Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1886-07-24
CHAPTER XVII.
HOME A

CHAPTER XVII
HOME AGAIN.
She walked slowly down the hot and dusty
road toward the town. Now, far more
keenly than before her visit to the school
house, did she feel the bitterness of her
trouble.
Along the dusty road she went-the high
crops motionless on either hand, the land
around lin sheen of silver barley and yellow
wheat, and the l~ustrous green OF meadow
grass trembling in the steam of the swelter-
ing earth-and felt a homeless woman. I'M
loved, and sinful, too.
She came at last to the shadow of the way
side trees under which she had met Cuthbert;
and here, with no eye to see her, and passion
ate memories crowding piteous misery into
her aching heart, she stopped and flung her.
self upon the grass, and tried to relieve her
burning eyes with tears.
A long while sho fingered here, dreadinc
to return home.
Tim passed rapidly and UNDECIDED, and
the shadows of the trees had grown we'll into
the road when she rose to her feet, disturbed
by the town clock striking the half hour
after three. The thought of meeting her
father was almost unbearable; yet home she
must go, for where was other shelter for herl
Before this time her fear of the deacon was
In his anger, when he should learn that she
had deceived him by her secret marriage,
Nothing more had her innocence then to
dread; though enough had been here
to furnish her with dismal contempla-
ton and trembling apprehension, and an
~insupportab!e yearning for the permanent
companionship of her husband, that discov-
cry might never catch her without the prop
of his love and presence at hand for her
weakness. But now her husband was gone.
and, by going, had left her exposed to dread
full suspicion. He was gone, and she was left
alone to Justify her purity, to encounter the
wrath of her father, stirred to his deepest
heart by infamous doubt
What, then, was she to do? for when she
fell to consider how she should prove her
marriage, she found another blank as mad
deningly perplexing as Cuthbert's disap-
pearance.
She well remembered the marriage morn:
how, with a faint voice and pale face, she
told aunt Rachel she was going for a walk.
and bade her not he surprised if she DELAYED
her return, for she loved the pretty scenery
around, and to linger among the trees.
. She well remembered the beating of her
heart when, at the bottom of the deep and
shady lane, she beheld Cuthbert waiting for
her, and how she had nearly swooned when
he hailed the passing coach to Southwark.
and handed her into it.
Likewise she we'll remembered how thew
had emerged into q crowded street. along
which he had hurried her into another strset.
where he called a hackney carriage, and thew
were driven down Mterminable streets at
which she never glanced, for her white faco
was hidden on Cuthbert's shoulder, and she
had needed all the cordial of his constant,
passionate, reassuring whispers to save her
from fainting.
And how Mt last the carriage stopped be-
fore a church-a gloomy, heavy, city edifics
so that it seemed to her that they had to
grope their way along the avenue of high
pews to the altar railing, where speedily a
hin voice read the service that made her the
wife of the man at her side.
The acted portion of it all was a vague
memory; her love for the man who had in
duced her to secretly wed him was only
reality.
-Four o'clock was Ginning when she reached
home. Long before this had Mrs. Strang-
field grown weary of watching at the win
dow, and with deep anxiety had gone back
to seek the girl in the town. Polly was sing
ing in the kitchen as she scrubbed the floor.
SO that Mr.. Strangfeld in the parlor did not
hear Jenny enter, nor her light footstep as
she went upstairs.
At her bedroom door she halted, with such
a shock of surprise and CONSERVATION as the
sight of a dead maj might have produced on
her; for all about the window the floor was lit
for,aI ,rytf1, 1oy& 1,,,e1o,, y 5000 1AA--- -,
lessly tossed and lying open, with their rib
bo%n-bindings among them.
She well knew whose hand had done this,
and, recovering herself, entered the room,
closed the door and removed her hat, moving
softly, and all the while looking at the letters.
This done, she knelt down and gathered to-
gether the precious missives, pressing them
often to her pale lips, and narrowly inspect.
ing the carpets for bits of the dry forget-me-
nots and other fragments of flowers which
had fallen from the letters under StrangGcld's
angry handling of them.
Scarcely had she replaced the papers in
her desk when she heard her fathers steps on
the stairs. He entered his bedroom, but
speedily emerged, being struck, PERHAPS, to
find Jenny's door closed.
He turned the handle sharply and ex-
claimed:
"Ah, you be here, then7 Your mother has
gone to look for you. You are well prac.
ticed in treading softly. Where lave you
bcen?"
II have been to the schoolhouse to seek my
husband" she answered, returning his st,rr
gaze with a look of despairing resolution.
And you have not found him?"
"No. father, no." she replied, with a shrek
in her voice.
IF he be your husband, why has he left
you| he said, speaking as a judge might in
preface to condemning a man to death.
She shook her head and locked her twitch.
ing fingers, no longer meeting his eyes, for
the bitterness in them was insupportable.
He approached the bed and leaned heavily
upon the frame of it.
"Woman! in my heart you arc condemned
for treachery to he and your mother. Ye,
have said to myself, in the words of the
Preacher, BE not hasty in thy spirit to be
angryr and now, if you find me SO, you
shall rebukem me. Jenny, for what you have
this day toll Your mother, I hate my own
flesh that you should be a part of it. Yet ]
will he merciful. You shall prove to me that
you sin is not the dishonor of your parents
name, nor the destruction of your soul in the
eyes of Almighty God. Do you heed me-
You shall prove this"
She made no answer.
"SpeakP he cried. aShow mo how Thu
may be DONE"
She looked at him with terrified eyes, 70,
no courage that she had could combat her
instructive fear Of him. He waited for her
reply.
"Tell me what I am to do, father? indeed, ]
will nhov xyo1, nm %n,,lxy II, ,,sfo Cd
who hears ME, knows that i am not speaking
falsely. With this ring he welded me-
father"
And with trembling hand she sought in
her pocket for her purse.
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