The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1891-02-07
HOW HE WAS CURED.

tween us. and ruined the peace and
happiness OF our home? You prefer
to risk my alienation, possibly my
hatred, rather than cease your visits
to that house2 Speak frankly.
Heaven knows that it is the time
for perfect candor on both sides now.
| must know what have to expect
to endure. Ellis. answer me
The speaker-a far and pretty
woman of some thirty-tive years,
with regular features, blue eyes, and
abundant raven hair, paused in her
rapid walk up and down the elegant
ly furnished drawing and
looked at her husband, as she wait
ed anxiously for his reply.
He was a man apparently ten
years her senior, with a massive,
stately, upright figure and face as
regularly handsome as that OF a
statue. Perhaps his exceeding | eauty
had been his ruin; and yet Ellis
Grove was by no means vain man.
The eyes of woman, old and young,
had followed him with open admira-
ton from his earliest boyhood, and
not much harm had come of it. For
FIVE and forty years he had been a
dutiful son; for fifteen a faithful and
attentive husband, in spite of all the
attention lavished upon him in So
ciety by married and unmarried
bellies. Now, just as he was begin
nng TO descend the hill Of l;te, a
sudden change had come over him,
for which his wife. his friends, his
family, we're unable 10 account.
A Jersey lady of wealth and re-
spectability, a widow of thirty, who
had got tired of the seclusion of her
island estate, arrived in London
about three ye9rs previous to the
time OF which l write, and estab-
lished herself there in Portman
Square. Still in the bloom of woman
hood, this lady was as beautiful as a
dream, and as generous as a prin-
cess in fairy tale. She speedily be-
came the rage-lhe fashion. Her re-
ceptions were always crowded with
the mag mates OF the West End; her
carriages, in the Park was surround
ed three deep with admirers ; her
opera box was filled, on the evening
when she designed to occupy it. A
chaperone of unblemished respecta-
bility accompanied her wherever she
went in public, and occupied the
post of companion in her beautiful
home. Not breath had sullied the
fair fame of the lovely widow until
now. And now there really seemed
to be some danger Of such a thing
For Ellis Grove, one of the hand
soonest and most talented men in
the fashionable world, was now in
public forever at her side. A pub
lie man, and Member of Parlia
ment, his movements were of course,
watched by those who knew him,
and great was the triumph and de
light of Mrs. Grundy when first
hose two names fell, coupled tc-
gether by slandrous remark, upon
her greedy ear.
Ellis Grove and Mrs. Norton
What a conjunction And what on
earth will Mrs. Grove say? My
dear, | have been assured on the
word of one who knows, that he
spends three evening out OF every |
week at her house, and that during
the rest of the time he is generally
her escort to some place of public
amusement. Isn't it terrible Poor
Mrs. Grove, who worships the very
ground her handsome husband walks
on! Oh, 1t is a wicked world, my
dear And as for widows, l think
they ought to be burned alive when
their husbands die, after the fashion
of the Indian suttee What an inn
mense amount Of trouble Mrs.
Grove might have been spared if
they had only placed Mrs. Norton
upon her husbands funeral pile !
And then Mrs. Grundy jog
ged her neighbor's elbow, with a
wicked laugh.
So it was not strange, on the
whole, that the explosion had come
and that Milicent Grove stung to
the very soul with that deathly
pang, whose keen intensity only a
loving and jealous wife can know,
should stand upon her rights at last,
and passionately cry out to her hus-
band that this thing must end in one
way or another-that he must
choose, at once and forever, between
this woman and herself
One of us two it must be Ellis,
and only one! she said, bursting
into tears. You cannot love US both.
Will you give her up, or shall 60
and leave you?
Mr.. Grove rose from the easy
chair where he had been loungiDg
negligently, and took up his hat.
Millicent, this discussion is in very
bad taste, il you will forgive me for
saying so.
His voice was calm, unmoved and
musical as ever. She gazed at him
wildly.
Bad taste ! Good heavens! Ellis,
it is not question OF good or bad
taste that l am discussing. This
thing is more than life or death to
me
He shrugged his shoulders, and
slight smile played around his beau
tifully chiselled lips.
So much the worse, Millicent.
For l really cannot consent to call
that lady's name in question be-