Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-04-10

 the winter. What if summer should change 1t all?
 And then she tried to take comfort in the thought that her husband had shrank and would still shrink for weeks yet, from dealing her the slightest pain. Not that he ever really wanted to do so; Adela knew just how deeply he loved her and could not fail to see the poignancy of his remorse after each act of folly and weakness had laid resolu- tion low and cast its insult upon his l manhood. But as a certain very sweet and tender hope grew in both their welded hearts, it had surely flung about Franks spell of the kindliest con sideration, vigilance and chivalry. l Adela's wistful face, with the new ex- | pectant look in its eyes, would have risen almost palpably to haunt him if | while absent from her he had felt the least untoward impulse. And so mod | eration ruled all his ways, with never | single hint of trespass.
 During the early days of May, how ever. a little cloud of annoyance re- vealed itself. At first it was a very small cloud indeed, though gradually | it assumed much larger proportions. Directly next door to the Amorys dwelt an elderly man named Rothsay, who had | the repute of being extremely wealthy, | although this rumor, like all which con- cern eccentric personages, may have been partially baseless. MT. Rothsay | had several servants, and lived with a | degree of quiet style in a house twice | the size of Franks. He rarely went to | town, and passed a great deal of his | time in the superintendence of a farm | that covered about ten acres. He was a large man, with an iron-gray shock of hair, a gaunt shape on which clung \ clothes that seemed the very eXtrav- agance of bad tailoring, and pair of H eyes that you saw, when they restlessly | lit on you, to be yelled, yet fiery hazel. MT. Rothsay had been represented to l Frank as a man of terribly violent tenn per, but his neighbor soon became dis inclined to admit the truth of any such | charge, since whenever they met he | found himself treated with good deal ' of rough though distinct courtesy. Yet Frank at length had reason to re- verse his decision. The modest little vegetable garden at the back of his house was separated from Q large meadow of Rothsay's by only the most insecure of fences. Within this meadow l the Rothsay's COWS were left all day to | graze, and more than once they broke | through into Franks domain. The re- | sult as usual in such cases, each time proved disastrous. Franks man remon- strated with one of Rothsay's numerous men, and several times the fence was repaired. But in so slovenly and haphazard way was this reparation performed that one particular little | short horned cow with wicked black 1 eye found slight difficulty in commit ting fresh pranlxs of demolition. And \ at last Frank determined to sec Mir. Rothsay and settle the matter, if he could. both amicably and permanently.
 He called upon his next-door neigh
 bor one morning before going into ' town. He had heard that Rothsay was | given to occasional fits of intemperance, and felt therefore not quite so sur | prised as he might otherwise have been to find him pacing the floor of rather vulgarly furnished sitting-room with bloodshot eyes and a morose mouth.
 Still, whatever may have happened on
 the previous evening, he was by no
 means in his cups now. But he chose to
 treat Frank very uncivilly about the fence.
 "I can't be expected to spend a small
 fortune, MT. Amory," he said, ''for the purpose of protecting few of your po-
 tatoes and cabbages. That fence has
 already been repaired three times"
 And very badly each time," said
 Frank, with thread of ire in his voice.
 "Besides, if it had been repaired hum dred times. Mir. RothsaYl aA4d alvaus
 insufficicntly, that would Uy no means | f
 complaint"
 Rothsay shrugged his solid shoulders
 and scowlcd a little. "Oh, it wouldn't?"
 he muttered. Making a complaint and
 having it listened to arc not exactly the
 same"
 "They are the same in matter of
 this sort among gentlcmcn-always," /"
 returned Frank, feeling his nerves tin
 gle, as he spoke.
 "Poh," said his host, with n toss of hls
 unl1empt head, a sudden thrusting of
 both hands into his pockets, tits the l opinion of my man. Peter, that your
 man, Matthew. wcal1cns his repairs at snight just so that, sooner or later, I'll
 have to put up new fence."
 "Your man Peter wouldn't dare say
 such a thing to mel" cried Frank. T
 fellow as ever breathed."
 At this Rothsay showed a set of some
 what dingy teeth in an almost sardonic
 smile. 'Ive good deal of confidence,
 myself" he drawlcd tantalizingly, "in
 the moral principle of Peter"
 What a rowdy I've got to deal with" "
 silently reflected Frank. But aloud he
 said, with tcrseness, and no little self
 restraint: Ut all comes to this, think,
 MT. Rothsay; the fence is yours, and
 your cattle break through it. In order
 to prevent such proceedings either
 proper repairs should be made or else a
 new fence built altogether. Which of
 these two things arc you willing to do?' Rothsay threw back his head and
 stroked his chin with a most irritating ly ruminant air. "Ill--er-conslder,"
 he began. II -"
 "Pleasc do consider" struck in Frank,
 very sharply. And he rose, hurt and
 stung to the quick. passing forth at NOnca from tho honSa