The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1892-05-14
TOM WINSTON'S VOW.

wv naCeVer misery or OlSappOlnt1nen
pvertakes you always be sure that IN,
wishes have brought them. If ours
hangs over your house know that it i
mine," Tom Winston said to The,
Thorpe the day the latter brought hom'
his young wife, Lucy Lane.
Theo only answered.:
I'D be sorry to believe that, Tom, an(
some day you'll be thankful to remem
Der that the curse causeless shall no
come"
And then he went quickly into hi.
mill.
+, The millers cottage stood in verdan,
"Eollow beside the millpond, where ap
Piles, plums, peach and cherry trees rar
down the sunny slope in front and hon
eysuckle clambered up the walls to deck
them with russell perfume, while up on
the windy hill across the pond stood Tom
Winston's house, with never a tree tc
shelter it from the winter storms nor a
flower to drape its bare walls, nor q
woman's face to warm its cold hearth.
stone and chase away the black shadows
from about Toms heart.
None but little baby Maysie, the two
year-old child Of sister Bessie, whom
folks said he had loved with no common
love. His gloomy face softened to none
but Maysie, and perhaps he would have
forgiven Lucy easier had it not been that
Bessie's baby wanted mother so badly.
"Ill get the better of him yet," vowed
Tom, shaking his fist at the blue smoke
curling up from the hollow, on the even
Ing of that Homecoming. my curse
bitter and everlasting, on bed and hearth,
and every stick and stone belonging to
Theo Thorpe!"
When the young wife heard that her
old lover was going about yowing ven-
geance. she laughed in gay defiance, and
declared that twenty Tom Winstons
would not brighten her.
At the same time she looked with
quite new interest from under her
lashes at Tom when sometime, she en-
countered him on the road, as if she
would have said:
''Is the hurt so very bad, TomY'
But Tom seemed to be stone blind an
he passed on his side of the way. Lucy
was very pretty and foolhardy, and So
well, being woman, she set herself to
conquer him.
One day she came home with her bas-
ket full of wild berries, and her black
hair was full of corn flowers, and burst
ing open the old mill door, she stood in
the stream of sunshine, with her hazel
eyes full of triumph and her merry, care
less face full of laughing dimples.
,t''What do you Think" cried she, dane
ing on her little feet. Il met Tom Win
ston and that baby up the wood, and
made Tom speak to me, and | just up
and told him what mean, envious fell
low he was, and how for all his ugly
threats knew it wasn't in him to harm
a bone of my body"
"You told him that?" exclaimed Theo.
"Yes; and he looked hard at me. and
said that was true; and then we shook
hands on it, and took the baby"
''Now, don't know anything that
could please me so much as that" said
Theo earnestly ITO hear of Tom COM
ing round, and by your means, dearl
But nobody could withstand you."
This was beginning of truce be-
tween the house on the hill and the
house in the hollow. Tom did not thaw
very perceptibly toward Theo, but he
did become quite cordial with Lucy
Indeed, to Theo's heartfelt satisfaction,
he would sometimes hear from Lucy
that Tom and the child had been at tho
house those evenings that he happened
to be in town with his loads of -four.
And soon Lucy used to go up to Toms
house and take Maysie down to spend
the day with her, and never did she look
more winsome in her young husbands
eyes than when sitting under the apple
trees with the child on her lap.
The first year passed. A tiny, name
less grave was in the churchyard, and a
little face, never seen in life, was cher
ashed in Theo's loving heart.
"Ah, no, Toms curse couldn't hurt
rs, Theo had answered in humble faith.
while his Lucy in her illness and sorrow
had muttered with fevered reiteration:
'lf 1t hadn't been for him-if it hadn't
been for him."
Lucy was in the cornfieldsagain pluck.
Ing the scarlet peoples and the blue corn
flowers, and she chung to little Maysie
more than ever.
"What comfort she is" Theo would
say, as he watched his wife's sad face
glow into brightness at the sound of
Maysie's prattle. land how l thank Tom
for lending her so often to u.s."
Words like these often made poor
Lucy weep as she carried the child alone
still alone-to the house on the hill.
1t was the anniversary of their we'd
ding day, and Theo was fastening home
rom his days business in town earlier
than usual IT, honor the day by present.
ing his wife with pretty gift and thor