The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-09-09

ground among the ferns and let her hat
| fall back, and with her hands clRsped about
| her knees lost sight OF every thing before
| her eyes in her intense sympathy for her
! mother. He had come to make friendly
call, of course, but Susan did not believe it.
| She knew that widowers, when their hearts
! have healed by the first intention, always
| have intentions. They are the least ingen-
uous members of the human race She was
| thinking of Jane .Hinman and the Widow
Bowen and the dark ways they had trav.
eled as mother and daughter, when she had
| borne the laboring oar; and tide OF pity
| and love seemed TO sweep her away.
| mingled with the excitement OF this strange
romance which was touching her mother
again in the afternoon of her days. Susan
never knew how long she sat there on tins
] river bank among the ferns. She found II
4 growing dark when she took her way home.
Her mother met her at the docI with her
! eyes full Of tears and quivering with sup
| pressed emotion. She put her arm around
her daughter and like Ruth and Naomi
they chung together for a time.
20, you can't think what be said. It's
! all the same as if l hadn't grown old. He
wants me to be his wife. He came here on
purpose, Susan, to ask mo. He says he has
money enough and everything, and he
don't cara il am ever so poor and don't
know how to appear" she went on little
| incoherently.
Susan put her mother down in the rocker
| and smoothed her hair. You must quiet
yourself, or you will have one of your bad
| headaches. But just tell me IL you have
promised to be Mrs. Senator Fielding"
How could PROMISE" she returned, re-
proachfully. without talking with you!
| 1t all depends on you, Susan, aid the very
| thought of it makes me dizzy"
az Shan't stand in the waY, mother; /
shall never trouble him"
Susan Bowen, what do you mean"
'He can't be expected to marry the
! whole family. He has come for his old
sweetheart Jane Hinman, and not 1or
| Susan Bowen, clumsy old Susan"
You want TO make me sick" breaking
into sobs; that is just what you want to
| do"
mo. don't, mother; but can't deceive
YOU. We have always been one you ana
|, but it can be so no longer Jane Hlnman
was born for another fate. And now she is
coming into her kingdom. But Susan
Bowen was made to endure hardness, to
live alone and eat the bread of labor. he
would not like my influence over you. lie
must rule alone; l can see 1T in the square
set of his jaw"
That's lust it, Susan: he amt changed a
bit. Such men never do changs. | can
feel the iron Ben Fielding under all this
new velvet He didn't have his way with
ME when he was young and he wants 70 get
it nov he is old. He let it drop that his
God must be my God. and 1t was SO like OLD
tim IS it made me snlver."
Il guess his God is made in the likeness
of the Senator" said Susan bitterly, but
this was all she would say to influence her
mother. who kept insisting that he was
generous and kind and vondrous conde-
Scending to the poor Widow Bowen; she
felt it a grievance that Susan would not
~ o.,lnrinr,1S hnt maintained a
logged silence. Her sturdy, strong soul
felt sorrow tugging at her heart-strlngS,
such as she had not known in all her years
of toll and privation. The splendid pros
pect opened by the visit OF the great man,
though it daZZled the widow s eyes, Drought
no real Joy to that poor house. Before
going to bed Susan told her mother she
would depart early the next morning by
the train to take home the finished bundle
of work and leave the coast clear. The
Senator was to receive his answer tnat DAY;
She did not sleep until near morning, and
then It seemed that she had just fallen into
her first uneasy nap when nervous grasp
was laid on her shoulder.
Il can't. I can't" sobbed poor Mrs.
Bowen, brokenly. give made up my mind
l won't have Ben Fielding if he is to sepa-
rate us. What do care for his money and
his position. and his honorS, compareu
with NV child! And Just as like as not he
would despise me if didn't bow down to
him. l won't see him again. You must
stay and tell him the whole truth. There
mover was such one to speak the truth as
you are. And l will go to town with the
bundle of work"
Susan felt that her mother had risen to
the height of the moral sublime. She took
her in her arms and gave her tremendous
hugging as she laughed and cried. Mrs.
Bowen did go to town and Susan saw the
Senator and they had rather a bad half
hour Fielding lost his temper, and &C
cused Susan of influencing her mother
against him to her great INJURY ana
| Susan lost her temper and maintained her
right to her mother with pertinacity. And
! when the Senator went away he congratu-
lated himself on having escaped such a
dragon of a daughter-in-law. And Susan
for her part hated the overbearing man
worse than any one she had ever seen.
Many can rise once in lifetime to a
height of the moral sublime, but few can
maintain themselves long at such level.
When the two poor women took up life
again in that shabby tenement, things
were changed. Perhaps Mrs. Bowen, as is
the way with dependent impulsive minds,
secretly regretted at moments all she had
given up for Susan while Susan for her
part saw these feelings at work Ill her
mother and was wretched. But one day
there came to Susan Bowen an official
document which announced her appoint
ment to a 1,200-dollar clerkShip in the
treasury. Though she hated Fielding, he
had done her this great good turn because
that generous streak in his nature was
marked.
When Susan and her mother went away
| happy and triumphant. Milly declared
that strange old fairy, Truth, had left the
village, bag and baggage.-A. L., in ~. 7.
Evening Post.