Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1886-07-17

And turning abruptly he left the room,
and in a moment the doctor heard the hall
door closed.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE DEAcoN's CHARITY.
mi. S%trangfleld went straight to his house,
and stood a moment under the shelter of the
leaves to wipe his forehead before entering.
His wife, hearing his step, came out of the
parlor and looked at him in silence, too
frightened to offer him any kind Of saluta-
ton.
us dinner ready, janet" he asked, thrash
ing the dust from his shoes with a red
pocket-handkerchief and assuming an off
hand tone of voice which was a lie In his
wife's ear. =.
"More than ready, Michael. The bit of
beef is baked to a chip by this time, I doubt;
but if we eat it quickly, it may still be worth
asking a blessing over. AS to Jenny, now
thou'rt in, I'll not wait for her."
"Where is sheg' inquired Mr.. strangfeld,
looking at his wife with a frown.
"Why, she went out soon after you left
the house, and Polly says she walked up the
High street. She's gone to get the news
about her husband, I dare say. Dear! dearl
to hear me talk of'it in this easy way! But
that must be because I have cried nv heart
dry"
Mr.. S~trangfield walked into the parlor
where the table was prepared for dinner, he
held his face toward the window for a while
and then. turning round to his wife, who
gazed at him from the doorway, not daring
to ask questions, but too eager to hear the
result OF his quest after Cuthbert to divert
him by calling to the servant, he said:
Il HTVI,r 10 ~, oaoo1r - TO-. II-..a n
you kno,O that she is married."
"Do 1 know? 1t was she who said so.
Oh, Michael, why do you look ut me so
wildly"
"You do not ask me where I lave BEEN"
he exclaimed, with a grim, feeting smile.
"That is strange in one so curious. I will
tell thee, Jane-I have been to see DR..
Shaw"
"Michael, what hath Dr.. Shaw to say
about his sonp
cash me if he knows that he is married"
Then, relenting under the twitch of pain in
his wife's mild face, he cried out in a CULVER
ing voice: "Oh, Jane, this man swears that
his son is not married-that neither by word
nor look has he given him cause to suspect
such a thing. And he asked me: Would my
son, if your daughter was his wife, lrave her
mys:eriously, and without message or rea-
soni Such words he said. And he limited at
sin and conscience hurrying the scoundrel
from the town."
"Michael," said his wife in a hoarse whis-
per, going up to him and putting her hand
on his arm, "dost thee mean to say that
that"
He looked down upon her with stony eyes;
whereupon she half shrieked, "No, mol
Michael, Michael. our girl is honest. Great
Lord, did the vile schoolmaster charge my
pure child with such a sin before her father,
and no denial made him! Michael, didst thee
let the foul old man say that of her? Oh,
my pretty one! Oh, my JENNY how can
they think it of thee! how can they think it!'
"Do you call her purea-she who, by her
own confession, has deceived those who love
herF he exclaimed, in a slow, bitter voice.
Since she has confessed to one sin, why shall
not you believe In her deeper guilt, until she
shall prove that she hath wronged us by de-
ceitfulness only? 1t is good reasoning to de-
clare that, if this man were her husband, he
would not have left her without token of his
going, and a truthful conclusion to come ut,
that having wronged her, and dreading my
wrath and his fathers. he has fled from the
place, and, like a sneaking coward, left her to
bear her sin alone"
Dumbfounded, the mother listened; then,
plucking up heart, replied, "Why do you
doubt that she has spoken the truth? If
she be married, she has not sinned as you say
and yet, though you know not for sure
whether she be married or not, you condemn
her as if she were a single woman that had
fallen. Oh, Michael! thy heart is too hard.
Though she be not married, yet why do you
say that she hath sinned9 Poor little one!
must her heart be broken by her father9"
ut is her fathers heart that will he broken
by her" he cried. "Oh, fiel that you should
excuse herp
He walked hastily to the door, and, Selling
hold of the staircase banister, stopped and
looked back.
"Come with me to her bedroom" he said.
@You shall bear witness"
"What to dol" replied Mrs. Strangfleld, not
offering to move
T get what truth is to be found in her
letters, If she has any," he exclaimed. II
will sift this matter to the bottom"
His wife turned her back upon him, and he
went upstairs alone.
A little chest of drawers was soon ram
sacked and pockets of dresses; and the rose
wood desk, forced with a jack knife for a
lever, was promptly explored, and here was
more than he wanted. A pile of letters, in
deed, which nc carrier had ever delivered
either; some of them illegible almost with
stains of wet, which, in good truth, they
could hardly fail to contract, seeing that the
lovers post box was always the grass under
the evergrecns hard in the corner of the
front garden, and close to the railing for &C.
feasibility from the roadway.
Drawing from his pocket the wooden case
that contained his spectacles, and perching
the glasses on his nose, Strangfield went to the
window and began to read the letters. No
tradesman guards his receipted bills more re-.
ligiously than Jenny had preserved these
precious missives. Folded most carefully
were they, with sweet smelling dry flowers
among them, and held together with ribbon,
and the dates in such accurate sequence as
only love latter trade) would have patience
to order.
All these letters, with one exception, bore
dates prior to Jenny's visit to Sy denham. In
them he called her sweetheart and mistress,
and the signature was always "Bertie." Many
Of them were hurriedly scrubbed appeals for
interviews. The one letter written after the
visit to Sydenham was a passionate protesta.
ton Of love, with a tender reference to deep
endearments, and a bit of sly humor at the
end, where pious Aunt Rachel and the puri-
tanical deacon of George street, were spoken
/, of as people easy to hoodwink, because they
imagined themselves SO very keen-sighted.
!, So from beginning to end Of these letters was
! Jenny Cpthbert's darling, his pretty heart,