Middletown transcript., 1906-06-02
HOW TRYPHOSIA MANAGED
BY coRNELIA wEssoN BoYDEN

OttN - - t5N51 AsAtsc q = = : - - =, =
holds on the farm, ali how ye
was q goin to keep up The inter
est on it. Your mother told We
bout it. didn't shes
Yes, she told me. But when /
spoke to DIR. Brown about it, he
was very kind and said I need not
worry that he should never
trouble me with it. Of course ]
knew he meant until I had made
my plans for the future and could
attend t. it, said Tryphosia, with
dignity.
Jotham Thompson's lips drew
together in a low whistle, while
he muttered under his breath,
An DR.. Browns such a close
listed man, too. Suddenly a
I lad grin oeerspre / Lis f4ce.
Well now, that is 'mazin clever
on him, sure, said he with sly
Look at the girls innocent face.
He must be mighty fond of We to
have said that. Who knows but
you and he may He finished
his sentence with a sound be
tween q cough and a groan, as
mis- wife's foot pressed with nc
gentle force against his pet corn.
DIR. Browns a mighty nice
man, Tryphosia, said Mr.. Thomp-
son. And don't you go to fret.
ting about the mortgage.
It was pale, anxious face that
stared with wide-open eyes from
beneath the patchwork coverlid
ot the great four poster, far into
the night. The problems of life
seemed beyond Tryphosia's solv-
ing, as she strove to pierce the
dark veil that hid the future from
her gaze. All (! how many times
had she rebelled at this quiet,
peaceful life, and longed for the
noise and turmoil of the great
city? Yet now, with the danger
of its being torn from her grasp,
how dear every stick and stone
upon the old place had become.
1t was here that the dear mother
had lived and loved her, and here
all the memories of her happy
childhood were clustered. No
she would never part with the
dear old homestead-never
How on earth Tryphosia ax-
poets TO manage things on this
here place, the land only knows.
It's my opinion, though, DR..
Browns got his eye on the girl
as well as the place. And she
couldn't do better than take up
with him. l have sortof expect
ed he would be a looking up a
thirdly afore a great while, said
lothian, as he settled himself in
Tryphosia's best feather bed.
There, lothian Thompson,
cried his wife, indignantly. don't
you go to putin notions into
Tryphosia's head The very
idea of that poor lamb marrying
that wolf in sleeps clothing,
who is old enough to be her
grandfather, makes the cold
chills creep up and down my
backbone. Ye ought to be
ashamed to even think ont.
A loud snore was lothian S
answer, and his worthy spouse
soon followed his example.
How it happened that DR..
Ephraim Brown held a mortgage
that nearly covered the value of
the old Bennett place, was a
matter known only to himself,
and it was a source of secret sat
isfaction to him daily. A wolf
in sleeps clothing, Mrs. Thomp
son had called him, which was
not misnomer, yet in his opin-
ion be was the benefactor Of
nearly every family in town.
Twice married, he was for the
second time a widower and child
less; a sharp, shrewd, hard-na-
tured man of sixty, who, while
never refusing attendance upon
the poor, he extracted from every
property holder the equivalent
of the money due, till he had
grown rich in houses and lands.
For years he had looked with
covetous eyes, not only upon the
Bennett homestead, but upon Try-
phosia as we'll. whom he had
watched grow from babyhood in.
into a beautiful childhood, and
into more beautiful womanhood.
Now that she was homeless and
alone, why should he not obey
the impulse of his heart and win
the girl for his wife, if he chose
to do SO, and thus rescue her
from her lonely position?
The sunshine Of a lovely day
shone through the windows Of
the garret in the Rannet farm.