
the world, and, of course, / never felt
nervous about returning at any hour ]
chose. But the truth was, she had
given up her happy country life for my
sake, and knew that she secretly re-
GREETED those rural delights. / also
knew that, whenever / was detained
later than usual at the club, that feeling
was especially dominant. So thrust
my hands deep into my ulster pockets
and tried to think of some pleasant
topic of conversation with which to be-
guile her into cheerfulness. AS I drew
near home my fingers came in contact
with a crumpled bit of paper in the
depths of my pocket. This knew to
be a telegram, which recalled the fact
that my agent had that day taken a
fruit-farm near Vineland to secure a
debt; and this, in turn. suggested an
idea. / would tell my wife about
Cookies bargain, and emphasize the
news by displaying the dispatch.
Softly opening the front door,
cropped my way along the dark hall to
the nursery, where was sure to find
Fanny, and almost equally sure of
waking baby. is that you, GeorgeP''
she asked, in a discouraged tone, With
out turning her head. The wicked idea
of Disgusting my voice to note the effect
crossed my mind, but thought of the
telegram and resisted the temptation.
''Of course, Fanny. How coy you
are here! Turn up the lamp. 1 have
something to show you, / said, cheer
lily, as ! smoothed out Cooke telegram
before her.
tWhat do you think of that, Fanp''
She rubbed her sleepy eyes and gave
the cradle q little jog with her foot to
keep the baby quiet.
80, George, how good you arer' she
scried, joyfully. Have you really
bought farm? When are we to gog''
why, you you wouldn't move in
March, would you?" / asked, for lack
.of something better to say.
''What shall we do with this house,
George" And the furniturep Hadn't
we better sell the horses and carriage
and get something little more suited
ito country roadsP''
I saw that my wife was wide awake
now, so j yawned and replied that we
would have plenty of time 10 thinkabou
that, and remarked that it was getting
late
! suffered an occasional tWinge of
conscience the next day, as now and
then recalled my Wife's innocent pratt
tie about our farm Il also began to fear
that | had not behaved with my usual
wisdom in the attempt to strew myown
path with flowers on my return from
the club. As dinner time approached !
/ shranR from meeting Fanny, and at |
last sent her a note to say that would |
not be at home till a late hour, and |
begged her not to sit up for me. But I |
might as well have gone home like a /
man. 1t was only deferring the evil |
hour, when I must confess that never
had the remotest idea of living in the /
country, even though I might be the
pOssessor Of forty farms.
Still, day after day I put it off, while /
was forced to hear myself praised for
or to listen to my Wife's3
for the education of our BOYS
when they should be out of the reach of
schools. By and by our friends be-
gan to talk of our departure as If it had
been q settled fact. In vain I assured
shem that it was all nonsense, and we
were not going away at all. They took
The pang of separation more philosoph-
.caily than one would have imagined,
ind I began to be little sensitive.
They even inquired whether I meant to
let or sell the house, what we were going
10 do with our servants, and if our pew
n church was for sale.
All this was rather hard; but when,
IN our eighth anniversary, our neigh
'ors gave US little surprise party, pre-
enting us with a silver berrY-set appro-
,riately marked as "a parting testimo-
lial Of esteem and regret, was in j
despair. After the company was gone
ny wife gently reproached me with a .
ack of cordially to our guests, but 1
lad not the heart to confess the reason. ]