Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-09-06
MT, Wayt'S Wjfe's sSisisF
By MARION HARLAND.

uted, severally. to dyspepsia. to vertiEo. to over-study and to extreme heat 4 sun-stroke, suffered when he was in col lego, rendered him peculiarly sensitive to hot weather. His wife never gain said his elaborate explanations. He was her Percy, her lord, her king. She not only went backward with tho cloak of love to conceal his shame, but she affected to forget the degradation when he became sober.
 Many women in a thousand, and about one man in twenty millions, are "built so." Tho policy-or principle-may be humane. It Is not God-like. The All Merciful calls sinners to repentance be- fore offering pardon. Tho church in- sists upon conviction as preliminary to conversion. Mrs. Wayt was a Chris tian and a church woman, but she clung pathetically to belief in the efficacy of her plan for the reclamation of her hus- band. In life, or in death, she would not have upon her conscience tho weight of a reproach addressed to him whom she had sworn to "honor." Love was omnipotent. In time he would learn the depth of hers and be lured back to the right way.
 He was plaintive this forenoon, but not peevish. His eyes were bloodshot; his tongue was furry; there was gnaw- ing in the pit of his stomach and an unaccountable ache at the base of the brain.
 ''l have missed another sun-stroko by a hairs breadth" he informed his wife. ''I almost regret that we did not go to the seashore. My summer labors are exhausting the reserves of vital energy"
 ''Why not run down to the beach for a day or two next week?" suggested Mrs. Wayt. "Now that your wife is an heir ess. you can afford a change of air, now and then"
 dull red arose in the sallow check. He pulled her down to kiss her.
 "The best, sweetest wife ever given to manI" he said.
 After that he bade her get little rest She must have slept little the night be- fore. Annie would keep him company. While his head was so light and his tongue so thick Annie's was the best so- ciety for him. She made no demand upon intellectual forces. He sent the best wife ever given to man off light ened in spirit, and grateful for tho effort he made to appease her anxiety and to affect the gayety he could not be sup posed to feel. She looked back at the door to exchange affectionate smiles with the dear, unseltlsh fellow.
 He watched the baby's pretty, quaint pretence of "being mamma" and hearl- ened to the drip and plash of the rain until the gnawing in his stomach re- asserted itself approximately. He knew what 1t meant. It was tho demand of the devil appetite he had created long ago-his Frankenstein, his Old Man of the Sea, his body of death, lashed fast to him, lying down when he lay down. rising up at his awakening, keeping step with him, however he might try to floe. The lust he had courted rashly-- now become flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone.
 His wife had carried off the phial of opium. But ho had secreted supply of the drug for such emergencies since she had found out tho phosphate device and privately confscated the stout blue bottle He always carried small Greek Testament in his hip pocket. Mrs. Wayts furtive search of his clothes every night, after making sure that he was asleep, had not extended to tho removal of the sacred volume.
 AAO NA SSS SOS"oASN HIS ISSI- ing head by holding hard to the back of his neck with one hand while tho other caught at the chairs and bod foot; tip toed to tho closet, found his black cloth pantaloons, drew out the Testament and extracted from the depths beneath a wad of silken, rustleless paper. Within was lump of dark brown paste.
 ''Tan'y! tan'yw twittered Annie's cN n win Inl. p'ease, dee papa?"
 He hurried back into bed. If the child | were overheard Hetty might look in. And Hester's sharp ears were across the hall.
 "No, baby; papa has no candy" He was so startled and unnamed that he l had to wet his lips with a tongue almost | as parched before he could articulate. | "Papa's head aches badly. Will Annie | sing him to sleep?"
 Hester heard, through her stupor of misery, the weak little voice and the | thump of the low rocking-chair as baby |