Shiner gazette. [volume] (Shiner, Tex.) 1893-current, 1893-09-14
lAE WIFE'S MISTAKE.

settlement which the Huguenots OF
the French Rochelle had foundd1. 1t
was chill and still and o'er-shadowed
by lush foliage and the growth OF the
tall trees much untrimmed. Mrs.
Skinner dwelt in large, white
house, pilastered in front, set back
from the road and screened from the
eye OF casual passers by grove of
elms. The green shutters that
sheltered the long, French windows,
opening upon the columned portico
and the three smaller windows of the
second floor just beneath the fat
roof of that same portico, projecting
in the center into cornice of classic
design, were always closed, their
Stats standing methodically all one
way.
Once every day a coach, an
Anticipated coachman, a pair of fat
sleek, mild horses drew up before
the gate at the end of the narrow
path, tagged with white, square
stones leading to the door of the
house. And from that door came
tall feminine figure, erect, clad in
robes of deep black. On Sundays
likewise did Mrs. Skinner appear
with majesty OF gait old age and
solitude had been powerless to i'm
pair, walking up the aisle of the
episcopal church to the very front
pew, when raising her eyes from
the preachers face she might see,
in the left transept, the memorial
tablets of three SINNERS, now
passed on to the silent majority,
On the first Sunday in June the
windows were thrown open, the day
mild with the June balminess of
fresh-blown leaf and flower. and the
sunshine would creep in and lie in a
golden shaft over the richest and
Oldest tablet of the three not put
there by herself, the one sacred to
the memory of Egbert Thomas
Hamilton Skinner.
That shaft of yellow sunlight lay
so to-day, disturbed only as the
checkered shadow of breeze-stirred
bough shifted and decomposed its
luminous bar, and Mrs. Skinner,
mayhap Ethel Mary de Kay, wife
of the Egbert Thomas Hamilton
Skinner of long years ago-forgot
the clergyman's text and neglected
to follow his discourse.
Alone she sat in the darkened din
ing room at her midday meal. An
old servant moved in an. 1s4nt Pic
and iTf9 De SFS Ggtrsits wSn S iae fat
surfaces d Wooden poses that char
acterize sH9R American art of the
early years of the century from tern
ished frames on tho walls. Like
more than one De Kay wa4 this old
womans naughty head, WIN the
clear, high profile. The skin of tn,
face was bleached to the smooth. yell
low Wilderness of old ivory. Black
and piercing were the eyes and black
also yet the arching eyebrows, though
the hair was silvered mass. They
all but met over the nose, these fine,
strong, black eyebrows, and a tale
they told of the De Kay teHpcity, the
temper of the De Kay mind and
spirit
After she had passed into the
drawing room the old servant who
had dressed her mistress hair and
hung up her black dresses these forty
years noiselessly entered.
"Shall ! pack, ma'amPn
"Mrs. Skinner was q moment in re-
plying.
"a few things in valise-yes. We
shall only be gone two or three
days"
The old serving woman as noise
lessly retreated.
The next day mistress and maid
were ascending the steps of the old
town house, in Tenth street. 1t had
been carefully closed since the de-
Yparture of the last tenant. Though
the afternoon was warm the breath
of the empty rooms struck against
Mrs. SINNERS cheek with a dull
chill.
"Shall 1 let IN the sun, ma'amP'
esaid Hannah.
Mrs. Skinner did not seem to hear.
$50 they want the top floor, too,
these new tenantspn she said.
"Yes, ma'am," said Hannah, who
was in some wise manager OF her
mistress affairs as well.
"Then everything must be moved
out"
'1f could do anything"
"Nothing," was the answer.
And Mrs Skinner slowly assembled
the stairs, while Hannah in silence,
sat and kept watch at the foot.
Back into the past again walked
the stately old woman in black.
Slowly did she unlock the door and
move into the large, old Uttered
room. For the first time in thirty
give years she looked upon the oh,
.jects there. Her eyes, in the dim
40 A. III