Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-07-22


that must be because have cried my heart
dry
Mr.. Strangfield walked into the parIor
whore the table was prepared for dinner he
held his face toward the window for 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:
"Why do you speak of her husbantIs Do
you knotc that she is marriedw
do l knowi 1t was she who said so
oh, Michael, why do you look at me so
wildlysp
you do not ask me where / have beer. y
he exclaimed, with grim, fieeting smile.
THAT is strange in one so. curious. | will
tell thee, Jane-I have been to see DIR.
Shaw"
Michael, what hath Dr. Shaw to say
about his soni"
"Ask me il he knows that he is married y
Then, relenting under the twitch of pain In
his wife's mild face, he cried out in 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, IL your daughter was his wife, leave her
mys;eriously, and without message or rea-
sons Such words he said And he limited at
sin and conscience hurrying the scoundrel
from the town.
Michael" said his wife In 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, mo, moi
Michael, Michael, our girl is honest Great
Lord did the vile schoolmaster charge nv
pure child with such a sin before her father.
and no denial made himi Michael, didst thee
let the foul old man say that of herr Oh.
my pretty onel Oh, my JENNY how can
they think it Of theel how can they think itr'
DO you call her puref-she who, by her
own confession, has deceived those who love
herT 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 onlys 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 truthful conclusion to come at.
that having wronged her, and dreading my
wrath and his fathers, he has fed from the
place. and, like 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 truths If
she be married, she has MOI sinned as you say:
and yet though You know not for sure
whether she be married or not You condemn
her as IL she We're 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 sinned. Poor little onet
must her heart be broken by her fatherg~
at is her fathers heart that will be broken
by heri" he cried. "Oh fiei that you should
excuse her"
He walked hastily to the door, and seizins-
hold of the staircase banister, stopped and
looked back.
"Come with me to her bedroom" he said.
"You shall bear witness"
"What to dos" replied Mrs. Strangfield, not
offering to move.
ITO get what truth is to be found in her
letters, if she has any," he exclaimed. IL
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 ran.
sacked and pockets of dresses; and the rose
wood desk. forced with jack knife for
lever, was promptly explored and here was.
deed, which no 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 evergreens hard in the corner of the,
front garden, and close to the railing for nc.
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-.
lgiously 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 after trade would have patiersce,
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 hurredly scrubbed appeals for
interviews. The one letter written after the,
visit to Sydenham was a passionate protesta-.
ton of love- with tender reference to deep,
sndearments and n 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 Cuthbert's darling, his pretty heart,
his sweet girl, and the like; never once did he,
call her his wife, and there was no mention
of marriage. Such are the trumpery acct
dents which produce tragedies.
Mr. Strangfeld flung them upon the floor
and went down stairs
His wife had finished her dinner and was
coming away from the house door, where she
had been standing while on the lookout for
Jenny, whose absence troubled her, though
for the girls sake, she would not complain.
Something like disdain was in her face when
she looked at her husband. He could not
have been guilty of more humbling meanness
in her sight than to ransack his daughters
bedroom.
"The dinner is cold" said she, "and | have
iined IF
II have no appetite he interrupted. HLet
the wench clear the table"
He went to his armchair and seated bim-
self in sullen, rapt attitude, and never
stirred all the while his wife helped the girl
to remove the cloth. Then the poor woman,
hardly knowing what she ought to do was
about to leave him alone and was closing the
door, when he called to her. She came to
the table.
"If you are taking her part" said he. in
harsh, concentrated tones, "and justifying
her conduct to yourself, tell me that l may
know how to address you"
81 do not take her part, neither am
against her, until l know the truth" an
swered the mother firmly.
"The truth is in the letters you viii find
living on her bedroom floor Her sin is there
written by the hand of the villain who has
brought shame upon us.
Mrs Strangfield turned white and grasped
the table, while she stared at her husband.
"Why do you say that, Michael Is it so
plant Is it so plain!'
"Plain" he cried hoarsely. "What brains
10 you allow me, that should not know the
language of the paramount Get up stairs
and judge for thyself!"
"No, moi Not if died for refusing. Oh,
Michael, art thou not headstrong in thy fearss
If he be her husband, and loves her"
But she faltered and stopped here; for what
was to be done with that hard question-If
he loved her, why had he left her to bear her
trouble alonei And, stammering little, she
went on:
"But you will not believe that she is his
wife, and It's easy, therefore, for their poor
| letters to make thee think they have
| sinned"
"Leave mel" he cried sternly, for be feared
the anger which his wife's obstinate advo-
cacy was kindling in him.
| She went away quickly, smothering her
sobs until the door was closed Then, at her
| bedroom window, she planted herself to