Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1898-08-04

'He was kicked out, you mean! Did
he embezzle money!"
Il am afraid so; but he never told me
the entire story, and 1 did not think it Of
much consequence then. | was only six
teen. James saw me first upon the stage
at Greenock, and when he proposed to me
1 thought it a grand thing to be married
to him. [ had no parents or relations,
that l knew Of and his people were
thought great deal of in Glasgow"
''Was your marriage with him secret
one?
HE kept it a secret from his family.
They were very proud, he said, and he
was afraid if they heard he had married
an actress they would refuse to help him
any further. So we waited till we could
cross the border and were married in Ber-
+; wick"
I'm sorry for that! If it had been done
| in Scotland, we might have proved it to
be an irregular marriage. What is the
name of the place at which you were
narried:'
"Chilton. Oh! shall never forget that
day, Mrs. Hephzibah. [ was frightened
out of my senses; and the horrible old man
who married us was so tipsy he could
|
very same night the little church in which
we were married was burned to the
ground"
Burned to the ground, child! What!
entirely Destroyed"
| Il believe so. They said it was struck
by lightning, but some people thought the
clergyman had set fire to it himself; and
/ am sure he was tipsy enough for any
thing"
Della Moray.' exclaims Mrs. Hephzi-
bah, suddenly, "have you got your mar
riage certidcate?'
Eyes. have a copy of it. 1t was given
us before we left the church. But why
do you ask, Mrs Horton ?'-with o dis
tressed countenance-'su surely you do not
suspect that am not married to him?"
"No, child! No! It would be much
better, may be, if you were not. But the
man is villain, and may turn round upon
! you any day. Keep the certificate safe,
Don't let it go out of your hands, or you
may find your name ruined before you
know where you are. Burned to the
ground! 1 never heard of such thing
before. And what became Of the drunken
parson"
II have heard nothing Of him since. For
few months we lived near Glasgow, and
then James was unfortunate, and lost his
situation, and I had to go on the stage
again, and have been there ever since"
while he does nothing"
"No, nothing. He says he can't gel
anything to do
"An idle excuse, because he prefers tc
live upon your salary. But it appears
to me that things have come to q crisis,
and that you ought to do something to
| free yourself from the clutches of this
scoundrel. Your friends can't help you
| because you've got none, and his friends
| won't Nothing remains for you, there
fore, Della Moray, but to take the law
into your own hands and help yourself"
At these words the younger woman's
face becomes picture of despair.
"How can help myself" she cries.
GAS other wives have done before you,
Have you never heard of such thing as
a protection order"
| Never"
Really, the ignorance of our sex upon
matters of general information is astound-
ing! 1 should have thought it was the
| interest of every married woman in Chris
tendon to make herself acquainted with
the relief the law contains for her. It's
little enough, my dear, can tell you, and
would burden no ones brains to get by
heart A protection order obtained from
a magistrate, would render you safe from
the assaults of that man tomorrow, and
enable you to live in peace, and support
yourself and your child"
'Oh, Mrs. Horton! can it really be true !
I thought that woman, once married,
was bound to remain with her husband
till his death l thought he could force
her to live with him.
$50 he can, if he supports her-not if
she supports him. Thank goodness! we
are not quite such slaves as that! though,
! in my opinion, marriage is onesided
contract, under the best of circumstances.
Now. mind you look in again tomorrow
evening, and hear if have been able to
extract any sense out of my stupid old
lawyer
/ But long after Della Moray, with her
bruised body and sick heart, has crept
away to her evenings occupation, Mrs.
| Hephzibah sits motionless, staring into
the fire, and wondering what she can do
to alleviate her position.
CHAPTER II.