The Press., 1892-01-21
,. and sugar and fea ham, ],

S-s5 need to be afraid of 1osin' 80 long as folks own their own house,'' sold he, observing MT. Newman's hesitation; and the things were sent up.
 But while he was gone, Priscilla had bethought herself and auestioned whet her or not she would ever need her little hoaffd in the savings bank more thar. she peeh- ed it now, and went to get her book. 1t was nowhere to be found. Ina panic she threw on her shawl and hood and taking the baby in her arms hurried down the road to the savings bank. The book ?'' they said. ssHer husband had brought 1t in some weeks since and drawn: the bal ance.n "Oh, then it--is all right, :" she-re-7 piled with smiling face And she went home as if the ground were on fire be- meath her feet. What if it were only her name that had been forged, her money that had been stolen-the thing was the same. The whole world was whirling round her; there was no fixed point Tn heaven or earth; her husband n her Charley forgel asthief !e.a
 And this was the nlan af whom she had said she didn't know what the world would be to her without him in it, to whom she had loved. with all her heart, Josephine's father ,s
 Oh, why was Josephine ever. born And then she hugged her babe till isGebelled; and she held it away from her to see if she traced in the tiny face one feature of the fathers face, for which before she had sought so often and so eagerly, and which now she thought would be to her as bale full as any glance of the evil eye. s'No, no, no, you're my own baby!n and she clasped her, and kissed her, and cried over her till the frightened baby put up a quivering lip and cried in company
 Priscilla said nothing to her husband about the handbook Of what use was it? Looking back, new light flooded countless facts in the two years of their married life. In that searching light the gay careiessness became inborn Iaziness !; the good nature, just sflez avoidance of trouble; iths indifference to- obligatlons wicked restlessness; and at last the de- termined love of ease and pleasure, crime. How had she eyer loved such creature? How could she love him now? "sOh, but I dol I dol" she moaHed. He jest has all the more need of me now. And pres ently she busted herself putting away the stores that had come in ;her absence, which she imagined he had bought with that money, and in getting dinner ready for her husband, who came in as gay as any gentleman of leisure, and went away afterward as if called by pressing busi- ness. But how empty seemed the great, blue, hollow sky to Priscilla, as she look ed out of the window then; the wind blowing round the gable had a vail of desolation in it; all the bright, breezy, beautiful day was indifferent to her pain; she felt as if she were alone in the uni verse with her baby. She tried in vain to lift herself to some height where she could feel the beneicence, the presence df the creating and loving power. but she .art of Charley, and down among the erd zg tnink ,s..s
 Itwaa not q S5at many moaths after this that Mf. Newman surprised her with call Perhaps, as onee aisearded suitor, It was not unpleasant to him to let her mark the difference between wha4, was, and what might have been. He had come to see about the house.
 Debt ]? What debt2 Letthe house gg fer.debta Oh, never'' she said.
 "But you had the goods" said MT. Newman.
 T didn't -know--I didn't nderstand,s r she faltered. They've offereds him the job of driving the stage to Farley, and oh, MT. Newman, 2, the great brown eyes pathetic as dumb creatures, 1T will go to work myself. You shall be paid the wholel Indeed you shall.l''. And a great pile of garments to be made on her sew ing machine came up from the shop which was the centre of the wide rural district, and Priscilla, who had been Charley's s slave, became. MT. Newnnan,s from that night.
 Charley had taken the job of stage driving; it was just what he iked;. the money he got for it was just what all the Barneys on the road liked. Not a penny of it came into the house. He never bought Josephine so much as little pair of shoes. He had gay companions beside him on the road, ,-sometimes a man as shiftless as himself, sometimes woman as reckless.
 I deelar' fo't!" said Miss Elvira, push ing back her spectacles as the coach whirled by. 1t does .gird me more,n a little to see Priscilla's husband with that Rodney hussey sitting up. beside him. She's put bitter salt in her broth. think I'll hey, to eat my words anA go up an' see the child.
 But when Miss Elvira, having been driven over by neighbpr ,y reached the house, and going round to the side-door glanced in and saw the pile of work be- side Priscilla, and heard the low thunder s.ef the sewing machine, and saw the little -Josephine on the floor s10se toy the basrrissf cade of string of tape, across which she understood she was not to go. but .reach- ing her pretty arms imploringlys to her mother, the sun gliding all her -goid-red curls, and shining in the great tears with which her eyes were wet, and saw Pris- ella push back her chair a1id run to the child and catch her up and kiss her and caress her, and walk with her moment in her arms, murmuring broken tune, and put her back in her place again-then, T won't go in,' 2. said Miss Mvira to her. self, s.she'll think Pm crowing over her. Yes, will, toop she said again, Eff she ever needed anybody on this created 'arth, she needs me now !''e
 Here! said Miss ElvGa, presently,