The Newtown bee., 1896-12-18
FIR 51.

l boarder?> Tom sprung this question on Mary after the supper dishes had been cleared away, and his pipe lighted. The poor woman had been watching with quiet terror this new, suspicious, hang-dog expression on her husbands fece. Here was not the Open-hearted man who had daringly Wooed and loved her.
 "What?" she asked, with a gasp.
 "Didn't you hear 7" growled Tom.
 cs, Tom, hear. I'll take a boar der as long as you won't be cross! !'
 Toms face lighted up with his natu- ral, quizzjcal expression of fun. That's d good girl! It's an old chum of mine, Sam is. He's out of work. and I'm go- ing to take him into the loft. The boss is short. When ye're tired of him,
 Mary, he shall gO.'
 Mary did not concern herself with the future. She was used to work, and an extra mouth at the table was little to her as long as Tom smiled upon her in his dear, old way. What Tom was be- fore he came into her life it never oc- cured to her to inquire.
 Four days later Tom was seen to be IuungiDg on the steamboat pier. The three tugs that habitually tied abreast
 to the WaTf while they awaited the city steamer, had now cast of and were l
 at the approaching boat darkly. His compact figure seemed shrunken. His l hands were knit together. He looked l like man on the edge of a whirlpool | into which he must leap. His face had 1 the dangerous expression of one at bay l before his past. He looked furtively | here and there as if he were suspicious
 of au attack. The good effects of eight | years of sober life and of a sober trade 1 ,r.,.. d k5 hov l his hearing. Since that Hateful noon
 when he had read his mates appeal he 1 had worked feYerishly, aDgrily, and had made mistakes. Only this morning, as | expressed iL to his mustaChe, II made a | cu~zed fool of myself; when 1 lashed l that mast 1 didn't give myself drift | enough, and it came two blocks before l | could get it in the deck, and 1 had to
 lower the whole thing away again."
 He stamped his foot at the recollec- 1 ton of the suppressed Winks and jeers
 of his men. It was, indeed, grave
 mistake for the foreman of a rigging loft to make, and one that is inexcusa- 1 ble. If 6 IOUeman 8 second or a third
 time brought a mast two blOcks-as far as it could be hOisted up-befOre it's
 step or foot could go into the deck, he
 might find himself degraded by his boss, ard another fellow put into his place.
 1.-Two blocks" is the rigger's phrase -iguifyirg that the pullcys no longer can acI t, cause the two blocks that with the
 rope from the tackle have come check by Ij1W', and there is 10 power. In other l word. by usi-calCu!atIVn, the mast was
 stuck halfway up. Tom had not been
 -O u!)ru.hed 0I % angry in years. He kiCkrd against th" pier inpatienuy. He
 look hl7 knit u f, n his belt and
 u3ade grim ll3vi- 1t pile. Then he looked up, u"d a5oVe he saw Sam
 Purse smi.irg from the deck of the l steamer down upon him. There was something so malevoirnt in the con-
 sci0us superiority cE that look that an oath vas lost OuJ of Toms mouth.
 Before the steamer h4d warped at the
 pier 5 lm h d leaped over the rail on to
 the piles and Wa3 ss1ading beside the rigger.
 "Pue up vou- sljcAer' he said, with
 hard uLuckle. '.l Ou won't need it on
 me. Give u- your it, shipmate, for I'm
 your bet irieLd.'
 Ton >h we'd hs knif- into his belt and
 put ut hl- haud before he knew it. Sam Pur-o tlWcrtd above him CXultiDgly. H. Wa> tu.!y K fe-r slX inches tall; his
 hair WAS black. aLd its coarse Curls hid
 he nap If the neck. His long mus
 tache dropped under his jaws. His
 chin was mssJeTful, OcId upon his face
 IS the Rock of NOrmau's Woe upon the
 green coast. His figure was devitalized
 md sluuchiug, but full of latent energy. . His eyes NC-U dark. half shut, defiant :; uf .he sort that opens under pTOvOcatiOn
 or love. and then daZZ.e. His face and
 Hhole appca7auCe gave the immediate impression of an exceedingly handsome
 fellow who had dissipAtcd hims elf to the D evi,-the kind of a fellow whose truculent reckIesGness makes men fear, and compels women Co follow.
 Tom looked up at his old mate and ! their eyes met, 4 cloud of recollection . swept over the riggeT's heart, and he "Come along" he said, gruhiy- ? ''ccme along home.'
 f Three weeks passed sullenly. Mary s did mt sing about the house as she used , Ito. Tom noticed this the more because i he no longer whistIed. Mary at this = time began to shrink little from her
 husband: and wher, in the evening, r he thought herself unObserved, she re- Q gardcd him with great longing in her 3 eyes. ] was tan. and of fine figure. Her face f was beautiful at times. Her hair Wat h dark, her eyebrows heavy and penciled
 her nose straight and finely modelled
 i Her mouth was tempting, and was more u SO, perhaps, because she had habit oi II nureing out her lips 8 little in order tC
 conceal the loss of two front teeth. Her B chin ard neck were those of Juno. IT c repose Mary was rare pictuTe-a sug -' oesriDD of the best of Italy tTanspIanLeC
 Tn our bleak coast. She was type not e uncommon in the town where she wal e born. but rare in the interior. When sh' y smiled or laughed, the loss of her twt IS front teeth utterly changed her appear Il ance Therefore she had acquired thu u abit of smiling or talking with her ilpi
 closed. or with a handkerchief before heI g mouth. She was cCquet enough for that y At any rate Mary's statuesque oeaut1 " was enough to attract any man, ana U 4t make the husband madly jealous II tn II least If it were appropriated by anybod except himself
 le Sam Purse was a cOnnOisseur 0 al women, having cavaliered them in almos y every port of the world; and when h m first set set his eyes on Mary his heaI 'n had been touched as it rarely happen -n to man of his dissipated imaginatio el and rowing class.
 y Once a week Tom put on his be! ID clothes and spent the evening with h ne brothers. the mem bers of the Legiol eI He had only been voted in within yea
 and it mar ked his first recognition a. seaport society. To belong was qua " antV of character. Tom nao laoOIeo It ht years to accomplish this result. To le' respected and have a standing in u 'e' town and position of trust among D y, neighbors had been his dream since no had begun to be a rigger. He was nol 'h- of your trash that get drunk of Saturda 'as nights and are the fiotsam on the ba' th; seats of a fishing town. He had tauten' led up his msinstav until there was no slou'
 about him. He was the smartest for 9m man in town, and might be boss if ens chose. There was plenty of friend t! money to back him when the time cam nb opd thet lxnnwlef pe gave him an inC