The new enterprise. (Madison, Fla.) 1901-1908, 1905-09-14
Ioglsass SILVER !. M7EDDlSd.
9v HELENA DIXON.
q q q d a d

eNrh 10 write to the loved ones she had
lett for the arms of a stranger.
Months passed, and Vincent occasion.
ally came home at night with flushed
race and breath that would have sug.
gested brandy TO any one less bllndIy
trustful than Louisa. But when, as
the weeks rolled by, he went so far
as to enter her presence actually reel
ing MS he walked, her eyes could no
longer be closed to the fact that her
Idol WINS no longer worthy of the high
place to which her love had elevated
MIN. At the end of year his business
prosperous at the time of his mar
riage-had suffered greatly through his
unsteady habits. In all this time Lou
isa had not heard from home save in
an indirect way. and she often wept
over the thought that those whose
memory she cherished so fondly.
neither knew nor seemed to care
whether she was numbered among the
living or the dead.
Another year was nearly passed. with
no change In Vincent except for the
worse, when one day the postman
brought letter over which the poor
young wife wept scaldlng tears, and
the unconscious babe in her lap looked
up with wonderment in its thin face
at her look of keen anguish. The letter
which caused Louisa so much sorrow
though under different circumstances
1t would have yielded her only Joy and
dellght-ran thus:
my Dear Child-Mother and I. and
some Of the others are coming to see
you. 1t seems an age since you left
us. If all is with you as we hope the
coming anniversary of your marriage
shall be kept at home as we promised
the fifth should be. That seems too
long to wait. Mother and your BROTH
ers and sisters send their best love.
Your loving father,
"GILES NEwCOMBE."
Louisa had read this first letter from
home till she knew 1t by heart, yet
she drew 1t forth once more as she sat
slowly rocking her babe to sleep. 1t
was 10 o'clock, her usual bedtime, but
Vincent had not vet come in, and she,
poor, patient soul, never thought Of
going to her rest, however weary she
might be. till he came. She heard his
footsteps soon, not walking lightly,
buoyantly, as in the days that seemed
to the heavy-hearted wife so far in
the past, but heavily, slugglshly.
He entered the room where, with the
letter in her hand, she sat. One glance
Mt the Keeling form and she dropped
the letter in her pocket.
In the morning she gave1it to him.
"Well," he said, when he had finished
1t, $50 they're coming to pass judgment
upon me, are they? Better wait, l
should think, till l ask them. ask
no odds of anybody's relations, and I'll
not submit to this Court-martlal sort of
thing which these people propose"
ooh. Vincentw
That was all Louisa said, but the
tears which filed her eyes might have
spoken volumes to the erring husband
had he rightly interpreted them.
The glrl-wlfe--for she was but girl
in years. though old In bitter expert
ence-turned away her face, and lean
ing against the mantel, sobbed and
cried till even Vincent Lenolr's dulled
senslbilities were stirred.
"rhere, Louisa, don't be a baby. I
know I've disappointed you, and I'll
disappont your folks when they come
and see me-"
"But, Vincent" bitterly sobbed Lou
lisa, you needn't"
Needn't come home as I did last
night, you would say? Well, 1 will
not. Only let me know when they are
coming"
"But cannot tel, you that, Vincent.
Father didn't state when they would
be here. Oh, 1 might have been so
proud of you. my husband, IL you had
only"
Louisa broke down in fresh burst
of tears.
81 know you'll be ashamed Of me be-
fore them, Lou, and shall be ashamed
of myself. But there's no use in my
trying to be anything more than the
miserable thing am. Only I'll prom
Use to keep straight while your rela-
tives are here. Will they come to-
day, do you thinkT'
"They may, Vincent; you'll not for
getg
The young wife put her arms around
her miserable husbands neck and
kissed him. He returned the kiss, say
ing:
"No; I'll be sure to remember"
He left the house for his place OF
business.
That afternoon, while Louisa, almost
happy in her husbands promise, was