The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-01-09

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| tablishmenI. mad ho idea of his house being
| made the lounge of all the idle men about,
| or his name byword, for the pleasure OF
| that lady, whose character, by the way,
being unblinded by love, he could read like
book.
Meantime matters went on in the usual
| course. Bored to extinction, and having
| few, if any, resources in herself, Mrs:
| Clancy was overjoyed to meet her old
lover, and had not been in that place
| twenty-four hours before she determined
| to have him at her feet as of old; in fact,
\ she quite convinced herself it was an act
! of charity towards "poor Jack, who must
be bored to death by that silly little wife
| of his ~
Meanwhile the ''silly little wife," seeing
! the whole game with those bright eyes OF
hers, kept quiet, unwilling to admit even
to herself how much her darling was hurt
| ing her, and trying to counteract the
witcheries, of which she was only too
conscious, by increased love and unselfish
thoughtfulness. Poor girl! it was very
hard work, the hardness not being
iessc.:ad by the officious sympathy ~ of
some of her friends, who persisted in try
| ing to open the eyes she was SO anxiously
endeavoring to keep shut For a while she
was successful, and, mercifully, the time
required to school charger into sufficient
| form to allow of his being entered for the
regimental cup entirely absorbed Major
| Clancy.
81 things ran their course unchecked.
Mrs Grundy nodded, and locked unutter-
able things when Mrs. Clancy and Cap
| tain Enderby rode together at picnics, or
when he lowered around her pretty pony
carriage at the band or the Eastern Beach.
IL nod n
sign, the dear old lady dared do no more.
| As to the culprits, the lady enjoyed the
whole thing, and aslong as her husband was
| in the dark, cared not one straw what the
rest of the world saw or said while Jack,
| deceived by his wife's unselifsh love, and
| bewildered by the tricks ofhis enchantress,
| Zever thought of the precipice on whose
! edge he was standing.
| However this calm could not last. The
| charger had been trained and had not won
! the race, so Major Clancy was at leisure
: TO look about him and to discover that his
i wife seemed extremely fond of the society
! of Mrs Enderby. This sudden affection
\ for a woman, and young and pretty one,
( was sufficiently novel development of
! his wife's caprice to attract his attention.
, OF her old engagement to Capt. Enderby
| he was ignorant, but some foolish chaf
! from one of his fellow Officers, whose
| rood taste was not his most prominent
| attribute, soon opened his eyes, and he set
| himself seriously TO watch his wife.
Led on and excited by Mrs. CLANCY, who,
| becoming interested in her game, and
| piqued by Fays well-acted Indifference,
| was by this time utterly and recklessly
! bent on conquest, Jack completely lost his
| head. The very accomplishing devotion
! by which poor Fay hoped to win him back
| was used against her by her INSCRIPTIONS
| rival who taught Jack to believe it the
| fr:Ad indifference of a heartless prude.
Heaven knows there were plenty ofwomen
! about who could have shown him clearly
! enough at what cost, both mentally and
| bodily, his wife wore her mask. In fact,
; that mask could never have been kept on
a day but for the silent, unacknowledged
help of her women friends, who, seeing
and plying the feelings they might not
share perhaps, sought in every way to
! tighten burden that otherwise would
have been unbearable.
At last the storm burst. At a large
| picnic, to which almost the entire garrison
was invited, Jacks madness and Mrs.
| Glancy's folly, to call it by no harder
name, were plain to all, Fay alone ex-
cepted. On the plea of a headache (heart-
selche would have been truer), she had
rambled away from the party, and had not
seen how things were going. A hand on
her shoulder and voice at her ear made
her start. The wife of an old friend of her
husbands was at her side The woman
was vulgar, handsome, clever garrison
| hack-poor Fay's special horror-but COM
mon civility obliged her to respond to the
greeting. After two or three desultory
remarks, which made Fay wonder what
the lady's object in stopping her was, she
suddenly bent over Fay, and whispered,
"Do you know where your husband is p
"My husbandl Why:"
tLook here, Mrs. Enderby, it's no use
putting on that look of surprise with me.
What your game may be can't tell but
that you know as much as most of US land
truly your husband and his fair friend are
none of the most discreet) l am certain.
| So l repeat, do you know where Captain
Enderby is ?"
mo. I do not My head has ached
badly all day from the heat, and have
| spent most of the time in this glen"
"Well, if you don't, Major Clancy docs;
and is not best pleased to find his wife
has been admiring the scenery of the Cork
Wood and studying Andalusian farm
management, tete-a-tete with your hus-
band all day"
major CLANCY! Why, l thought he
could not join the picnic on account of
| some regimental work or otherw
'Ah, yes; and so did his wife But
ladies who wish to utilize their lords alb
sence should look after their correspond
ence and their maids"
"What on earth do you mean"
"Simply that Mr.. CLANCY has had row
with her maid, who, in revenge, has given
her master q couple of letters from her
mistress desk, with her own notes and an
notations, all of which will not tend to
soothe his temper when he comes on
them, as he will do before long, if they are
not warned, in the most sequestered part
OF the crags up Yonder."
Struggling a second or two with her
| disgust at the speaker, Fay said:
"Why do you tell me this? What can
dor
"Well, that gOW know best. Do you
wish to save your husband (whom you
still love pretty dearly, fancy from a
ruinous scandal? or will you let things
slide, and so have your revenge on the
pair of them, like the cold-hearted cat
some people think you are? There are the
cards, play them as you please; only re-
member Major Clancy knows nothing of
| his wife's old engagement, and the letters
he has received are undated and belonging
to that time" So saying, and with ma
licious laugh, the speaker disappeared.
As soon as she could recover from her
bewilderment Fay hastily made her way
10 the glen indicated. 1t was a hidden,
L., ~, ,lt he aud