Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-08-12
diary, some passages of which, sir, win take
fha lfherfv m read

the liberty to read.
There was breathless silence between bus-
band and wife while the doctor turned the
leaves in search of the entry he proposed
first to read Mr. Strangfield never shifted
his posture nor Moderated his frown. but
over his wife's face was creeping the illumi-
nation OF an expression of joy pathetic to be-
hold, in the growing gladness of her ewes
and the faint parting of her lips
The doctor read:
"'APR1L 3, 1901 am bewitched by
Jenny Strangfield's beauty 1t is a fort
night ago since first addressed her. and to-
day we conversed like old friends. 81 ange
that anything so sweet and gloriously
feminine should be found among the hard
conditions and rigors Of the sect of whose
prejudices her father is the most acid ex-
ponent hereabouts -
The doctor turned the leaves slowly, skip
ping evidently much that was too personal
for himself to read aloud in the presence of
the deacon with relish.
"'MAY 20-To-day. l told Jenny loved
her. She believes me, and well she may, for
truly is she dearest of all earthly things to
me now. "You should not love me-" she
said, for what would thy father say to hear
that thou art in love with Michael Strang-
fields girl" What wonderful tenderness
her voice gains from use of that quaint old
fashioned thee-ing and thoa-ing?"
"Why do you read such stuff, sirf' cried
Mr.. Strangfield, with an air of sullen impa-
tience. "You have something to prove by
producing that book Come to it--or leave
it, if it be as | think-for you shall not
dangle our dishonor in our face, sir. BY
God your cool recital of your sons infamy
shall not drive me madp'
His face was again dark with passion, and
well might the violence of an emotion that
could force an oath from Strangfield startle
even the imperturbable DR.. Shaw
II must detain you another minute, said
the doctor, curling his lip while he rapidly
turned the leaves of the diary, sand then 1
am done Here is the one entry that con-
Germs you:
@'JUNE 1S.-This dey l was married to
Jenny Strangfield at the church of st. Mat
thew, Dane street, London. Have /, as her
sweetheart and husband, acted wisely for
my darling by this secresy9 l will have no
fear, but thank God humbly for his precious
gift How timid she was! All the way
from Sydenham she scarcely spoke, and her
hand was as cold ss stone in mine as we
went into the church-a gloomy church, in
deed, with q mistiness all about the altar, as
if the fogs of winter had not had time to
escape. How much happier and easier to
have been married in the dear old church at
Greystone with her father and mine to give
us kindly word But it is the mothers
kiss my darling must most miss. Love
shall atone, my little wife Good night
good nightp"
Mrs Strangfield started up with a wild,
loud laugh
'Oh, Michaelr she cried, in an eerie, jubi-
liant voice, raising her clasped hands above
her head, did not / tell thee our only one
was pure' Oh, DR.. Shaw, he would not be-
lieve her! He is stern father to the dear
heart He turned from her when she wished
to kiss him, and TO me hath called her vile
name-and, O God! he hath driven her from
us. She is gone away from her home, sir!
This very morning we found her gonel Oh,
cruel cruell He would not let me seek her
and now where is my innocent lamba Is she
dead of broken heart2 On, my pretty onel
why did bear thee for this sorrow9 Better
had we died-bstter had we died, than lived
to see this bitter wicked timei"
With the joyous look fed from her white
features, she dropped her face into her hol-
lowed hands and broke into piteous sobbing.
With laborious roll of the eyes, which had
vacant look under the darkness Of the
hanging brow, Mr. Strangfeld gazed from
her to the doctor from the doctor to her;
and he made picture of strong man smit-
ten with great and deadly fear, Of q man
whose brains are Grazing under the appre-
hension of an unspeakable grief; for SO he
looked
But obstinacy is an instruction qualities
are dropping and diving when instinct is still
furnishing force-which will survive many
shocks, and give battle amid the languors Of
dissolution and prompt the last breath as
who that has attended the dying but knows?
Though the diary furnished evidence which
ninety and nine men out of hundred would
have yielded their Judgment to in calm GER
tainty that the truth was at last made plain,
it was evidence that could not dispatch the
stubborn shipwright's conviction. With a
slow smile, so full of anguish that all sar-
easm was lost in it, and holding firmly to his
chair that the giddiness in his head might not
cause his body to vibrate, he waited until his
wife had drowned her speech in sobs; and
turning to the doctor, who had now risen,
and was looking at him with gaze of steady
contempt and dislike, he exclaimed, in a
thick and struggling voice:
"Who is to prove to me that the characters
in that book be your sons writing! If my
girls chastity be broken, stronger cement
than that'l be needed to mend it, And until
| am better assured that your son hath acted
honestly by my girl, not ten thousand times
the number of his pretty words shall stop me
from calling him villainl"
Read that, said the doctor, and he thrust
the paper he held into the deacons hand, and
took up his hat and made step toward the
door.
Mr. Strangfeld, still wearing his painful
smile, opened the paper with a shake of the
head and looked at it vacantly, holding it at
a distance from him, as a man might who
scarcely deems the thing he is asked to read
worth the trouble Of spectacles
michael, cried his wife, 'your glasses are
in your pocket. Reid it quickly, husband
for my sake-or give it to me! | will read it
aloud"
She went toward him, but with faltering
gesture he warned her off Then slowly
with stubborness in every move of his arm,
he drew out his spectacle case and put on his
glasses and went round to the other side of
his chair, which was nearer TO the window,
to read.
They could not see his face, for it was to-
ward them and he held the paper before it.
A whole minute passed; then said DIR. Shaw,
in whisper. plying the agony Of the poor
mother; MADAM, your daughter is law
fully my sons wife; that is the certificate Of
their marriage"
~ II, NJ