The morning call., 1893-01-08

"Mr. Stanford ?" cried, "the doctor2"
WHOM else?" she replied, looking at me
again and foreiEg another smile.
was thunderstTnck. Never for an in
slant had / suspected that there was more
between them than such commonplace.
matter-of-fact friendship as may exist be-
tween a medical man aud those whom he
attends. Mr. Stanford was the doctor one
Of the servants had run for when my father
died. Fl had attended us during he pre-
ctd ne year. and he had prescribed for
mother and me since, so that at this date
we had known him for six years. He
was q widOweT, and chIldless,
and lived within ten minutes walk OF
our house. Occasionally ne had looked In
upon us, and sat during an evening for an
hour or so; sometimes he had dned with
us and we with him, but never had | OBJ
served any sort of behavior in him OF
mother to hint at what was coming. and
what indeed had now come.
L should be needesSly OBTAINING you from
ny own story TO repeat all that passed be-
tween my mother aud me on this occasion.
| was beside myself with anger, mortifca-
ton. iealousy-f0r l was JEALOUS OF my
fathers memory, abhorred the thought Of
his place being taken in his own house and
in the affection Of a wife whom he had
loved by. such man as Mr.. Stanford.
Nay, but IL would have been all the same
had Mr. Stanford been the greatest
nObemap or the first character in Europe.
l should have aDOmiDated him as an in
truder, and have yeaTDed for the hands of
a man TO toss him out of the window
should he dare to possess himself OF house
In which my father was as real presence
to my heart as though he were stlll alive.
and could kiss me and make me presents
and carry me away out OF the gloomy streets
into the shining holiday road Of tbs river.
My mother approached me aud pleaded
and wept. The weakness of her poor heart
nd hor vic III Ia Of q fc inn
She chung 10 me and held me TO her, i'm
ploring me as her only child TO consider
how lonely she was, how sad she stood Ia
need OF a protector, how good IL
would be for both Of US to have
Mr. Stanford watch over US. | broke
face and heaving bosom. and told her that
il Mr. Stanford took my fathers place |
would cease to love or even think of her as
my mother We both cried bitterly and
raised our voices and talked together as
most women would at such a moment, not
knowing what each other said. /
do not condemn myself. / look back aud
hold that / was right TO stand up for the
memory of my beloved father, even TO rage
as l did against my m9ther's resolution TO
marry Mr. Stanford. l wondered at her,
indeed, | was shocked. ! was young and
ardent and romantic, had girls notion Of
the loyalty of love and the obligation of
keeping sacred the memory and the place of
one who had been faithful and tender who
had nOby done his duty to his wife and
child.
CHAPTER III-HER MOTHER DIES.
At the age OF II | considered myself
qualified to form judgment Of men, and l
was amazed. and indeed disguised, that my
mother should see anything In Mr.. Stan
ford TO please her. He and my father were
at the opposite ends OF the sex, as far re-
moved as the bows from the stern OF
ship. He ~as a spare and narrow man,
pale as veal in c0mpleXion-s sandy, the ex-
preston OF his cnuntenaDce hard and acid,
his eyes large and moist, and the larger and
moster for the niagnifyiDg spectacles he
wore. But my mother would have her way,
and a week after she had given me the news
of the doctors offer they were privately
married.
NV life from this date was one of con-
slant and secret unhappness. / could
never answer Mr.. Stanford with any ap-
preach TO civility without a violent effort
He strove at first to make friends with me,
then gave up and took no more heed Of me
than had / been shadow at the table
or about the house. Yet sometimes /
would make him pretty rudely and
severely feel that he was an in
truder, an abomnation in my sight, scan
dal0us Illustration of my mothers weakness
of nature; and that was If ever he opened
DIS lips ABOUT my IaJleT, L never SuHeEeu
him to mention my fathers name in
my presence. he might be about TO
speak. intending to praise, designing
every manner or civilty toward the
memory OF the dead. | minded him
not; IL he named my father / nsulted
him, and on two or three occasions forced
him TO quit the table, SO strong and fiery
wRs the injurious language l piled him
with. My mother wept threatened to
swoon, did swOon once and our home prom
ised to become as wretched and clamorous
as a lunatic asylum.
As an example of my hatred. not so much
Of the man as OF his assumption of my
fathers place, be brought his doorpate and
his lamp from his house, and when | saw
his plate upon the door that my father used
to 90 in and out Of / ran to Joiner who
lived a few streets off, brought him back
with his tools, and ordered him to remove
the plate. which | threw into the kitchen
sink Ter the cook TO fnd and report to her
master.
Well, at the end of ten months my mother
died in childbed. The infant lived. Ii was
girl. My mother died, and when / went
to her bedside and viewed her dead face
sweet in its everlasting sleep, for the look
and wear OF ten or fifteen years seemed to
have been brushed off her countenance by
the hand OF death, thought to myself II
she has gone TO meet father, how will she
excuse herself for her disloyally? And
then the little newborn babe that was in
the next room began to cry. and l came