San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-09-06

| their mother, in Penzance for some years,
and, TO cut q long story short privately
married her at last, just before she died. l
kept the matter secret, but it is getting
known among the people here by degrees.
I've long felt for the children that it is my
duty TO have them here and do something for
them. have not had courage to break 1t to
We, but I've seen lately that it would soon
| come TO your ears and that hev worried me. l"
"Are they educatedP' asked the ex-school
mistress
mo; l am sorry TO say they have been
much neglected; in truth, very much And
so thought that by marrying young school
mistress should get some one in the house
who could teach em and bring em into gen
teel condition, all for nothing. You see, they
are growed up too tall to be sent to school,"
"Oh, mercyl" she almost moaned. -Four
girls to teach the rudiments TO and have al
ways in the house with me spelling over their
books. And / hate teaching; it kills mef /
am bitterly punished. l am, ami"
"You'll get used to 'em, NEE dear, and the
balance of secrets-mine against yours-will
comfort your heart with a sense of justice
l could send for 'em this week very we'll
and will In faith, l could send this very
day. Baptista, you have relieved me of all
my difficulty"
Thus the interview ended, so far as this
matter was concerned. Baptista was too
stupefied to say more, and when she went
away to her room she wept from very morti-
fication at Ms. Heddegan's duplicity. Edu-
cation, the one thing she abhorred. The
shame of it to delude young wife so!
The next meal came round. As they sat,
Baptista would not suffer her eyes TO turn
toward him. He did not attempt to intrude
upon her reserve, but every now and then
looked under the table and chuckled with
satisfaction at the aspect of affairs. "How
very well matched we De' he said comfort
ably.
Next day, when the steamer came in, Bap-
tista saw her husband rush down to meet it,
and soon after there appeared at her door
four tall, hipless, shOulderless girS, dwind-
ling in heighC and size from the eldest to the
Youngest, like row of Panpipes, at the head
of them standing Heddegan. He smiled
pleasantly through the gray fringe of his
whiskers and beard, and turning to the girls
said: Now come forward and shake hands
properly with your stepmother."
Thus she made their acquaintance, and he
went out, leaving them together. On exami-
plain looking, which she could have forgiven,
but to have such lamentably meager intel
lectuel equipment as to be hopeleSsly made
ouate as companions. Even the eldest, al
most i,er oven age. could only read with diff
Guilty words Of two syllables. and taste in
dress was beyond their comprehension. In
the long vista OF future>EeaTs she saw nothing
but dreary drudgery at her Nd trade without
prospect of reward.
She went about quite despairing during the |
next few days-an unpromising, unfortunate |
mood for a woman who had not been marrIsd |
six weeks From her parents she concealed |
everything. They had been among the few |
acquaintance of Heddegap who knew !
nothing of his secret and We're indignant |
enough when they saw such ready m2de |
household foiSted upon their only child. But |
she would not support them i'll their remon- |
strapces NO, you don't yet know all, she
said
Thus Baptista had sense enough to see the |
retributiVe fairness of this issue. For some |
time, whenever conversation arose between |
her end Heddega4, which was not often, she |
always said: am miserable, and you know |
it, Yet don't wish things TO be otherwise" |
But one day, when he asked, How do you |
like 'em now| her answer was unexpected. |
Much better than did she said, quietly. |
Il may like them very MUCH some day
This was the beginning OF a Simmer |
season for the chastened spirit of Baptista |
Heddegau. She had, in truth, discovered, |
underTeath the crust of uncouthnesS and |
meager articulation which was due to their
Troglodytean existence, that her unwelComed |
daughters had natures that were unselfsh al |
most to sublimity. The harsh discipline &C
corded to their young lives before their |
mothers wrong had been righted had oper-
ated less TO Crush them than to lift them |
above all personal ambition. They consid- |
cred the world and its contents in a purely
objective way, and their own lot seemed only
to affect them as that of certain human be-
ings among the rest, whose troubles they
knew rather than suffered,
This was such an entirely new way OF
regarding life to a woman Of Baptista's ma
ture that her attention, from being first ar
rested by it, became deeply interested. BY
tIflperceptibls pulses her heart expanded in
sympathy with theirs. The sentences of her
tragi comedy, her life, confused till now, be-
came clearer daily. That in humanity, as
exemplifed by these girs, there was n9thing
to dislike, but infinitely much to pity, She
learned with the lapse of each week in Their
company. She grew to Ike the girls OF un'
promising exterior, and from liking she got
TO love them, till they formed an unexpected
point of junction between her own and heI
husbands interests, generating q sterling
friendship, at least, between pair in whose