The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-04-25
THE YOUNG WIFE'S PLOT.

"They are determined not to like
me-" said Octavia Durell, with the
tears of mortified pride sparkling in
her eyes as she laid down the frigid
letter she had been reading. "And it
Is cruelty hard for me to be forced to
meet them without Sigismund's pres
ence to sustain and uphold me. I
knoWjust how it will be. My mother,
ln-law will look coldly and critically
upon everything | do; my step
daughter will fancy me tyrant. and
steel herself against me as if | We're
an inquisitor. Home will be a dun
geon and life a burden ! Oh. | wish
II almost WISH" she added correct
| ing herself, with the shy smile Of
! happy wlfehood | had never
isaarried. But, after all, what non
sease that is, when Sigismund is SO
good, SO noble, so worthy Of a wife's
devotion -
Mrs, Durell was on her way home
from India, and, seated in the cool,
marble paved apartment of Gibraltar,
from whence the Peninsular and Ori-
entail steamship was to sail the next
day, she watched the palm leaves
swaying in the breeze, the fiutter of
the gay green and white awnings,
and the turbaned Eastern servants
passing to and fro with trays Of black
coffee, delicately favored ices, mould
ed to initiate apples, oranges and
pomegranates, with absent, unseeing
eyes.
Never before had she been parted
from her husband, who was Ameri
can consul at one of the oriental ports,
but a sudden call had arisen for his
presence many hundred miles back
into the mountain country "a wilder
ness to which it was impossible that
he could take his delicate young wife.
"There is no telling how long I may
he detained among those semi say
ages, Octy," he had said to his wife,
'and | can neither take you nor leave
you. Go home to my mother, and
make friends with little EudOra. 1t
is possible that I may follow you in e
few months, if all goes well. But, at
all events, | shall feel safer if you are
secure on American soil. Benson.
your maid, is an accustomed traveller,
and Leonard, who commands the Pa
cifica, is my old friend, so that you
will lack no care"
"But, Sigismund." cried Mrs. Du-
rell, with a cOuntenance of Iudicrous
dismay, "a-mother-in-laW ! and q
step-daugkter To be compelled to
confront them, all by myself"
My dear little goose!" said the
CONSUL laughing. "Now you are
frightened at mere shadows. My
mother is the dearest old lady in the
world, and Dora is a darling"
"Couldn't 1 stay with you? plead
ed the young wife, clinging to his
arm. "I'd rather be murdered ty the
natives, or die of cholera down on the
plains, than go back to America all
by nyselfw
"NOnsense! nonsense! ! nonsense "
cheerily cried out Mr.. Durell.
And so the matter had been set
tied. And Octayia was thus far on
her tedious voyage home, when
crossing the chequered pavement
without, a slight, graceful figure gil
ded by, with floating lace scarf and
deeply-fringed, rose colored parasol
"It'S jamie Weldon ~ cried Octa.
via, springing up and rushing out to
intercept the movements of the beau
tiful stranger.
"Why," cried Miss Weldon, in in.
finite surprise, it is Octayia Olcott
And here on the heights at Gibral
tar! OF all places. who would have
dreamed of meeting you here ?"
81 am going to America" said Oc
tavia
$50 am l." said Miss Weldon.
"But my name isn't Olcott any
longer" added the young wife, laugh
ing and blushing. 81 am Mrs. Sigis
mund Durell."
Then" said Miss Weldon, witt
her eyes growing larger and more
brilliant than ever, "you are tn,
daughter-in-law of Mrs. AlkmonC
Durell, the lady am going to Durel
Court to visit. Do tell me about her
Is she nice Is she lovely? Il
she"
Octavia burst ont laughing.
81 never saw her in my life," sale
she.
"Neither have l." said Miss Wei
don. "But she has invited me t
visit her because my Aunt Barbari
was an old friend of hers. And yol
really have married the charmin!
young consuI-widower? My darl
ing, | congratulate you !"