Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-01-12


 fair setting of grcenery, against that
 grand mountain background which was
 the richest possession of the place. For | countless miles the eye might follow the 1 folds of the foothills, cleft here and | there with gulch or canyon; here and l there, standing on tiptoe, as it seemed, ! to look over their rugged shoulders, a
 big brother in snowy draperies tattered and torn, all masquerading in new forms and colors with every passing cloud, a fresh vision of beauty and grandeur every hour of the day.
 It was sight to thrill the dullest soul,
 the blaze of glowing color in which one
 August day was sinking to its close, the snowy peaks flushed with softened re-
 flections of the sky, fair as the rose of
 maiden's cheek blooming under love's
 first kiss; the hills below turning dull
 blue gray, as starved of color as the shadows that fall over the heart when
 loves sun has set, and joy has burned
 itself out, like that sunset sky, i'll ashes
 of roses. Colder and more grim the foot
 hills grew as the roseate lights faded
 slowly out, and twilight fell upon the
 heated valley like a cool hand laid on a
 feVered brow. The work of the day was
 over, and the dissipatiOns of night were
 not yet begun.
 Donald Bartels, screened from observa tion by thick vines and shrubs, which
 yet afforded glimpse of what little
 might take place ill the quiet street be- yond the lawn, his feet disposed on the
 piazza balustrade, his chair tipped back to luxurious angle, comfortably sur
 veyed the world through the haze of his
 after dinner cigar. His wife, slowly swaying in a rocking chair near by. Was anXiOusly regarding him.
 If you would only be reasonable, Don," she urged deprccatingly.
 But, my dear Nita, how could be more so?" he spontaneously retorted. Ut is the most reasonable thing i'll the world for us to wire your amiable aunt that it is not convenient for us to receive her now, and ask her to see us later" But she is not my amiable aunt; that } is the trouble,' with perpleXed laugh. : "She is capable of being very unamiable
 if we were to send her such a telegram.
 She would conclude at once-and quite
 naturally, too-that we didn't want her
 at all"
 Well, we don't, do we?" imperturba-
 bly blowing smoke rings into the air.
 We should not yearn for her under any
 circumstances; but now, when we have
 been planning this trip to the mountains
 for months, when, as things are at the
 office, must go now or not at all, to
 have her come dropping down upon us
 like this is a little too much like the last
 straw that finished the unlucky camel" :"
 "A straw! It is as bad as a whole stack D at once!' cried Anita, with a miserable
 little groan. But then," brightening l somewhat, "she says, you know, that ? these friends are getting up party to !, cross the continent, and she may come with them; but she is not altogether de l. cided about it. If she comes, she will l. be here soon; but we may still cherish a t small hope of escape"
 , ''But that is the worst of it." ex- l claimed Donald hotly. "The idea of s changing all our plans for an uncer- e tainty like thatl God save us from our ' friends, say 1. In the long run they o make us twice as much trouble as our n enemies"
 '- But you must remember how much q 1 owe her; that my home was with her
 for ten years," urged Anita, extenuat- J. ingly. And the trial 1 was to them l. Aunt Martha and Aunt Jane-those t prim, properly minded old maids. Think e of that, Don," with a ripple of laughter Il at the memories aroused. They never n could get over it, you know, that my 'f mother was a Mexican, and that my 't dark face advertised the awful fact that g I, too, was mejicana. And my temper! ; Oh, 1 was scourge to them, can tell = you"
 't The ghost of smile fickered under Il the tawny mustache which Donald was e abstractedly stroking. The impulsive e temper of his wife was to him a natural }, phenomenon, a sort of spiritual geysel if whose ebullitions were governed by nc l; law comprehensible to his easygoing l. temperament. That what were to him o the baldcst trihes-a careless word, the g. forgetting of goodby kiss when he was d hurried, an unmeaning compliment idly Il tossed to d pretty woman-that small S. things like these should be so large il e power to stir up tempest had been tC Il him an ;:luazing revelation of married IS life. Bci.S a man of some discretion le however. ;,ul devotedly loving his hand le some wife as we'll, he had found it ex pedient to cultivate a thoughtfulness re [, spectiug t..e small things that seemed tC y her of IT. Ouirnt quite foreign to the com r. fortable spirit of selfshness in which hit n' meek mother had reared him, and thus le kept clear, for the most part, of troubled 9s waters; but he was no less impressed l with the fact that Anita's dark eyes III whose glances fell with such melting Ill tenderness upon those whom she loved s' could flash even brighter with stormy y wrath and he had no doubt whatever but I'll that she had made life exceedingly inter IL esting to those women to whom had beer h. given the discipline of her early years. $, q hope you made their lives burde1 to them, if only as anticipatory revenge Ill for this disappointment" he diplomatic > ally returned.
 It But 1 don't want you to be disap T. noin+nI dnar inc cho1a Of ,oxintv ra