Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-11-26
A STORM ON THE COAST.


IN the month of June, when between
the mosquitoes and the heat life seemed
Undesirable, that Dalton suggested a
hasty retreat to the pine woods and gulf
breezes on the Mississippi sound.
''By all means" 1 said. "There is
nothing doing in the way of business
here; we are tied down by reason of
other peoples absence to our office
desks, SO we might just as well take up
our quarters until fall by the blue wa
ters of the gulf and run in daily to see
our mail"
Then i bethought me OF an elderly
arnt of mine, Aunt d'Arville, whom l
had not seen for quite 4 number of
years, partly from dissemination. for
preserved vivid recollection of her
unpleasant manners, and partly be-
Gauss, J had been absent abroad repre-
Senting our house, first in Havre and
then ir Bremen.
Eve will go to Seaview cottage" l
said to Fred. II have an elderly relative
who viii take us in, have no doubt,
and as We will be out of the house most
of the time fishing or sailing, the old
lady's moods and temper will not be in
tolerahie."
Aunt Martha was a caution, remem-
bered, in those days of my youth, when
1--WE wece Familiarity acquainted with
each other.
1 suppose the poor souls temper had
been Soured by her husbands failure
and his too philosophical acceptance Of
it afteeward.
His Heath later on did not mend mat
tiers; for like all people of her exacting
temperament, and hard, determined,
narrow-minded ma ture, she was te-
nacious in her affec{ion,i if wearisome in
a degree in the repressed, vehement,
puritanical way she had of showing it,
and her grief, while sincere and re-
spectacle, was an added infiction to her
surroundings.
1t was dreary atmosphere in which
TO bring up her only child, that pale
faced little cousin Of mine, Adele.
1 wondered vaguely what sort of a
Dung woman she had grown into.
she was a plain child. Her only re-
deeming feature I could recall was her
eyes. She had inherited them from her
father. They were large and brown,
soft and brilliant and were yelled with
thick, dark lases, which threw a
shadow on her pale little face. making
her look, thought, still more frail and
melancholy.
What had induced Aunt Martha to
nnnc111 poI11
d. Arville, no one had been able to dis
cover unless it was his brilliant wit.
intense divergence from herself and
handsome face.
Certainly no two people were ever
more dissimilar in taste and modes of
thought, and fancy d'Arville, whom
j always looked on as q most fascinat-
ing man from his fine manners, versa
tile conversation and general attract
tveness, soon wearied of his wife's too
ustere, methodical temper and habits.
No doubt he failed to discover under
her cold, precise manner the fine feeling
and nature which lay hid and did not
reveal itself. So, like many another
marriage, they grew apart, and when
~AA4N4SNA 'AooDASo DSlCI sic DeCuulG.
harsh and bitter, albeit she bore her
burdens bravely, and d'Arville drifted
into club habits and kept out of the
house.
Seaview is beautiful place.
A low, wide-spreading cottage, whose
windows and piazzas are covered with
clambering rose vines and whose green
lawn is shaded by gigantic oaks, it in
yites TO repose.
AS boy / would loll on one of the
various benches under their shade,
reading some novel or detective story
while the soft swish of the water on the
narrow beach just beyond the garden
gate played minor key TO the thrill,
ing incidents to the story. Or would
sit on the grass and mend my lines and
nets, while little pale-faced Del would
sit cured up with her Newfoundland
in subdued, silent way, by my side.
There is splendid fishing round tn
islands out in the bay, few hours rut
across from Seavisw," said to Fred. a