Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-08-28
nent of it in the great day of reckon.

was no cause for discontinue. Mir. Wayt was absent-minded, IS were all ! students of deep things. Only her husband was quick of sight and wit, and neither March nor May had much to say, of late, of the now preacher who was doing such excellent work in the congregation. March went regularly to church, and sat beside his mother through prayer and hymn and sermon, and afterward refrained from adverse criticism. This may have been out of respect to the girl he hoped to make his wife. Yet she dared fancy that the graver tenderness of his behavior to herself and the unusual periods of thoughtfulness that occurred in their conversations had to do with the dawn ing of spiritual life in his soul. How ever much certain of Mir. Wayt's man. nerisms might offend her taste, there was no question of his ability and elo- quence. That these might be the divinely-appointed nets for the in- l gathering into the church of her best | beloved was a burden that weighted , every petition.
 March had not spoken openly of his | love for Hetty filling since the evening on which he first avowed it to his mother, but, in her opinion, there was nothing significant in this reserve. Tho Gilchrists were delicate in their deal- ings with one another, never asking tn- convenient questions, or pushing com munication beyond the voluntary stage. l If May divined the drift of her brothers | affections, she did not intimate it by word or look. When the fruit of confl- dence was ripe 1t would be dropped into | her lap She did note what Mrs. Gilchrist had not opportunity of seeing-how sell dom Hetty had leisure to receive March or his sister. She was getting ready the wardrobe of the twin boys who were to go to boarding school the 1st of Octo- Der. Through Hester's talk May had | learned incidentally that the Wayts em- | ployed neither dressmaker nor seams tress.
 "Hetty is miraculously skillful with Der needle" was Hester's way of put | ting it. And so swift that 1t would drive her wild to see her work done by the young lady who goes out by the | day I work buttonholes and hem ruf- | fles and such like, and mamma gives her all the time she can spare from baby, and other things. But our Hetty Is the motor of the household machine. don't believe there Is another like her in the world. The mold in which she was cast was broken"
 She had said this in a chat held with her favorite this evening while the oth- CTS were engaged with other themes outside of the window. May encouraged her to go on by remarking:
 You love her as dearly as if she were really your sister, don't you?"
 "'As wellr The love I have for mother, sisters and brothers is drop in l tho ocean compared with what feel for Hettyl See here, Miss MayI" showing her perfectly formed hands. "These were as helpless as my feet. Hetty rubbed me, bathed me, flexed the muscles for an hour every morning and an hour every night. She tempted me to eat; obliged me to take exercise; carried me up and down stairs, and sat with mo in her arms out of doors until she had saved fifty dollars out of her allowance to have my chair built. | Hetty educated me-made me overI She is my brain, the blood of my heart -I don't believe l should have a soul but for HettyP'
 The warm water stood in Mays eyes. l l citement, reminded her of the danger of an excess of feeling upon the disjointed system. She spoke lightly.
 "Ohl your father would have looked out for your soul!"
 | Would he?"
 l The accent of Intensest acrimony shocked the listener, corroborated as 1t was by the bitterness of scorn that wrung the small face.
 In a second Hester caught herself up.
 "They say that cobblers' wives go barefoot. Ministers have so little time to spare for the souls of their fam. lilies that their children are organized. | wives sisters the forlorn creatures would not know who made them"
 It was plausible evasion, but it did not efface from Mays mind the disdain- full outburst and the black look that went with it. Both seemed SO un- natural, even revolting, to girl whose father stood with her as the synonym for nobility of manhood, that she could not get away from the recollection for the rest of the evening. This was be. fore Mrs. Wayt's arrival, and sharpened Mays appreciation of the little by play between Hester and her parent. His departure at nine o'clock was suc- ceeded by Hester's at ten o'clock, and, as was their habit, March and his sister took her home by the path across the orchard. The night was sultry; the moon lay languid under swathes of gray mist. She looked warm, and the stars near her faint and tired. Low dowr and upon the horizon were flashes o purple sheet lightning. The town had kept the Fourth patriotically and the odor of burning paper and gunpowdei
 tainted the stirless air.
 "The grass is perfectly dry" sait
 May, stooping to lay her hand upon the
 mown sward. That should be & sign
 of a shower"
 "There is always rain on the night o
 the Fourth of July" returned March
 abstractedly.
 Hester said not word. As she looked
 up at the sick moon her eyes showed | larra and darly. bar Fooo v.,a a oor,,se i ;lr