News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-03-15
TOLD BY THE TWILIGHT

"You know I'm always doing queer
things" Kate said, ''but last winter I
fairly cutdid myself"
What did you do?" This in a
chorus from the group seated around the
blazing wood fire.
81 stole horse !" she replied with
perfect gravity
"Stole horse p echoed the chorus;
srtell us about it, Kate"
VERY we'll" she said. "Bring me my
knitting, Jack, will you, please? Ihate
to have my tongue my only busy mem
Der Can't find it? Well, never mind
come sit down, and I'll find it myself.
While Kate is searching for her knit
ting will you not allow the chorus to be
presented to you? We, the chorus, are
Kate's guests at her charming old home
stead in Sussex, We are not all So
pranos and altos by any means; there
are an equal number of extremely agree
able tenors and baritones. For Katy,
the doer Of 'queer things" never DEM
onstrated her queerness by inviting a
lot of women to spend October with her
in q country house only to leave them
to languish before each others eyes.
Nor did she trust to such men as the
town might offer; she imported her own
specimens, and whosoever received an
invitation to "Morningside' could rely
upon the choiceness of the specimens.
This had been so in the days when Kate
was entirely Clancy free," and lived at
"Morningside" with a chaperone as
charming rs she was useless, and now
that the grand old place had a master as
well as q mistress, the same rule of
agreeable pairing off was still adhered
to. Which proves, does it not, that
Kate was a glorious exception to tho
rule of average young married women,
who, being quite content with their own
life cavalier, dream not that other maid
ems may sigh for other companionship
than his
This was our first October at Morn
sideSsince Knte'e A,+sI,-i6 4,,5 4I4e
particular evening whereof L write we
We're seated in a semi-circle around the
blazing logs. Kate in the middle, and
Jack, her husband, very near her. When
she announced her last escapade smile
might have been seen lowering about
his lips, amused at first, then melting
gradually into one of extreme tender
ness, which said quite as plainly as
words thvt Kate's story was one of inter
est to him.
"Do you believe in the depravity Of
inanimate objects!' Kate inquired when
she Joined US again.
81 do. am willing to swear that
left this knitting on yonder table.
found it in the library under a chair,
where it had deliberately hidden itself
away from me"
"It must be feminine" said Berry,
''and therefore bound to be as aggravat,
ing as possible
1 knew very well you would chase it,
Kate, " said Laura, calmly,
''Imagine its disappointment if you
hadn't, Kate" said Jack, smiling saucily
at Laura.
"My DEAR" said Kate, "don't you
know they never run away except they
are morally certain of being chased?'
'Ts knitting They9" asked Jack,
gravely.
'No, but women are. You know what
l mean -"
"But the story" said Laura, who did
not fancy the turn the conversation had
taken.
"Of course, the story!" we exclaimed
together.
"Well," said Kate, settling herself
comfortably in her chair, "you know ]
spent winter before last in Boston, and
being thoroughly tired of hotel life, and
not caring to take house of my own, /
went to large boarding house. 1 need
not describe it; by some mysterious rul-
ing of the unseen fates a boarding house
is nothing more nor less than rallying
ground for widows, and mine was no ex-
ception to this rule. There were wild
ows in every stage of bereavement and
every stage of mourning, from the in
disputable hue of real grief to the deli
cate tint of questionable sorrow. Some
were natural widows who had lost
real husbands, others of that variety
called 'grass'-because they spring up
everywhere just as grass does, / suppose.
But all called themselves widows. OF
one only shall I speak, Mrs. Otis.
From my arrival to my departure Mrs.
Otis was constantly on the watch for me
to do queer things. And | did my best
to crafty her desire; | never disappOint-
ed her if could help it! When l failed
to furnish her with weekly mOrscl to
roll under her tongue she was positively
offended, and looked upon it as per-
sonal affront. Yet in spite of my genu-
inc efforts to be useful to her as moral
wherewith to adorn her tales of fem
mime idiosyncracies, she never appeared
specially grateful to me. In fact we
were so mutually antagonistic that, al
though no open warfare existed between
us, it was evident enough that we were
not friends. One of the bright young
girls in the house spoke of Mrs. Otis as
my particular enemy But enough of
that. She has since married, and had
[ longed for revenge | couldn't have
had any swecter. And Kate laughed
musically.
"Whyl" we clamored.
because she married the man she
didn't want. But no more of her now
YOu know no one can live in Boston
without becoming tainted with literary
and intellectual ambitions, and was no
heroic exception to that rule. That
winter Browning was the idol worship
ped He has ever been my idol, as you
know, and from my enthusiastic study
of his vigorous poetic philosophy of life
I was deemed fit to conduct Browning
class. We met at the house of a charm
ing woman who was such a sufferer that
her couch was literally her home. She
lived, in one of the loveliest houses [
have ever seen, one of the lOveliest lives
[ have ever been brought IN contact
with. But there was this disadvantage,
as far as [ was concerned, her home was
some eight miles from the city, and most
ideally remote from the vulgar conyen-
fence of railroad. Consequently 1 was
obliged to drive over. One very cold
January afternoon was waiting impa-
tiently for the conveyance that was to
take me to W. ] was ready, warm
LIZ ,urnnnnd in fnrs and nrenared To