Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-08-04

mute snarer OF the load was taken rom
him.
He stood there in the doorway under Mrs
Dibbins' light gaze, quite oblivious OF
Brinkerhoff, who was scowling as HIM fit to
efface him He had come with underlined
hope that fortune had now done her worst
for him, and that, being informed of this,
the parson would apply some of the balm,
of which, he had been told, parsons were
the sole manufacturers and proprietors
This hope, however, was slowly turning to
certain disappointment, when the parson
waived all doubt by remarking:
well, if you're hungry, 60 to the kitchen.
Ny time is valuable Brinkerhof show this
person out"
Brinkerhoff beckoned with his fat finger,
and preceded Springer, after the manner OF
an earl in advance of a commoner.
Springer told him listlessly that he might
show him the door to the street, as he WASH t
going to the kitchen
"Our kitchen amt to be scorned," said
Brinkerhotf. "But it amt a-suffering for
your comp'ny, neither"
Mr.. Springer made haste to get over the
wide porch and into the street below. think.
ing of the stark form at home, and glad that
Mary Ann was in a world where human
hurts and disappointments made no difier-
ence.
Il suppose We amt the right sort for
Parson Dibbins to put hisself out of the way
for" he thought There's too much flowers
and gim-cracks on the one side, and too
much bad smells and trouble on the other,
betwixt us"
He sighed at the incorporating truth Of
his reflections
well, it amt to be expected"
Meanwhile Mr.. Dibbins had recovered
his poise, and gone to the library with his
wife to examine anew Giotto's portraits of
Dante. They sat in an embrasure, where
the sun slanted over Mrs Dlbbin's cheek,
and lent such enchanting brightness to her
hair that Rev. Arthur seized her in his
arms with almost boyish fervor.
I'm what great measure the Lord has
blessed mel" he exclaimed This room, my
darling" glancing up at the tapestried
walls, shall be our refuge from the worlds
storms The unkindness of destiny shall
matter very little to us, so long as our lives
are spared for mutual sacrifices, for mu-
tual joys"
And Mrs Dibbins, unchilled by fourteen
months of married life with this exemplary
man, responded in murmurs of tenderness
and satisfaction; for the pair were truly
loving and contented
An hour later the great archdeacon came
and banished personal thoughts Some
thing in his presence was calculated to
eradicate selfshness and send the mind
abroad
The wax lights shed softened glow
through the darkened rooms Flowers
banked against the walls expanded odor-
ously in the warmth 1t was q strange
scene to be summoned there-that of the
sinful soul, sinking instantly upon the COM
mission of its crime into the depths of q
vivid hell, while the surface phantom, the
surviving body, still went to and fro! Dis
embodied souls-the figure was common
place. But disensouled bodies-who but
Dante could have drawn the desolate
lines!
Mr.. Dibbins' thoughtsran back to the Bor-
gias and the prosecutors of the inquisition
They even lit up a modern acquaintance or
two and shuddered He reviewed his own
life with pardonable satisfaction. No shame
confronted him, no willful act of wrong or
cruelty arose to confuse him. The wife Of
his choice, radiant and TREMENDOUSLY con
scious of his presence, was at his side. The
chair in which he sat, the rug on which the
archdeacon stood, the very name Of the
florist who had supplied the flowers, all wore
marks of the divine approval In his heart
he thanked God that he was reaping the
harvest Of virtue and good works
At the close Of the lecture one lady lin
gered. Mrs Dibbins did not retire, but
seated herself ON a hassock besiue her hus-
band. She was absorbed in grave thoughts
occasoned by the archdeacon's words Each
upon them, Mr. Dibbins at some
length; when presently the lady, who ap-
peared well known, remarked upon the I'M
warmth of the morning, there
was fine sparkling light in her eyes, a tiny
crimson spot on either cheek.
The rector replied, with smile and slight
expansion of his frame, that upon the
hearth of domestic happiness it was always
warm
The lady, Mrs Warrington. who was no.
tably drifting toward separation from her
husband, bit her lip, clasped and unclasped
her fingers And when the happiness is dis.
sipated,' she observed, 1T becomes rather
too warm"
"Ah, Mrs. Warrington! How sarcastic
of you," cried Rachel; and in the face of
our honeymoon, which has just begun. |
am sure no adversely, no poverty, no calam-
ity OF any kind can ever dissolve the fabric
of our devotion"
To Rachel there was but one honey moon,
and that, of course, was ours"
Mrs Warrington raised her delicate
brows "Have you had your domestic hap
piness insured'" she inquired
Our vows have insured it," answered
Mrs. Dibbins, sOlemnly.
"Ah! But vows are sometimes broken
Everybody does not keep vows. 1t is usu
ally the man who does not
Mrs Dibbins looked at her guest in angry
alarm.
Then it is the wopnan's fault" said the
rector with decision.
Certainly" echoed Mrs Dibbns, who
felt herself to be blameless; you will
nearly always find in such cases that the
woman has failed to make her home attract
i've to her husband"
Now, the Dibbinses, who were well bred
If they were any thing, We're not aware, of
course. that the lady with whom they were
talking had failed in this very particular.
The wedding, the European tour, the pro-
longed honey moon in the rectory had served
to exclude everything SO alien as conjugal
infelicity from the horizon.
What all the parish knew and talked of,
Mr.. Dibbins had not SO much as dreamed
He was always in his place for the Sunday
and week day services, but the litany OF
woes and temptations that his people muir
INJURED on those occasions betrayed nothing
personal nothing extraneous to the re-
quired confession.
Mr.. Warrington was no exception to the
mass of business men for whom Mr.. Dbl
bins entertained q secret contemptl whose
lives were spent in the accumulation of
wealth. and to whom "a wife appeared but
an accidental appendage
He had not perceived that the wife of
one Of his fiorid vestry men filed more i'm
portant relation to Mr.. Warrington Scan
DIAL of this sort throve in a vulgar air, from
which Mr.. Dibbins took pains to be far re
moved. He preferred that the atmosphere
of the church should envelop him as COM
pleteiy in his intercourse with the world as
81, Al 20,