Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-09-25


mind, and conventional ideas, Arma
thWaite became more interested il
the singular union of the two human
beings whose natures seemed on tn
Eurface so utterly antagonistfc a!
those Of the husband and wife. H,
glanced furtively from time to time a
the lady, as he could do without fea1
of detection, for Mr.. Crosmont's inter
est in the vfands before him was alb
sorOing and sustained; she made ar
enhancing picture as she sat with al
most statuesque tranquility by the
fire, her white hand resting on the
head of the retriever, her eyes cast
down as if il deep thought, while the
flames threw a softening glow on her
somewhat set features, and made the
beaddrops on her dress glisten like
fre-fies. 1t seemed to the young
Yorkshireman, who was chivalrously
ready to believe her gentle and
faultless martyr to the Indifference of
a soulIess boor, that the very curve
Of her fingers around the dogs shaggy
ears revealed a capacity for tender
OF her heavy, dropping eyelids, of her
! red-lipped and not very small mouth,
| seemed to him to denote depths of
feeling, of sentiment, of passion which
to the eyes of her negligent lord and
master were as invisible as a jewel in
a room without light. These musings
! filled his mind even while his Inns
were busy asserting to such broad
principles as that "You can't expect
man whose days are occupied with
numerous and harrassing details of
MANAGEMENT to be able to interest
himself in dry and abstruse subjects
in the evenings" Armathwaite won
dered whether these and kindred re-
marks were directed at Mrs. eros
mont, the intellectual cast Of whose
face suggested that the numerous
and harassing details" of domestic
management would still leave her
mind room for more elevated sub
jects.
still, the world would be a dull
place if we could not sometimes for
get our own immediate surroundings
and the wearisome routine of perhaps
distasteful duties by the help Of art
and books, wouldn't it?' ventured
| Armathwaite, addressing the husband,
but aware that he was appealing to
| the wife.
Even as Mr.. Crosmont, who had
now risen from the table and was
stretching himself, returned a charac-
| teristic answer to the effect that by
Joye! books only made life duller, and
he didn't think the world woulG De d
penny the worse if all the writer ana
artists in it were drowned in Colis-
mere tomorrow" Mrs Crosmont
; raised her eyes and conveyed, with
one straight look, her entire, her pas
sionate concurrence in the stranger
views.
my wife reads a great deal, but it
certainly doesn't make her any
liveIier," continued Mr.. Crosmont
who had not seer his wife's look for
the reason that, as Armathwaite par
ticularly noticed, he Systematically
avoided meeting her eyes. Il con-
slider that it's very poor head that
can't get ideas of it's own, without
going to books for somebody else S.
| If you read a book of travels, which
is supposed to tell you facts, why how
can you answer for it that they are
facts? And as for novels and poetry
it is my firm belief, which nothing
can alter, that it's to their perniciOus
influence we owe the deterioration i'll
our daughters and wives
AS Mr. Crosmont was evidently still
year or two short of thirty, it was
plain that his firm belief could not be
founded on heightened experience
of the decadence of womankind.
What is the use of spending
money and patience teaching a girl to
paint picture that nobody d have
on their walls while there are
chromos to be bought, when in halt
the time she might learn how to
make a very good pudding?" he con
tinued. with the solemn arrogance
which creeps over even a young man
at the conclusion Of a very heavy
dinner.
But then the chances are that the
, girl who couldn't learn to paint {
, picture of more value than a chrome
: would never get beyond a bad puu
, ding" remarked Armathwaite
=, And, Ned, | helped to make tn,
!, fritters you have just eaten. Do 70,
: think they would have been lighter i
I had not learned to paint?"
= For the first time a spark of good
humcr came into Mr.. Crosmont
> prominent eyes.
. well, no. he admitted and the
= added with his first touch q
= pleasantly, but there might hav
= been more Of them"
There was a little laugh at thi!
v and Mr.. Crosmont, humming an al
as he crossed the room to his ciga
e cabin, asked his visitor in gent;
r, voice if he would smoke. Armatl
~ waite excused himself, feeling that t
,s puff tobacco-smoke into the air whic
a surrounded that dainty lady woul
Ia be like profaning the temple Of go
II dess. She seemed to guess the re
. son of his refusal, and looking at hi
r. with a gracious smile, said she d
n. not mind smoke in the least. Dra'
or ing chair to the fire between -
a. uncle and Armathwait, Mr. Crosmo,
If observed that they would not go in
I'd the drawing-room; it was such
te mouldy old place. If he were supe
lis stitious, he should think it W
no haunted.