Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1898-08-13

eyes, indeed said Madam. agreeing |
very candidly and earnestly, her smiling
gaze becoming more pe~netrating-"a nice
little creature. Poor Winnie! she VIII
make Mr.. Pascoe an excellent little wife,"
"Pascoei That ~ill-tempered, vulgar,
began Stephen ~Tredennick, In some excite
ment, which cooled rather suddenly when
Madam again qucried-
81 was not aware hat you knew Mr..
Pascoe, S~tephenY
ooh, ay-I do, though, aunt" he said,
somewhat briefly; ''and | do not like him.
He is a disagreeable, presuming sort OF
fellow, / think"
"He is a very worthy, honest person."
rejoined Madam, reprovingly, land much
attached to Winnie. | shall be quite glad
to see her settled so comfortably, poor
child. Pascoe he's n fair salary for a mine
purser, and a neat little house, though 1t
is on the works"
His wife! That underlined, insolent,
foX-faced mans wifel To live in the bare,
square-built, two-story house, with its few
small windows and smartly painted hall
door, aud its beautiful, so~ul-inspiring sur
%roundings Of dull-hued piles of rubbish
and broken ore-stone, hideous wooden
tarred sheds, slime-pits, and creaking
grooming, shriekiug, crashing machinery!
Pascoe, the puTser's wife-there to spend
her existence-that pale, pnre-faced, sor-
rowful little maiden, with her passionate
gray eyes, and her wealth of beautiful
silken tresses-the welded wife of Thomas
Pascoe-his, to have and to hold, for ever!
Stephen Tredennick glanced at his aunt's
face to discover II she was in earnest, and
then a sudden impulse of something like
passionate anger filled his heart. Winnie
Caerlyon Pascoe's whichever!
He was very near saying so aloud, but
restrained himself to say instead, very
quietly
"And what does Miss Winnie herself
think of the prospect
Think? Oh, | { don't believe she admires
him much-he Is not an ideal lover, |
grant-but what matters thaty" said Mad.
am, lightly and sconingly. winnie has
no right 10 indulge in any Of that girlish,
romantic folly; she knows that what she
requires in marriage is an honest, kind
husband, who will give her n home Of her
own, with food to eat and clothes to wear
and very thankful she ought TO be to get
one"
The tone, words, aud manner all jarrld
on stephen acknowledgement very con.
|slueraDlg, although ~ was III OllIy u poor
little stranger-maiden's interest.
well. aunt" he returned, coldly and
sarcastically, in manner very like Mad.
ANS own, 'if marriage-which poets, and
ncvelists, aud artists, and those kind OF
fools rave about as welded bliss as
browning the love and honor of a life,'
n so forth-be after all n mere dry,
worldly matter Of exchange and barter
still one ought to make the best exchange
and barter as equally rs possible. Look,
ing at the matter from n commercial point
Of view, a pretty young girl, with a fair
share OF brains and social attractions, and
Of decent family, might barter herself for
something better than mere clothes and
food given TO her by a very ill-favored lub.
Der Of Il fellow whom she detests."
A ringing, sarcastic ltugh came from
Madam Vivian as he concluded.
"BrdpiSsimo, stephen! ! begin to have
some hope of yop! You are growing TO
manticn' Then, quite suddenly, looking
into the coffee urn as she spoke, Madam
asked her third searching question, Glow
do you know that she detests him, Steph'
eni''