The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-11-03
A CAPTAINS WIDOW.


years fage and living not the hap
piest of lives with a grabbed old
aunt, who had brought her up, there
came into the village of Rudleigh,
where she had been born, and which
she had never left since, dashing
sea captain Of a6 OF 3s, who spent
his money freely enough to make
an acquisition to the one hotel OF
the place, and who was SO far from
bashful that before he had been
there week every woman in Rud-
leigh had either been Stared at" or
followed quite home, my dear.
The young chambermaids had
each been kissed, the landlords
daughter had been chucked under
the chin, and the la1ldlady herself,
striving to blush and failing be-
cause no red rose could be redder
than she was already, declared that
a little more and she must really
e.mention it to Mr.. Landlord
AS for Captain Waters, he consid
cred all this the proper thing for
man of spirit TODD and continued
the general ad1nirer of the fair of
Rudleigh until, falling one day in
to the society of Matte Hartley, he
became at once her particular slave.
! He oourted her one week, proposed
the next and married her the third.
He was well enough to do to retire
from seafaring life, was owner
and hitherto captain of the Amanda
and was, moreover, widower, his
Srstwife having taken advantage of
his absence on voyage to elope
With a Frenchman, who, SO report
ran, had poisoned her,
This he told, with a grave face, to
little Matte before he popped the
question.
''If / thought women folk were all
alike, I'd fight shy Of them, I can
tell you, he said. "But I'm sure
you have a heart, and true one,
Matte. y
And so Matte gave him her heart,
and her hand with it.
For year or two they were hap
py; then the Jolly, red checked cap
tain fell i'll, and in his illness a baby
that had come to them, a boy of a
few months old, was stolen from a
perambulator, which careless
nurse had left standing; by the road
side while she chatted with beau.
There had been a band Of gypsies
in the neighborhood, and suspicion
naturally fell on them, but they
were followed in vain, and none Of
the rewards which were offered
threw any light on the subject.
The agitation did the captain great
harm and probably hastened his
end. He died in few months, and
poor Matte, broken hearted and
'desolate, prayed to die also. What
good could come to her now that
Frank and baby were both gomez In
Vain the old clergyman preached
submission and spoke Of tempting
Providence by rebellion.
Matte heard mono of the stereo-
typed phrases that were poured into
her ear-heard nothing until one
day a tall, bold faced woman
walked, unannounced, into her pres
ence and before the old Clergyman
himself announced the fact that she
was Captain Waters widow-that
her children and his we're at the ho-
tel, and that Matte was a mere
usurper.
That reused the widow at last.
Her Frank so vile creature! Her
Frank deceive her SO! She could
not, would not believe it, and no one
else would. She ordered the woman
out of the house, and the woman
went, but only to a lawyers hard
by. There she produced proofs that
were conclusive-a certificate signed
by a well known clergyman and
letters from the captain, and in
certain church aregister was found,
all that was necessary to establish
her claim.
Matte asseyerated in vain that the
captains first wicked wife was dead
that this woman was sn impostor
and that she did not believe one
word of all the story. Other people
believed it. No one knew the cap
tain previous to his sudden appear
ance at Rudleigh, and seafaring
men are not always supposed to be
too glad, especially in quiet inland
towns, to have a dozen wives apiece.
The end of all this was that the
new Mrs. Waters took possession of
the dwelling and property of the
captain, and, disgraced and wretch
ed, Matte returned to the maiden
aunt, who, having been opposed to
the match, rather triumphed in its
result as what she called "judg-
ment.''
Mrs. Waters tried to make herself
friends in the village, but, on the
whole, failed to do So She was
coarse and vulgar. The ser7ants.said