Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-05-04

4 Still felt the warmth oil the sunshine IN
his heart, but from time to time he shook
his head with . pettish frown. and
brushed away with his hand, IS If At 3
fy, the tantalizing memory Of the sea-
captains words.
When be reached his house be found
on the table. along with his breakfast, q
letter. 1t was small, blnsh-tinted en-
velope addressed in nervous feminine
hand, the tiny letters treading fast on
each other or struggling behind to kick
up their lower strokes in the pertest pos
sibIe manner-even the old man smiled
at them-but it was more because of
their being feminine.
$50 the women are writing to me
again 70 he chuckled, with Q red smile on
his self-satisfied old face. ssAnna, Of
course: and now let us see what the lit
tie woman says"
She said something so particularly
pleasing that his eyes snapped and his
chuckle became . broad, purple red
laugh. If only the captain could have
been there-and read
1t was from Anna, that impecunious
relative of his dead wife's, and when he
had read her message more than twice,
he kissed the paper with q charming
rakishness of an operate Don Caesar, and
put it tenderly in the pocket of his
vest.
Cairo was fast asleep in the June sun
shine when Mr.. John Shaw took the lazy
little steamer and started toward the
south; but it sat bolt upright with
amazement when he returned, O week
later, with two delicate, graceful women
hanging on his arms.
MY wife and her daughter, " he said,
blandly enough, when people asked him,
and he couldn't help but answer; and
then he took them home.
It was such drearily dull hcme, on
such drearily dull street, that after
bit one venturesome young matron scaled
the dead wall that hedged John Shaw
ont OF fashionable Cairo, and having sur
prised the bride with a visit, surprised
her again by suggesting that she ought
! to make her husband move into one of
his own handsome houses, and do a
tardy justice to his wealth.
He won't do it; I've asked him"
she answered, with a deprecatiDg little
laugh, but with fame in her eyes and
twitch in her lips that betrayed her Sc
cret vexation.
Make himi' insisted the reckless
young fire-brand, turning her own coax
ing eyes on the old man; ''he can't re-
sisr you, I'm suren'
There he sat beside his wife, as he al
ways did, never allowing her and her
daughter moment to themselves. and
then he smiled from one to the other and
shook his obstinate head.
Under q momentary impulse, Mrs.
Shaw laid her hand on his solid old arm
and pouted like pretty. willful child.
'tYou don't love me- she purred, CO.
quettishly, .sor you would give me
everything wanted; and you promised
to make me so happy, tool"
Mr.. Shaw laughed-an ugly old laugh
that made her straighten up as if some
one had pulled her by string.
My, my!'' he chuckled, with clum-
sy effort at being coquettish in turn;
land what's to keep you from being hap
py, my dear9 You knew how | lived
when you married me. and you took me
for better or worse. No, my love, we
don't mean to bulge; the life here was
good enough for your cousin Maria, and
it will have to be good enough for you. /"
Once on the other side Of the great
wall, the visitor made such generous use
of her knowledge that pretty soon the
whole town knew quite as well as Mrs.
Shaw herself that she had married her
old husband for his money, and been
very beautifully caught for her pains.
For awhile they were seen every pleas
ant evening on the principal street
lettering rm-in-arm, for the new wife
made 3 brave fight for supremacy.
though she learned from the very first
that lighting John Shaw with feminine
wiles and graces was literally butting
her head against stone wall: but there
are some things in life that make a
woman grateful sometimes for stone
wall to butt against, and so she meant
to keep on fighting to the end. She
soon began to show for it, however,
for day by day she grew more fragile.
the lines in her forehead deepened into
wrinkles that we're coming ten years
ahead of time, and her eyes began to
droop so YEARLY that Cairo really be-
gan to stir itself into excitement
enough to take sides, and. call Mr..
John Shaw very hard names
She hal been q bright, worldly wise
little woman. with an income too
meagre to live upon, even with the most
rigid economy. Then, too, she adored
her pretty, helpless young daughter. and
in looking anxiously about her for some
means of lettering their condition
she had remembered the rich old man
who had been the husband of her
cousin. After she had married him. the
one rock Of salvation she chung to was