St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-04-14
MONEY AND MATRIMONY. (.
How She Got Husband and Fortune

| gloom?
Yet 1t was, by my own consent, to be my
wedding day tomorrow. l had said it; /
had not only said it, but had said should
never repent.
As the early dawn breaks through the gloom
of night, hear the old cock in the farm
yard give dismal boot preparatory to the
first crow to the new day.
And, utterly tired out, fall asleep.
One-two-three-four- ive-six-seven
Eight beats off the tall old clock on the
stair-head outside my door, and 1 jump
wildly to my feet.
Sat O'Clock, them" he said.
1 had only one hour-only one hour to be
Nora Glennie.
At the time that clock struck 10, should
be Nora Mapleson-a wife, true wife to
true husband.
rearrange my dress with feyerish haste.
Ionly stop to drink cup of milk ere I
leave the house, only just in time to catch
the country train as it passes our country
station.
| am in time.
Once more my hands are clasped in his.
We say no word; only hurry through the
sleepy streets till we enter the dingy Office,
where, by some strange method, we are made
man and wife. All is dream to me.
wonder vaguely where are my brides
maids, where are my father and mother?
Bah Why, of course they are dead long,
long ago. 1 have only my uncle, and he is
lying bedridden at Norlington farm.
How could he be here? The only thing
| @bo. I;-
my finger.
| / look at it in kind of fear as I draw my
old kid glove over it before leaving the house
into which Nora Glennie had gone few
minutes ago. and ont of which now a white,
startled woman was issuing-Nora Maple
| son.
''Don't be so distressed, my darling! Don't
look so or I cannot bear it!''
1 draw deep breath; I stretch out my
hand little wildly, suppose, for he takes
it firmly in his and lays it on his arm as he
hurries me through the streets back again
in the direction of the railway station.
Once more we are in the train.
ssMine-mine forever! 1 do not fear the
future now % is all my husband says, but
there is world of love in his eyes,
Poor William In weeks time he will
be on the ocean, and we will have parted for
many months-perhaps years.
He lets me rest quietly in his arms dur
ing the very short journey back again to
Norlington. get out of the train alone, as
he is going on some business two stations
further on, then he will come back for the
rest of the week to the farm.
''Before you 60 into his room, wife, dar-
ling, you will take it off?" and he touches
my finger, on which the bright new wedding
ring glitters.
81 cannotr' I say shuddering. est is
unlucky to remove wedding ringl"
:'But, my darling, his sharp eyes will"
The train goes on and I am alone. / see
his face looking at me from the window,
alarmed and anxious, but 1 nod reassuringly
and he smiles.
1t causes no remark that have been out
so early this morning, for everything lately
is so upset by reason of my uncle's illness,
and Williams near departure.
Then, again, there is only old Betty in
the kitchen, and perhaps she scarcely knows
l have been out, and if the rurse who has
been called in to attend my uncle knows,
she doubtless thinks have been into town
on some household GRAND.
About my ring. l must hide it; but I
cannot take it off. hurry up into my room
and hurredly turn over the contents Of an
old musty dressing-case that had been my
fathers. Where can it be? That old gar
net ring with the queer undergroove in it,
that feel sure will let this thin wedding
into it, and SO keep my secret from prying
eyes.
| Ali with hot, trembling fingers 1 find it;
it does exactly as thought it would do.
| With that broad old ring always on need
fear no discovery. None but myself would
ever know that under it lay another, the tiny
circet of gold binding me stronger than iron
bands could do to my ''dear love-"
During the day my old uncle is taken
much worse, and he will let no one come
near him but me. William comes in and
out of the room, but am tied to it all the
day, till toward evening uncle falls into a
deep sleep and can safely leave him with
his nurse. 1t was rambling old house,
Norlington farm, and it had been my only
home now for nearly seven years, all of
which time William Mapleson had lived as
my uncle's steward and helper under the
same roof.
1t had been hard, self-denying life for
him, perhaps; but for me-or rather for his
love for me-he would never have borne it.
Till latterly the hard old man had never dis
covered our love, and when he had there was
He had ragged and stormed, declaring tina I
no niece of his should marry William Maple
son, on pain Of disin heritance.
Mine wa always weak, timid nature.
Perhaps some women Il was no longer a
young girl-my thirtieth birthday had come
and gomez would have actively resented this
tyranny and asserted their individual rights.
/ could not l was in bis power, for when
nv parents died he had taken me in, pen
niess girl, and had from that time given me,
in his peculiar, hard way, all that l needed
to live; not but what some would have felt
they fully earned such keep.
scarcely ever looked at it in that way.
had been weak and helpless, alone in the
world, not very strong in health, when he
had come to my fathers funeral, and after
paving all expenses, had simply said: 'Now
go and pack up your kit. You must come
with me to Norlington farm. Can't say,
I'm sure, what old Betty will say, but there's
nothing else, as L see, to be done. Remem-
Der, nv girl, tits not lady's life am offer
ing you; out l suppose you are not too fine
lady to know what work meansW
If pad been then all was corrected by
now. During these seven years l have
worked hard and lived hard.
Yet there are those who say old Peter
Glepnie is worth half million of money.
Ny golden week ofhappiness is gone, but
although William is gone l am strangely
content.
do not regret the step I have taken.
Since the morning after my marriage my
uncle had been better and quieter. Old Mr..
Baines. the lawyer, had been with him fu II
hour that morning, and old jenkins HAD
been called into his room to sign his name
to some document, together with the hired
nurse.
s'He's a miserable old man." she said to
me that same day. II suppose it is his will