The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-01-27
THE COMING OF MOL
LY PEEVY.
,~Gcopyright. 1896. by Bachelor. Johnson and
Bacheller.1
PART L.

- ~ 1872 -
Bacheller.1
PART /.
Every one in Cove valley, down in
Georgia, considered Matt Digby q
meddler. Joel Holtzclaw disliked her
.1nore than any woman in 1.-THE Cove
She would often stop him obtrusively
when he passed her cottage, and ask
after the health of his children, and
sigh, and say that il was such a pity
their mother had died when they were
so young and helpless.
But although Matt Digby was in
Shcr thirty-seventh year and was I'M
married, she had never thought OF cap
turing Joel for herself.
The truth of the matter was that
Matt Digby did not want Joel to
marry Mary Ann Hardiman, a pretty
spinster just her age and her next door
neighbor. Matt liked Mary Ann as
well as she liked any good-looking un.
smarried woman, and she would have
left her own work any day TO help her
with her cuttings, jelly-making, fruit
,canning, or anything else hat two
women can do better than one, but she
would never help her to marry Joel
'Holtzclaw.
She told herself that any woman of
MARY AIMS age who had as good a
Ihome as Mary Ann had, and was pretty
senough ito get the best that was go.
ing" would be a fool TO burden her.
self with another woman's children and
a shiftless man, who had his spree al.
most as regularly as Saturday came
around.
Matt had good grounds for believing
that the marriage would never take
place, although Joel and Mary Ann
had been lovers for many years, ant
had only been prevented from marry.
ing ten years before by old man Hardi
mans strong objection TO Joel. The
truth was hat Holtrclaw's late wife,
who was a jealous, irascible woman,
full of imaginary ills and wrongs, had
fexacted a promise from Joel not TO
marry again in case she died.
Everybody in "the Cove knew this.
"a few believed that Joel would be jus.
titled in breaking che promise, since il
seemed that nothing but n wife and
home comforts would keep him frou
drinking once a week. and since his
children were so badly in need of o
lmother's care. But the majority were
opposed to it; and now and then, when
the gossip was loudest, some one would
lOpenly declare that If Holtzclaw ever
-married he should be "churched."
One morning from the window OF
of her cottage Matt saw Mary Ann leave
the back door of her house with a tray,
ON which there was something covered
with a napkin, and make her way
through the tall, dewy ragweeds to Jo
els cottage.
"Ah!" exclaimed Matt. "She's going
10 feed the, children. I'll bet my bot
Eom dollar ne didn't get home last
might. He's on another bender, and
she'll have them two over in her entry
room tonight, sure as preaching"
Matt hurried]y lifted her coffee-ket-
tIe from the Goals, SO that 1t would not
boil over in her absence, forked a piece
of bacon from a hot frying-pan into a
plate and went out among the sassafras
bushes near Joel's ence. Here she
stood for several minutes.
'1rl bet she's dressing the imps!" she
said, impatiently. IF 1 had thought of
khat I could a-finished my coffee and
lhaoon."
The mex minute Mary Ann came out
of Joel's house, the empty tray under
her arm. Seeing Matt there in the
slanting rays of the sum- gazing at her
so critically, she flushed. She paused
on the steps for an instant and wound
n stray lock of her rich brown hair
about the knot behind her head, and
then stepped down into the rank weeds.
"He didn't come home last night?"
said Matt, breaking a sassafras twig
and chewing the end of IL.
Mary Ann drew her damp skirt from
the clinging briars and climbed over
the rail fence. Matt could not help ad-
mitting to herself that Mary Ann was
graceful in movement. She was SO well.
formed, too, and the fresh morning air
had given her such a wonderful color.
"No, he didn't" Mary Ann replied,
ms she got down on the other side, near
TO the questioner. Then she sighed.
81 have just been over to give little Joe
and Fanny q bite TO eat"
you needn't tell me what you went
for" sneered Matt, with a hard, unfor-
giving stare. "You are making n fool
NV