The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-05-01
PART III.


When Duncan and first settled in our
new home, in an out-of-the-way Stafford
shire village, we found ourselves persons
of considerable importance. 1t had trans
pired-such things always do transpire-
that Dr. Ferrars had married the niece OF
Sir Andrew Alison, the great railway con-
tractor and this fact cast around us n
halo reflected from my uncle's well-known
name and wealth. Many of the country
dignitaries called on us, and 1 found my
self treated with Difference by my neigh
bors in tie village. Our new circle, how
ever, was not long in discovering that be-
tween the man of million and his niece
yawned gulf which neither had any in
tention of bridging over, and the great ex-
pectations which had attended our in
stallatiOn shrank away disgusted before
our diminutive and unpretentious estab-
lishment.
These social questions did not trouble
us. Duncan was glad to be adle to devote
all his spare time and attention to scien-
tific reading and experiments, and did
not want to get into the swim OF local
gayeties. Unfortunately, he found more
time for reading than he cared to bestow
on it; besides which, his practice was so
scattered through the lonely moorland
farms and hamlels that hard days work
was far from being remunerative one.
tried not to grow faint-hearted as we
gradually realized that the investment,
which had absorbed nearly all our capital,
was mistake. / gave myself every pos
sible trouble with housekeeping, in which,
of course, / was by no means an expert /;
and, in order to make both ends meet,
calculated every halfpenny with a parsi-
mony which would have done credit to
Uncle Andrew.
1t availed me nothing; the ends did not
meet. Every week there was wider gap
between the limit of the money and the
limit of the needs. | soon found that
had to forego every little luxury myself
and that Duncan must be deprived also,
and after | had reduced my domestic staff
to the smallest possible apology for q
maid-of-all-work my poor husband dis
missed the stable boy and took the office
of groom on his own shoulders
can see it all now; how when he came
in from long tiring round, on a muddy.
dark afternoon, l used to seat myself on
the cornbin holding the stable lantern
while he served his apprenticeship as a
hostler. We tried to make joke of il, but
our laughter was only a make-believe, for
in spite of everything we were getting
into difficulties; and the suave considera-
ton with which nv first orders had been
received by the local tradesmen had given
place to disdainful inattention and ag-
gressive demands for settlement of fast
growing accounts. The butcher was ap-
peased at the cost of my pearl set, which
had once been nv mothers and then
used every precaution not to get into his
black books again. This meant that we
had to be very sparing with beef and NUT
tor until better times came.
But better times did not come, or at
least did not come permanently. Life was
one incessant struggle, until sometimes
felt as If 1t would be useless to struggle
any more.
Audrey wrote to me with tolerable reg
ularity, but she did not ask any searching
questions, and was too proud to confde
in her. If she could believe that story
about our father, and that Uncle Andrew
was justified in what he had done regard
ing my marriage, she and could never be
on a confidential footing again-besides,
such confidence might have looked like
an indirect appeal for help, aud we had
not yet fallen so low as that.
One day-it was the second winter of
our marriage, and baby was three months
old sat in the sitting room with my ac-
count books before me. / had been a
long while i'll, and still longer recovering,
so that there was terrible accumulation
OF liabilities to be investigated, and the
prospect was not very encouraging. l
had no trinkets left wherewith to cover a
deficit, and my few pretty wedding pres
ents had followed in the trail OF my jew
elry.
As l sat thus with throbbing head and
a shawl round me 10 make up for the
meagerness of the fire, there came an i'm
posing rap and ring at the street door.
/ scarcely ever had any callers then
the halo OF Importance had long faded and
people looked terribly askant at us-so my
little maid was scarcely equa! to the
emergency OF opening the door TO visitor
who sounded so important. She pushed
open the sitting-room door with an awk-
wardness so complete and an apron so
black that tears Of modification rose TO