Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-02-14

When five weeks had passed, and she
had neither message nor sight of
Humphrey. Owens ma gnificent abond-
onment of joy had a break, and a
trembling came into it, and into her
eyes wave of fear, and every time
she came in from her work in the
village or on the home farm, she be-
took herself to the baby to steady her
nerves.
And then the press began to set
flying little gnat-1ike biting doubts as
to StItange'S unaccountable silence,
after it was ascertained through a
lOng-delayed scrap of a note to Mrs.
FellOwes that he had joined an ivory
expedition into an unsettled district.
Then, to add to her anxietfes, the mis-
Sionary. grateful for his intended cap
ture, ram down to Strange Hall. and
being rather an ass, and having been
left with only the tail end of con-
stitution-a solemn and gloomy one
he gave her a most llrid and awful
impression of those parts into which
Humphrey had penetrated.
She put a brave front on, but she
had a shocking time of it, and her
USUAL song to her baby, in exactly
Humphreys tones was:
damn whilst du weine, du liebe
kleiner'
which the baby looked upon as huge
joke.
Week after passed and not a word
and then whisperings of relief eX-
petitions began to stir the papers, and
Mrs. Fellowes was hurrying up wildly
with her work to be able to get to
Gwen.
AT last she came over from the
station in a fly, day or two before
she was expected and found Gwen
in Strange's den, which showed tokens
of her all over the place, playing with
her child, now a big fellow who beat
the record in the matter of crawling.
When the nurse took him at last,
Gwen said ito Mrs Fellowes rather
grimly:
"The county considers l should wear
a widows cap, and sport crepe, and
! my horrible state of plumpness makes
me to stink i'm their nostrils Just look
! at my arms! l wish 1 could oblige
them," She went ON YEARLY, 'fand bear
my woe according to their rules of de-
cency. Lady Mary rolled down ON me
and stayed a week, and never got out
what she came to say until l was
putting her into the railway carriage
ON her way back to London; then she
! produced her rebuke on the top of a
sigh, and began a prayer, but the train
started before she got well into lit.
my dear She said, I think that
under the circumstances a plain black
gown and bonnet-hats to my mind
ait present are unseemly-and then,
my dear Gwen, if by any means you
could manage, ahem, not to add to
your plumpness- people in our position
must set an example, assure you.
for myself. lost eight pounds and
half the first six months Of my widow
hood
"Then she began her rather ilTele-
want prayer
"Gwen, sit down, and I'll make tea,
and tell you about your father"
Gwen leaned back in her chair and
/ put her hands ito her hot head.
81 forget everything but myself and
this fattening misery of mine. He is
failing very much, is he not? His
letters somehow have a fragile sound.
They have a horrible habit of making
me howl, I have got so maudlin l
howl now quite easily; he has been
at 'Chavasse' again, and to rather an
awful extent
Eyes he is failing day by day, and
unfolding himself at the same time.
1 never quite realized before how
bautiful and single-hearted his char
acter is; he comes now to see me,
or rather to sit and mediate in my
presence, after he has been to your
letters-oh, the quaintness, the pathetic
grotesQueness of his remarks!'
II have often wanted to ask you If
Mn. Fellowes ever brings his pro-
fessional capacity to bear on my
fathel ~ asked Gwen.
Never Only God is fit to under
take the care Of such a soul as his
John says, neither he nor his soul
are subject to ordinary laws, each
lives out the life given it to live. Good
,, gracious! fancy John or any other
parson attempting to shove theology
into such a nature, or to dig down
after his beliefs! Gwen, darling. you
may 'be in good condition, but how
very tired you look!'
''Tired! OH yes, 1 am, cannot tell
you how tired! AT first 1 used to
live in a whirl so as to tire myself,
now there's no need of it, l am just
as tired when I get up as when
go to bed, and nothing will drive the
days on, and the endleSsnesS of life
sickens one. l feel crepey enough to
please anyone, goodness knows, but
even if Humphrey never comes, 1 will
Deither wear crepe nor put ON amy of
the trappings of decent widowhood,
for l know he never got my message.
If he is dead, he died knowing moth
ing, I am no honest widow Of his, and
1 will wear hats TO the end of the
chapter, and possibly grow fat and
outrival Lady Mary, who knows!
You see my life is a healthy one,
l ride miles a day all over the farms,
there isn't a fact concerning manure
l couldn't tell you; as to drainage, l
feel like turning into a pipe myself;