The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1885-12-24

| in the barn, he grinned from ear to ear. He
| could not remember much-clearly he did
4 not wish to ''go back" on the child. But be
| implied that there was frequent reference
| to a place of torment, as well as to the
| enemy of souls, as Mrs. Shepard had heard
| before, and SO reticent was Silas, that she
| ceased in her examination from very fear
| of what it might elicit
That evening she went to the Sacrament
lecture with her huSband-or tried to- But
when they were passing Deacon Little's
house, Miranda Little ran out to tell them
that Parson Moves had a sore throat, and
that the lecture would be postponed. So
they turned back. and were at home again
in an hour from the time of starting Mrs.
Shepard was astonished to see q lightin her
own bedroom.
She ran upstairs to find Mary Martin,
'sprinking before the glass" as Mrs. Shepard
told her husband, with her MISTRESS best
bonnet on, the lace scarf John Shepard had
sent her from Havana thrown lightly
round her neck and, to be short, as Mrs.
Shepard's eyes descended from point to
point, every scrap Of elegance most dear to
that lady was displayed on this huzzy's
form.
Mary Martin, what are you doing?n
So still had been Mrs. Shepard's step,
and so eager Mary's pleasure, that she was
wholly unconscious of the fatal return from
meeting.
She turned amazed, forgot all proprieties,
and cried:
Good Lord! Is that youi" Theft and
profanity conjoine1.
Mary Martin, am ashamed of you!
Take these things of, and go straight to
bed
And Mrs. Shepard spent the night awake,
thinking of punishment. The girl w9Iid
have returned to the Home" before light,
but that neither Silas nor Mr.. Shepard
could give the necessary three hours to take
bar +.,f hp go G 70 Tl,o 70, in fhai
courses worked fo- the poor child if indeed
il was desirable that she should stay where
al that she did was wrong.
As for her. she went to sleep without
anxiety. slept till morning, and came down
stairs 'as If for all the world nothing had
happened
Poor Mrs. Shepard had still devised no
punishment Imprisonment would be a
part. if any she could devise; and, when
poor Mary appeared. So unconscious and
sunny, it was no: in the good womqn'S
heart to begin new controversy. Tins
far, as i'll finite world often happens, tle
punishment did not fall upon the sinner.
And Mary went 70 the chickens as before.
But. whom dinner time came the storm
cloud broke. Mrs Bangs and George
Bangs had arrived at noon, the advance
party of the whole Bangs family, who
were 30 spend their Christmas here Mrs.
Shepard experimenting, Lucy had set the
table with her own hands. The best table
cloth was on and the best napkins the best
glass and the best china. Lucy had even
cIt her best flowers for tho middle OF che
table, and all was complete excepting the
serving of the actual dinner The picked
walnuts, the celery, the currant and cram
berry jelly were all in place.
To this table, fifteen minutes after her
daughter had left il. Mrs. Shepard bora,
with her own hands, the goose not from the
oven. One instant was enough 10 shoy! that
some one had broken the beauty of both
mounds of jelly-indeed consumed part of
each, and in her haSte-for of the sex of the
maurauder there was no doab5-had
dropped on the white table a Cuivoring
mass of the plumber.
MARY Martin, what have you done"
And Mrs. Shepard tIrned, expecting TO
see at least fearful face, bat there was no
Mary Martin. That lady had LETT the hot
potatoes in the kitchen and had taken ref
uge in the hay loft.
Nothing is more inconvenient than the
holding a court-martial in the presence Of
visitors, or administering eTen tlc simplest
punishment. But in this case this W rs nee
eSsary. No witnesses were heard The cul-
prit did not plead. No counsel were pres
emit The judge babe Silqs find Mary, take
her to her bed room and lock her in. And
Silas did SO.
No! do not think this punishment was
as severe on Mary Martin as it was on Mrs
Shepard.
For Mrs Shepard, am well aware that
it embittered all the afternoon. She had
promised herself the pleasure of once mora
hanging a stocking from the ledge above
the kitchen fire, and of filling it with apples
and figs and raiSinS and certain candies.
which for this very purpose she had ordered
from Portsmouth. Ali this for one girl.
No stocking nowl
She pretended she did not think of Mary
She did not once allude to her. Nor did her
husband. Nor did SilaS Nor did either OF
her visitors, George Bangs and Mrs. Bangs
All the same she did think OF Mary hun
dreds of times, as the afternoon and even
ing passed.
They passed but slowly, let us confess, as
is the way with afternoons a2d evenings
when visitors have come who have been
lOlg invited, when visitor and visited have
put on their company manners, and when
they have net a great deal to say, and
being usually busy people, have, in honor
of this visit, nothing to do.
Mrs. Shepard was not sorry when, as the
clock struck nine, Mrs. Bangs said that they
rose very early, and that sac was tired.
There was chance for all of them to go
to bed. And they went.
Yes; am quite sure that Mary'S punish
ment once more was more severe upon the
punishpr than upon the punished
For Mary was a campaigner of far too
much experience to be much disturbed by
the confinement of few hours more or
less. The dinner she missed she was sorry
for. But, as the reader knows in part she
had discounted some of its possibilities. and
the reader does not know. and need not
know, how much farther she had gone in
the same direction. She was to spend
certain SIX hours in one place which she
would otherwise have spent in another
This was on the outside. all.
And her conscience:
Well, there you are too much for me-
Conscience she certainly had; and up to
a certain point she was undoubtedly sorry
that she had wounded or panied Mrs. Shop
ard, whom she really liked, and for whose
kindness she was really grateful But this
sorrow was mixed with certain regret for
the accident by which. as she supposed. she
had been betray ''gob, - as she would
have called it, on the table cloth. Mrs
Shepard'S pride in the elegance of her jelly
mould was wholly beyond Mary's compre-
henSiOn. As for sense that she had taken
what was not hers, this panied her but
little. SEE looked on food much as squir-
rel looks on nuts, with a vague notion of
nenn', perhaps, but only very vague no.
ton of tuum.
No, dear readeT-of rerOrSe, as yoI and
try TO fancy remOrSe, as Il Gnawing fang
or tooth which will never be satisfied-of
that our poor Mary had virtually none.
She lay on her bed. comfortably covered
with the bed quilt, and. raised by her elbow,
she surveyed the passage OF the afternoon
on the farm. She was grimly pleased when
she saw her mistress essay the feeding of
the hens, which would naturally have de-
voivcd upon her. She was more pleased
when she saw SilaS fulfilling certain duties
Of wood-carrying and ash-bearing-which
would have been hers were she not i'm
prlsoned. Darkness came and the child fell
asleep. At seven O'Clock her door was
pushed open and plate with a slice of
bread and mug of water were left upon
the ttoor Then with some ceremony the
door was bolted. Mary was awake now:
she had not unireSsed herself: she ate the
bread, drank the water and looked out upon
the night