The Washington times., 1894-10-28

attempt TO 90 them, WDlcn Is next pesI; Tue
people who are not bound by convention
alities. who don't care for responsibility Of
this sort, who are not always trying to 1--we up
to type, as Mr.. Webster is, are just the salt
of the earth"
A telegraph boy ran up the steps and gave
loud double knock. She looked up and
laughed. "It's delightful sound, F" she said;
II feel as If a sensation OF some sort were
coming" The telegram was for her, and
from Mr.. Webster. ''Order dinner for Phil
lips and me only; meet me with children at
Victoria station; going to send you with them
to Broadstairs for a fortnight" THANK
you" she said. bewildereG; you are calm
person, and suppose l am your good and
chattel, and you think you can do as you
like" She sat down and thought the situa-
ton all round. Il suppose had better go, )"
she concluded: ''wisdom and little meekness
are the better part of valor when you are
married TO Mr.. Webster"
Mr.. Webster met her at the station. His
manner was firm and reserved, he smiled
once or twice-but his smile was distinctly
unyielding.
81 suppose you have taken some needle
work with you" he said, ''and you will find
some books there, and the piano. shall
probably come down next week, from Satur-
day till Monday"
The cottage looked like a villa; il was ten
field in front of it, and two or three colored
advertisements on the open fence that parted
it from the road. Behind, from the upper
windows, there was view of the seattle
gray moaning sea that met the sky in The dis
tance; it seemed to reach out to her over the
sand and toward the cottage. A fenced-in
garden went round the house: scarlet gera-
NUNS and larkspur grew in it, and on one
side, leaning against the house, there was a
conservatory: inside the conservatory were
several indiarubber plants, four pots of musk,
and a creeping-jenny falling from wire
basket. The cottage itself had two square
sittiug-rooms with bow windows, the draw
ing-room had a door opening into the con-
servatory. study lin which he never studied
for Mr.. Webster, and upstairs several square
rooms without bow windows, furnished as
bedrooms.
But don't care which it is. for / shall be
a rejoicing corpse inside" Then she went
down to tea-tea with mutton chops, which
Mr.. Webster had ordered by telegram, think
ing it would do excellently well for her and
Gilbert and Maria. 1t was dreary meal
the children were very silent. The tablecloth
was coarse-"Gcod enough linen for the sea-
side" Mr.. Webster would have said, and so
it was, perhaps; but the general cheerlessness
made it get on her nerves. English ugii-
ness is so dispiriting, she thought. II won
der why il is. believe il Is because, in spite
OF all our boasting. we have as little sense of
humor as OF beauty. Oh, this square and
vulgar villa, with its oppressive air of well-to-
do-ness as the middle class consider prosper
ity, how different it IS from what the merest
hut might be in which two happy people
lived and found the world beautiful. If only
Dickson" but she choked down her
thoughts; they were treason to Mr.. Webster,
and she was a loyal woman and meant TO
make the best of things.
II want some more bread and butter,
please" Gilbert said.
Yes, dear. Couldn't you say please,
mother?'" she asked, thinking perhaps that
an element of maternity in her life might
comfort her for other disappointments.
Mothers dead. he answered, with his
mouth full, and she had no heart TO contra
dict him When the meal was over they
went out for walk along fiat white road
between the hedges of two fields, till pres
emily they came to the clif, with the long
stretch of gray sea in front and the high
white sky above it. 1t rested her to look
into the distance.
Colbert when you are a man would you
like to go across the sea in ship"
=''No" answered Gilbert, vacantly ''I
should like TO be like father.
1--WE might go and look for the beach, " she
said TO Maria.
"we don't want to" Maria answered fret
fully.
Couldn't we go back?" asked Gilbert
Eve don't care about walking"
Mr.. Webster did not write for two or three
days, and then il was only scrappy letter
hoping that she had everything she wanted
and signed, "Your affectionate husband.
There was a postscript: Isabel is staying
with me. Perhaps l shall bring her down on
Saturday." Isabel was his sister, the widow
of doctor She had been living in North
cumberland for the last two years. Lately she
had taken rooms in London. Her eyes were
very sharp and her manner was very cold.
Emily met them at the station and walked
back with a heavy heart, and tried TO be a
pleasant hostess to her sister-in-law. Mrs.
Oldham looked at the dinner-table with a
critical eye.
isn't it rather pity TO pick the 1owers?''
she asked. "They soon die in the house."
Emily thought the remark unnecessary, bu
she said nothing; and the evening passed off
pretty well, though it was deadly dull They
all went to church on Sunday morning In
the afternoon Mr. Webster went to sleep. but
he woke up with a start at O'Clock.
"NIy dear" he said, ''where are the chill
dren? You'd better take them for a walk
over the cliff"
~ don't want to go out now" she answered
gently, Il am so neuralgia to-day, and there's
a cutting wind"
"Oh, nonsense" he answered, with civil
determination; "a good brisk walk will do
you good; better get out quickly. 1 shant
expect you back before quarter to O.
She felt like goYerness being sent out with
her pupils, but she did not trust herself to
speak. There was a cutting wind. with now
and then driZzle of rain in it. She thought
OF her husband and his sister sitting by the
fire while she walked along the cliff toward
the cornflelds. 1t was OF no use trying to talk
to the children. They were lumpy and silent,
as usual. "This is marriage" she said to
herself again; "this is marriage, and women
want it-oh, fools that they are" Then she
felt the tears fall down her cheeks as she an
swered herself: "No, il is not marriage; il is
the cruel imitation that passes for it, and that
saps the lives of men and women. Oh. it is
terrible, and there is no help for it, As it is
now, so it will be all through the years, till
the coffin of one of US is carried out of the
house Dull and monotonous, eating and
drinking and sleeping, and keeping the house
in order-that's my life He at least has his
work out of doors and its change of every
day."
1t was quite when she got back again.
She felt as IL she could hardly drag herself
into the house. They entered by the con-
servatory. Mrs. Oldham and Mr.. Webster
were sitting over the fire, She heard Mrs.
Oldham say. "She is a very lucky woman;
she has a good husband and an excellent
home" Emily knew it was meant for her,
so she coughed as she went in, and then
made an excuse that her head was worse
in order to go and lie down. She wanted to
think about the good husband and the excel
lent home.
Yes, 60, my dear, perhaps it will do You