Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1898-07-21


babe him chose between herself and
his family; between loyalty and dis
loyalty to his country. At all events.
they separated and the Meeehers
moved away before Dombey-then a
young theological student of 2l-came
( TO fill, for few months, the pulpit { t
+ the church in which the Wiltons wor-
SHIPPED
4 Debbie in no wise resembled weep
( ing willow when Dombey first saw her,
which was on Sabbath morning. She
was crganist, and her whole soul
I seemed to be in the music Her yell
! low curls hung to her waist: her
| cheeks were like June roses, and her
/ big blue eyes had a trick of yelling
! themselves behind long, dark lashes
that was both captivating and tantal-
izing. He did not know who she was
or aught of her history then, but he
| did know before he left the church
that he was desperately enamored
Sitting here this morning and listen
| ing to his wife's voice as she instruct
ed their 15-year-old daughter in mu-
sic, he recalled that other morning
wildly; even seemed TO see the flutter-
ing Of the blue ribbons that streamed
back on the breeze from among the
curls, and catch the perfume of a
bunch of violets that she wore at her
throat.
Deborah was such beautiful girl"
he unused: wish the girls had looked
like her" But they did not They
were all Dombey, thin, sallow, dark
and wiry. The sons, Hubert and Har-
ry were "all mother, great, fair,
stalwart fellows Of "a and 80, and both
in the ministry.
Then he recalled the anxious weeks
that followed How he dare only wor-
ship his divinity afar; how jealousy
he watched her from Sabbath to Sab
bath to see if she even glanced toward
the tenor's seat made vacant by the
departure of her lover and kept va
cant because everybody was off TO the
war, If her color waned the least bit
his heart tnrobbed jealousy; if she
seemed absentminded or preoccupied
his eyes blazed flercely. OF all jealous,
unreasonable, love-lorn men he was
the climax.
1t was not, however, until he had re-
turned to fill the pulpit for the third
vacation that he succeeded in winning
the fair Deborah's promise to be his
wife. Once only he had ventured to
refer to her unfortunate love affair.
"a mere accident Of war and not
worth mentioning" she had replied.
trhe sharply, and he had not men
toned it again Mrs. Dombey had the
rare gift of telling people to mind
their own business and tell it gracious
ly, too.
In all these years he had had no
occasion to find fault with his wife,
indeed, as we have said before, his
repose was in her, but all the while
il had been as a thorn in his side, this
memory of a somebody that he had
never seen; in fact had forgotten his
name.
The Rev. Dombey was still thinking
when his wife came in to say that
some church official was at the gate
and wanted to see him a minute.
1t was late that evening when the
door bell rang. Rev. Dombey was
visiting a sick parishioner; the girls
were at a party and Mrs Dombey had
just settled herself to arrange a basket
of work for the Ladies Aid society
which met the next day at the parson-
age. The caller was a disreputable,
half-intoXicated fellow, who stammer-
ingly asked for the parson.
She explained that he was out at
present, but if he wished to see him
he could sit down and wait. 81 guess
l will" he said, for | want him to
pray for me I'm a poor sinner and
the doctor says I'm nearly cleaned out;
got soon to hand in my checks ! amt
sayen my way Of liyen has been the
I best, but liyen n dyen are two differ
ent things" He had now come into
the room and as the full light fell on
/ his face, Deborah Dombey gave a lit
! tie start Another woman might have
/ screamed or tainted but not She
He went on garrulously, as he sat
uneasily on the edge of his chair q
was not always like this. May be you
! don't believe it, but | come of a good
/ old Kentucky family; was brought up
/ in good society; used 10 sing in
church. Tou wouldn't believe it
now, would you?"
y have not the least doubt of It,"
she replied calmly, though her fingers
/ trembled as they fumbled among the
/ bits Of scarlet cloth in the basket
/ Eyes, nd l was engaged, too, to the
prettiest girl in old Kentuck. She
| was a beauty and as good as she was
| handsome. She threw me over when
/ the war broke out. Ye see il was like
/ this: her folks was abolitionists, mine
seecesh but the whole business, coun- (
/ try, niggers and all might have gone
to the dey, beg pardon, to the dogs,
| before ia have given her up il II
/ hadn't been for my folks They just
kept the pot a boiling and got me en-
4 listed as soon as they could. Then
I they moved away | was badly wound