Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1890-04-02
From the New York Ledge.
4 STRANGE ADVENTURE

Mother, what shall we do?"
CAS- true as heavens sky is above us
Rhoda, don't knowp'
Mrs. Walkinshaw trembled and clune
10 her step-daughter with convulsive
eagerness. Rhoda stood quite still, and
lifted her face toward the millions o.
stars that spangled the frmamen1
above. 1t was still, frosty, October
night, with frozen fragrance of dead
leaves in the air, and the gibbous moon
hung low on the edge OF the horizon
shedding spectral light on the bleak
landscape.
Mr.. Walkinshaw had come home late
from the market, that night, jingling the
money in his pockets. lie walked into
the little winged room, where log or
two burned on the hearth, and a dip
candle only made darkness visible.
Mrs. Walkinshaw sat by the table darn
ing stockings, and Rhoda, sitting on a
low wooden stool at her feet, was read
ing aloud to her from drift of manu-
script pages that lay in her lap.
''At it again % said Walkinshaw with
an intensity of quiet malice that sound
from his eyes. Chow many times, I'd
like to know, have forbid this sort of
thing? All understand. You didn't
expect me home until midnight. You
was goln' to have it all your own way.
Of all created things l do hate and
despise hypocrites. What haye you got
20 say for yourself? Eh?'
Mrs. Walkinshaw uttered nothing;
the needle dropped from her hand as if
it had been paralyzed she grew deadly
pale. But Rhoda valiantlv spoke up:
U0 6oin kor fof % eb
said.
''No harm !" shrilly repeated the
miser. "But [ say you are doing harm.
You're wasting my candles, and dis
obey1ng my orders, and fooling away
my time, for your time is mine, amt it
And it amt the first time you've done
1t, nor yet the second And I amt
going to stand it, not another minute
Clear ont Get out of my house, you
enough before Now [ mean to teach
you what it means to disobey my COM
mands"
Father pr cried Rhoda, "you
wouldn't turn us out of doors at this
time of night?"
Wouldn't I, though 20 grimly re-
torted the knotty-featured old man.
You'll see whether [ would or not.
60! Step ~
AS Lac spoke he H0lU the OOOf VIDE
open. A draught of air rushed through
light of the candle. And so, in the sui
len, windy dark, the two women came
out, to return no more.
Rhoda Walkinshaw had been miser-
able until her stepmother cane to the
homestead. She had loDged Tor kind
ness, she had hungered for sympathy, :.
she had craved even the merest look
or word of notice in that solitary house,
where money-making was the Moloch
which swallowed up all else. Mrs.
Walkinshaw and her stepdaughter had
loved each other fondly and tenderly
1t WAS to her stepmother only that
Rhoda ventured to read the illusions
of her active and imaginative brain,
and Mrs. Walkinshaw listened with
eager admiration and loving sympathy,
TO the utter rage and contempt of the
farmer.
"Women are made to work." said he,
mot to write. I'll put stop to this sort
eof nonsense, or I'll know the reason
vghy.''
And this was the beginning and the
end of the domestic difference which
had eliminated in such sorrowful
tragedy.
Mr.. Walkinshaw came back into the
kitchen mixed his glass of toddy, and
went to bed.
It'll be a good lesson to 'em," he
said. And Mrs. Walkinshaw and Rhoda
gazed into each others pale, frightened
faces.
Mother, don't look so deadly white,"
said Rhoda, courageously. We'll go
down to the old blacksmith's shop, and
kindle a fire there. That, at least, is
my own"
(The old blacksmith shop down the
road, with the thistle-grown patch of
land in its rear, had been wllJed to
Rhoda's own mother, and thence had
decended to her; a sorry inheritance,
with its rocS eaten by moses and de-
cav, its foundation settling with every
winter. No one had occupied it for
years, for Rhoda's means were INSULT
cient to make the necessary repairs,
and Mr.. Walkinshaw had not been slow
20 declare that mot dollar of his
should ever be sQuandered In patching
up that old ratholep )
'tLet it tumble down." said he; land
then sell the land at auction for what
it'll fetch. That's the only thing to do
with the property
Dreary as the spot was. however, it
at least afforded shelter from the chill
and damp ofthe night; and Rhoda was
heartily glad when she had kindled a
DIdZ0 u uIy bblCho ou luO ldIgo, uuusou
hearth, 50 that Mrs WalkinsheW could
warm her marble-cold hands.
"Look, motherw she cried, fondly
crushing the frozen dew from Mrs.
Walkinshaw's hair; 'sthe old place is
quite comfortable, now that we have
managed to get the door shut. Isn't it
funny, the idea of little chestnut tree
growing right across the threshold? 1t
seemed almost wicked to break the
branches away, as | was forced to do
And by and by I'll spread my shawl
over the dead leaves in the corner, and
oh what's that?"
1t was very strange they had nots