San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-05-05

and tears blinded him An, dear and
beautiful and good he sighed. Little
10 they dream what an angel they scorn
in you. If they only knew you! But
they will not! And 50 farewell to them;
hcncrforth l have only Dosia, dearest
and best! And to what a fate have |
compelled you, unworthy that | am!
Like the unjust steward, / cannot die;
to beg am ashamed But happiness
yet is mine, and can neither repinc nor
repent.
Dosia shut the window, and Nicholas,
,a7hing away his tears, rode around the
corner Of the field to the front of the
house.
NOW. low shall ask for her, at this
ncur Of the morning" he pondcred, not
without a certain sense of amusement.
Her excellent cousin, Roxanna the
Rigid, knows nothing of our marriage.
The Old Methodist minister who per-
formed tie ceremony is somewhere in
Georgia.; her mother is dead; her father
is away-and he'll be invited, within an
other hour, to knock off work at my
aUnt's, iii bet my life
DoSias cousin, or, to be more exact,
her mothers cousin. RUXaHua White,
was one of those women provid"ntially
left, for the convenience of others, with
out settled habitation. Fortunately she
had 10 objection to ''living around" she
liked change. She had nurSed DOSia
mother in her last illness, and she re-
manned with DOsia now, III her lOneli-
ness, not unwillingly, for she was far
seeing, and the day might come when
job Furnival would be seeking Cousola-
ton: she ate no idle bread, and Job
might yet learn her value.
RoXanna, according to her wont, was
NJ bctimcS this morning, and having
uroN i".atnn the hired ncgress who did the
cu"hing. she bounced out Of the front
door, broom in hand, to sweep the front
porch. Just as Nicholas Thornc came up
the steps.
\ tail, strong, gaunt woman was ROX
anna. in whom hard work and meager
fare had Left scarce a trace Of tn" huXOm
beauty that had distinguished her youth.
IN her dress, Narrow and short. there
was no effort at adornment. Them as
likes may put in their eight or nine
breadths," Miss ROxanna was accus-
toned to say; "but four is plenty fur
any mortal woman, an mo- convenient
to pocket an backbone" No ruffles. no
tuCks, no manner of superfluities for her
Her only vanity was her hair, which still
retained it, color and its gloss. She had
tied a towel over her head to protect it
from the dust; but truly the dust might
hardly reach her head, so high it was
above her broom.
Now, Miss Roxanna White had never
approved Of the admiration Nicholas
ovinced for DOsia. She was decidedly
Of the opinion that it would never do to
have this young sprig of quality hanging
around a girl whose mother was dead,
and whose father was away. She would
have liked to sweep Col. ThOrne's son off
the porch, with the two or three leaves
she espied upon the floor; but as she
could not do this, she lowered i'll the
doorway, and held her broom CrOsSwiSe,
as she exclaimed, forbiddingly: Land
alive! Nick ThOrne! What brung YOU
here this time o day, befo' even the COWS
is milked:' And to herself she thought,
"Tvc writ that aunt O his'n warnin';
why amt she fifteen to keep him home:"
Nicholas laughed; the fun Of the stu
alton was irresistible; it made him, for
the moment, oblivious of its tragic as
poct. live come for my wife, he said,
and turned suddenly sober and scarlet
with the humiliating reflection that he
was seeking shelter, not offering it.
"Land @ Goshenr exclaimed Miss
White, ir;.tely. "Why amt We mo re
specC fur yo' speriorS in age and wisdom,
boy? I'm s'priSed at ye; an l dunno
why should be, neither. l don want
no nonsense here. Git OUT
Il tell YOU Dosia is my wife," said
Nicholas gravely. We were married
by old Mr.. Drummond, in her mothers
presence, two days before Mrs. Furnival
died"
Miss Whites sallow face underwent a
variety of contortions; she nearly swal-
lowed the little bit of athea stick with
which she had been taking her morning
"dip," and which she habitually carried
in her mouth; the broom clattered from
her grasp, as her hands hung down,
helplessly. She understood now why
she had been sent to visit relation six
miles distant, just two days before Mrs,
Furnival died. "Wha - WHAT" she
gasped. Then, under strong conviction,
she lifted her right arm Straight-it near