Wichita eagle., 1886-08-18
gh airhita 1iy Eagle adnesdaY rnno amoust 49, 1886

dirtinction OF being the village poetess, "
4 wrapped in poetic contemplation S
a, knew that Mrs Downs had fallen und
public disapprobation because of love Il
ter that had been found by some one, e
dressed to her, and in Mr.. Colton's han
s writing.
Other people saw the reprehensible ma
~. firt accepting protestations of 10
e.. gentleman acquaintance Not
NJ. ~. This Byronic state of affai
-. shock her moral sensibi
go =. :. :. , 49, theme for her muse
$3.50 80 % ~ sen misplaced affectio
Tie1v;r, -. ,.,,a1 49,, ~ simply as an a
straction, she surreptitiously Tho no
hymn-bool and slyly penciled 90
| gin:
Let the cold world deride me,
l will but love thee more,
! Whatever fate betide thee
Here she stopped, the only rhyme tha
suggested itself being gore" Struggin;
with the situation she had just changed tn,
line, Il will not shed thy gore,n to my
heat but can adore, when she was recalled
to herself by the sound of Mr. Shows voic.
as he finished reading the usual list of no
tees. GA most painful circumstance hay
ing arisen, that seriously affects US as g
community as well as congregation, since
it comprises the good name of two of oul
members, feel it duty to afford an op
portunity for a full explanation. The con
gregation are invited to meet at the par
sonage tomorrow evening at S o'clock. !
hope that every member of this congrega-
ton will be present"
After that it mattered little whether the
sermon were a marvel of brilliancy or the
dullest disquisition that ever bored long
suffering audience. No one paid the slight
est attention to it, except old Maj. Dorr,
who was SO deaf that he only caught about
one word in ten, and had thus missed the
.tory Of the love letter that the school
teacher had written to Mrs Downs He
always went regularly to church, however,
and effected to receive great satisfaction
therefrom.
Cowles, Mrs. Brown. Mrs Martin and Mrs.
jeffrey stopped in the aisle for moment s
conference
Il shall take Beatrice Cenci out OF the
school," said Mrs. Jeffrey "No child Of
mine shall be under the instruction of a
teacher who writes love-letters to married
woman"
"And to think that Mr.. Snow should at
sempt to cover it up and excuse it" added
Mrs Cowles. Il don't know but we shall
be obliged withdraw from the church
My husband thinks there is great deal of
corruption among ministers themselves,
nowadays"
Certainly no one was better able to de-
tect corruption anywhere than Mr. Cowles
Ill ~. - l..
pades could be relied upon. But Mrs
Cowles' friends remained discreetly silent
on this point.
Il shall not allow Cora to go to the par
sonage tomorrow evening"" interposed Mrs
Brown, Il think the discussion of such sub
jects has most demoralizing feet on
young people 1t is deplorable affair all
round"
But when the evening came Cora did go
More than that, to her mothers great hor
ror, she crossed the room and sat down by
Jack Downs and his wife, who sat alone to-
gether on the long sofa, although a great
many were standing up all around the
large parlorS
This was not so much from sympathy
with Mrs. Downs, as professional instinct
such as that which impels a surgeon to in
vestigate all sorts of pathological monstros-
tiles. She wanted to observe for herself
the ravages Of remorse, humiliation and
unhappy love, the better to finish her
poem.
But Mrs. Downs was as pretty, as gay
and as nonchalant as ever. Once or twice
she whispered behind her fan to her hus-
band, and once she actually laughed, which
SO outraged the sensibilities of the moro
severely virtuous matrons, that they shud-
dered with horror at her audacity.
Mr.. Cotton was romantic looking young
man, with disheveled hair, and look of
general shrewdness He had lately come to
Pine Falls as a teacher, and now stood lean
ing against the mantel His romantic ap-
pearance SO attractive to the ladies, was
due to his hair, which he wore long on &C
count of his ears, they being enormously
large, and an interesting pallor which was
caused by dyspepsia and not unhappy love,
as the young ladies supposed.
Il have here" said Mr.. Snow, "a letter
which has been theme for much severe
comment The envelope is addressed to
Mrs. Downs, and it was picked up in the
street by Mrs Martins little son, who took
it to his fathers grocery. The contents are
in a different penmanship, with Mr. Colton's
name as signature. l will ask Mr.. Cotton
to make an explanation, which will no
doubt be satisfactory"
satisfactory" repeated Mr. Cowles with
more spirit than politeness at seems to
me that when man writes in that style to
another mans wife, calling her husband
base wretch'-here he cast an indignant
glance at Jack Downs-"and urging her to
run away with him. satisfactory explana-
ton is not an easy matter"
You are mistaken, SIR" answered Mr..
Cotton. AN explanation in this case is
very easily made. am member of an
amateur theatrical club, and l wrote out
my part at MI. Downs one evening, copy
ing it out of a book Of his Mrs Downs
gave me an envelope from one of her letters
that lay on the table to put the manuscript
in, and unfortunately lost it on my way
home l will now read the lines, if Mr.
Cowles will look over the printed page and
see il l read them correctly"
Shamefacei, Mr.. Cowles looked on while
Mr.. Cotton read with much dramatic ef-
feet:
MY angel, fly with me.
Afar in other lands beyond the sea,
We'll build home sacred to love and thee.
Scorn the base wretch who in your humble
home
ProfaneS the name OF love-ah. be my own,
And heaven is not SO high nor earth SO vast,
But that its treasures at thy feet I'll cast"
There is a full page of it, with my name
signed at the bottom, but this will suffice,
think" and Mr. Cotton coolly sat down,
while a look OF CONSERVATION went round
the room
Mrs Downs went up to Helen Grant and
kissed her.
Thank you, dear, for your faith in me.
l heard all about it, and I'll never forget it
as long as l live"
She looked SO gentle and girlish in her
dainty white 6raperies, with that look OF