Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-10-04
CHAPTER IL

Not only the entire country Of-slire
but even the whole University of Cam
bridge had been thrown into quite
whirl of emotion by the marriage of
Henry Waring and Grace Selwyn. the
most unexpected ever cOncocted in
heaven or on earth.
\ senior Wrangler and a fellow of
his college, who at twenty-six, eats,
drinks, ana sleeps mathematics. be-
sides being possessed Of other devour-
ing passions for certain of the minor
sciences, does not seem very fit sub
ject for matrimony with its petty fol-
lies and cares.
If one is, besides, the son of q cynic
and a book worm, who lOathed and eS-
chewed the sex with bitter reason, and
whose own practical knowledge had
been gained chiefly through the classics
and the bedmakerS, the one of which
appeals but little to ones sense of
feshy sense, the prospect Of a domestic
and patriarchal career must seem as
remote as it is undesirable.
And yet Henry Waring found him
self, to his constant and increasing
beWilderment, embarked on one almost
before he altogether knew where he
was.
The year previous to his maria &c
he had suffered a good deal from
ennui. A fayorite theory in geology
over which he had peered himself
half blind, was suddenly exploded
without hope of reconstruction. He
felt rather lost and distract, and cast
about for some tangible solid brain
work.
But to pass the time until the fresh
inspiration came on, he took to pro-
pounding stray problems, and-through
the press-launching them broadcast
over the land. Strange to say, he got
answers, and by the score. A good
many more mute inglorious Solons'
infest our villages than we have any
notion of.
Mr.. Waring groaned in spirit and
mourned over the depravity of the
race as he read their epistles, and
drew farther back than ever into his
shell. If the average man and woman
without the academical walls resem-
bled these productions, the less one
had to do with them the better, he
very reasonably reflected.
After this had been going on for the
space of three MONTHS he came, one
morning, down to breakfast He felt
very sick at heart; his pupils seemed
so amazingly full of enthusiasm for
minor concerns, and absolutely lacking
in it for the Sne thing needful. that
he was cut to the quick and moved
to much gentle wrath. And then these
letters! They were fast becoming his
Nemesis. He ate his breakfast and
watched with unwOnted pleasure some
dust notes dancing in a sunbeam, and
raising his eyes to follow them, they
unconsciously strayed farther out into
the college quad, where the dew was
still sparkling on every grass blade,
and shimmering on every flower.
Mr.. Waring felt quite cheerful and
revived as he pushed away his plate
and cup and began to open his letters.
Letter after letter was laid down, a
spasm of pain passing each time across
his face, and more than once an audi
bic grOan escaped him.
At last he picked up a letter gingerly.
as be handled all this variety of cor
eSpondence-the village mathenati-
clan being an unclean beast-but this
letter seemed somehow different, he
turned it over with growing interest
and even took the pains to examine the
postmark, then he opened it and found
a quite different production from any he
had yet received.
First on opening it a curious indefi-
mite scent struck on his nostrils. He
shifted it UP perplexedly; some queer
old memories began to stir in him,
and he paused a moment to try and
classify them, but he could not, so he
set himself to examine the contents of
the misSive.
The answer given to his problem
was accurate and the accompanying re
marks clear, strong, and to the point,
written in a w1cpan's hand and signed
with a Woman's name, Grace Sci
wyn."
That letter was answered before
the breakfast things were cleared
away and certain fresh problems en-
closed which were not sent in any
other direction.
Many letters went and came after
that, containing problems and their
answers, the answers always full of
that strange, vague, delicious scent,
which seemed to watt itself through
the study and remain there, caught
with the dust notes in the sunbeam.
A longing and yearning for those
little notes began to take possession of
Henry Warning and to disturb his
mind. Old memories of the time when
he wore frocks and toddIed, began to
haunt him. and his work was no longer
done by reflex action.
He consulted a doctor, but as he only
half his symptoms to that
scientific person, quite suppressing the
letters, the doctor felt rather out of it
and prescribed quinine, which had no
effect whatsoever.
One morning the yearning for a let
ter grew suddenly quite overmastering;
and none came. This was the climax
By a sudden impulse which he never
in explaining to himself on
any satisfactory grounds, Mr.. Waring
went to his bedroom, knelt down by his