Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1904-03-18
SHORT STORY FOR
EVENING HOURS
THE WEAKNESS OF HENRY

Henry Biddock lived with his sister
Jane in the little cottage that had been
their home always. While he would
hardly be considered as rich man,
Henry was undoubtedly well to do, and
his wealth was all the greater since,
agreeably with the ancient maxim, his
wants were SO few. Beginning life In
q small way, with a general dealers
store. retailing everything, from Sun
day clothes to ginger beer, Henry had
saved money and bought land and
houses, till the extent of his posses
SONS made him quite considerable
person in the village. He owned the
half dozen workmen's cottages facing
the green, and the farm at the bottom
CT the road was his as well. Still, the
regular habits of his life never varied.
His tastes were as simple as ever, and
his industry quite as sustained as dill
igent.
Sister Jane was year or so older
than Henry. She was plain, honest
creature, quite above the ordinary FEM
mime weakness Of Disgusting her age.
II in the course Of conversation the
question of age arose, Jane would vol
unteer quite frankly-almost, indeed,
eXultingly-that fact that she was AZ
years and months old, or whatever
the figure might be at the moment the
fractional portion Of the year being in
variably added with the most conscien-
tious exactness. James age was her
one source of pride. As girl, she had
been taught by her parents that the
! Difference of her brother was due to
her on account of her seniority, and
though Henry might ultimately attain
' TO the wealth OF Ciuesus or the power
! of a Caesar, she was convinced that by
' the law OF nature she must always be
as emphatlcally his superior as AZ is
to "A. When their parents died, Jane
, had taken charge Of the home as q
matter of course, and II Henry sat with
his feet on the polished fender, or
strayed so far from the path Of recti-
tude as to smoke in the drawing room,
he was usually reminded Of his Of
tense with fitting emphasis. In spite
Of her undeniable conversational abil-
ity, however, James had always been a
careful and competent housekeeper,
and, whether Henry was disposed to
admit II or not, much Of his prosperity
was due to the sterling character of
his watchful sister.
At forty-seven land five months)
Jane was neither young nor beautiful.
She wore spectacles, her hair was wis
| by and thin, and there was flush up
on her face which she herself attrib-
uted to chronic indigestion, and which
was put down by the uncharitable to
bottled ale. And yet her life had not
been entirely free from romance. Once,
indeed, she had been engaged to be
married; but the blissful experience,
after polling for the best part of a
month along the course of true love,
terminated abruptly and without APP
peal on fine summers evening. James
strong point was her extremely ortho-
dox piety, and on that fatal evening
she had been shocked to hear from
her lovers lips the confession that on
the previous day he had regarded the
weather as too fine for church, and
had gone fishing instead. Jane al
most gasped for very breath as this
fearful blow came upon her. She
talked to the young man as he sat
psnitently in the drawing
to him till he could feel his ears sing
Ing and his brain reeling, and con-
iidently predicted for him unhappiness
and failure in this world and acute
discomfort in the next. When, in
sheer desperation, the young man made
a blind dash for the door, Jane fol-
lowed up her advantage remorselessly
She talked him across the hall, up the
front garden, and as far down the road
as she could reasonably expect her
'voice to be audible to the sinner IN his
flight. And with that moment James
romance ended.
| Henry had come to the age of forty
four without romance Of any kind. The
trouble that is long time coming,
however, is generally severe when 1t
Is finally at hand. The new tenants
who had just taken his farm at the bot
tom OF the road, Mr.. and Mrs. Bates
and family, We're really very superior
people, and Miss Florrie Bates was a
really charming girl. Henry had not
iced 1t on their arrival, and he had
noticed the particulars with regard to
Florrie, especially on several occa-
sions since. At forty-four he found
himself contemplating a new horizon.
True, people would say there was some
disparity in their ages; for Florrie was
but twenty-one. But people must mind
their own business. Henry was the
sole and responsible Judge of his own
: actions--and he was In love.
! Indeed, the only other consideration
that weighed with Henry at all was
Jane. Jane was to all intents and
purposes the fly in the ointment. Flor
RE could not suppress the joyful It'd
ings that she was going to be married
to the rich Mr.. Biddock. And she