New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-11-22
MRS. KEATS BRADFORD.
II.
A NORTHEASTER.


continued motionless leaning against her, Mrs
Tuttle repeated her question still more sharply;
Amt he good to you?'
Don't be so savage, mother said Rowena
But then" with slight caressing movement, "
should be disappointed in you IL such suspicion
didn't make you savage But you are wrong. lie
is good to me- In fact, Keats is an angel"
Having said that her husband was an angel she
sighed heavily:
Then why p WhatP'
Mrs. futile was confusedy battling with her
innate distrust of Keats Bradford. She had for o
moment believed that this distrust had found a
firm foundation, and she had experienced fieeting
emotion of triumph that she had been right. 1t Is
such satisfaction to be able to say Il always
knew it," Not that she would have chosen that
he should prove unworthy And she had been
secretly uneasy because her daughter had been
married in Paris, although the ceremony had been
performed by an American clergyman; more, by a
Poston clergyman She never quite believed IT
was really legal marriage. She did not know Dut
something would come up revealing that, AFTER ALL
il was only make. believe. She was not alone IN
this fear. Marthy S. Hancock, the dressInaker
had confided TO nearly every family in the town her
firm conviction that il would turn out some day
that Hiram Tuttles Rowcny want rightly mar
red. And she very pertinently asked as final
clincher:
What do we know bout how they do things
over there in Paris ?"
And everybody was aware that they knew
nothing concerning what was done in Paris.
Sarah Kimball, when she had first heard of
what Martha s. was in the habit of saying OH
this subject, burst into tears Then she stood up
very straight and declared that she jest as
lives lick Marthy S. as not" doubling her fists
as she spoke.
But Nathan Henry futile, the eldest of the
boys went farther than that. lie did not under
stand the subject, but he understood very clearly
that his sister Sarah Kimball mad"
He Immediately announced, with reference to
Narthy S. Hancock, that he would knock the
stufing out of her and wipe the floor with her
backbone"
He had been longing 10 use this phrase ever
since he had heard it from boy in his
school. The power and grotesqueness of the pict-
ure presented by these words caused his audi
ence of mother and sister to laugh so that the
repr0of they administered for "such awful Ian
guage" was of very little effect.
why? WHAT" repeated Rowena now
smiling a little You needn't go and blame
him. It's me-it's I-myself OF course you can't
believe it, because I'm your daughter and he isn't
But it's me all the same; though it isn't
grammar"
before her mother, who gazed up at her with
admiration and anxiety What lady her child
looked! But then she bad always looked that.
There was something different in her appearance
now: she did not know what it was, but she
felt il.
The younger womans face heavily clouded.
though she was still smiling as if to reasSure her
companion.
Don't look so worried" she said tenderly.
Did you think i was going TO be as happy as
a queen all my life? Of course | deserve to
be- rather cynically,, :" but we don't always get
what deserve Won know"
Il wish you wouldn't talk in that kind of
way" almost enormously responded her mother.
and sne added :" 1t almost makes the cold shivers
run down my back. It's jest as if you was changed,
somehow, and / want You jest the same Roweny.
Your father always said there couldn't nothin'
spoil his girl. You know he called you his girl,
though he'd got Sarah Kimball m set store by
her"
The last words were hardly audible. Mrs Tut
Ties worn face auivered She extended her
with an unconsciously dramatic gesture. RoWena
sank down again by her mothers side and into
those arms The two wept AS soon she could
sneak Rowena whispered: "YOu remember father
told me the last thing when went away that l
must keep straight The Tuttles always did keep
straight. lie Salu. On. now many tlmtS HdNc
thought of him and of how he looked when lie said
that
One memory after another followed. The clock
struck ten. Marmaduke yawned, half awake,
several times Outside the snow had begun to fall.
the first snow of the winter The wind rising
from the northeast 1t whistled round the kitchen.
The back door ratified as Rowena recalled that il
had always done. The sound made her nervous
now for the first time. She went and pushed
wedge of wood between the door and the casing.
She let the water from the pump, lest it should
freeze All these familiar duties recalled the past
so wildly to her that she paused with the pump
handle upheld in her hand and asked herself: " Is
il real Is it true that I've been to Paris TO study?
that shall never See my father again that am no
longer Rowena futile? Oh, with a sudden vehe
mence what does it all mean? Is life really so
strange so unreal so unsatisfactory
She insisted upon arranging tie kindings for
the fire in the cook stove in the morning All the
time as she watched her going about the house,
the mother was thinking this
She amt told me why she shouldn't have mar
ried. She says her husband is an angel. Women
who have that kind of husbands amt willing that
they should be in Paris and they in America.
That stands 10 reason"
There is some confusion in the pronouns of the
above sentence WHEN written down, but there was
no confusion in Mrs. Tuttles mind She knew
precisely what She meant.
Her curiosity not satisfied, but she could
endure that. She believed thai her daughter would
be happier if she could feel to confde in her.
What had Mr.. Bradford really done? Like a lund
fash the thought Of what Marthy S. Hancock had
said, and her own misgivngs about marriage in
Paris came into Mrs. ruttle's mind
She quickly from the chair where she had
been watching her companions movements.
Rowenyi" she cried sharply. Rowena was now
winding the clock. She paused so suddenly
that the long lead weight ratified against the
clock case.
What is il ." she asked