The Republican journal., 1907-08-08
MARRIED IN HASTE.

eight beats of the tall old clock on the
stair. head, outside my door, l jump
wildksto my feet.
''At nine o'clock, then" he had said.
had only one hour-only one hour
to be Norah Giennie By the time that
clock struck ten, l shonld be Norah
Mapleson- a wife, true. wife to a
true husband ~.
l re-arranged my dress with feverish
haste, and only stop to drink a cup OF
milk ere leave the house, only just in
time to catch the country train as it
passed our country station.
Once more my hands are clasped in
his. We say no word only hurry
through the sleepy streets till we enter
the dingy office, where, by some strange
All is dream to me.
l wonder vaguely where are my
bridesmaids, where are my father and
mother? Bah. Why of course they
are dead, long, long ago. 1 have only
an uncle, and he is lying bedridden at
Norlington Farm.
The only thing that seems real to me
is the shining ring on my finger. l look
at it in kind of fear as | draw my old
kid glove over it before leaving the
house into which Norah Glennie had
gone a few minutes ago, and out of
which now Ii white, startled woman
was issuing-N orah Mapleson.
Don't be so distressed. my darling
Don't look so, or cannot bear it,"
| draw a deep breath. He takes my
hand firmly and lays it on his arm as he
hurries me through the streets back in
the direction of the railway station.
"Mine-mine foreveri | do not fear
the future noww is all my husband
says; but there is world of love in his
eyes.
Poor William. lin weeks time be
will be on the ocean, and we will have
parted for many neutrality-suspicious.
years.
get out of the train alone, as he is
going on some business two stations
further on; then he will come back for
the rest of the week to the farm.
Before you go into the room, wife,
darling, you will take it OFF, and he
touches my finger, on which the bright
new wedding ring glitters.
Il cannot" | say shuddering. at
is unlucky to remove wedding ring?''
But, my darling, his sharp eyes will
The train goes on, and | am alone. l
see his face looking at me from the win
dow, alarmed and anxious, but | nod
reassuringly, and he smiles.
1t causes no remark that | have been
out so early this morning, for every
thing lately is SO upset by reason of my
uncle's illness and Williams near de-
parture. Then, again, there is only old
Betty in the kitchen; and perhaps, she
scarcely knows | have been out: and if
the nurse who has been called in to at
tend my uncle knows, she, doubtless,
thinks | have been in town on some
household errand.
About my ring. | must hide it; but
| cannot take it off. l hurry up into
my room, and hurriedly turn over the
contents of an old musty dressing case,
that had been my fathers. Where can
it be? That old garnet ring, with the
queer groove in it, that | feel sure will
let this thin wedding ring slip into it,
and so keep my secret from prying eyes.
With hot, trembling fingers | find it; it
does exactly as | thought it would do.
With that broad old ring always on,
l need fear no discovery. None but
myself should ever know that under it
lay another, the tiny circuit of gold
binding me stronger than iron bands
could do to my dear love"
~ l4 ing IllC va III Olu uIiCle is IdhGll
much worse, and he will let no one be
near him but me. William comes in
and out of the room, but | am tied to it
all day, till toward evening uncle falls
into deep sleep and | can safely leave
him with his nurse.
1t was rambling old house, Norling-
ton Farm, and it had been my only
home now for nearly seven years, all of
which time William Mapleson had lived
as my uncle's steward and helper un-
der the same roof. 1t had been hard
self-denying life for him, perhaps, but
for me-or rather his love for me-he
would never have borne it. Till lately
the hard old man had never discovered
our love; and when he had, there was
no more peace for us under the same
roof. He had ragged and stormed, de-
clarlng that no niece OF his should mar
~ William Mapleson, on pain of disin-
herltance.
Mine was always weak, timid nat
urt. Perhaps some women Il was no
longer young girl; my thirtieth birth
day had come and gone would have
actively resented his tyranny, and as
serted their individual rights. l could
not | was in his power, for when my
parents died he had taken me in, pen
niless girl, and from that time given
me, in his peculiar, hard way, all that l
needed to live--not but what some
would have felt they fully earned such
keep, ] scarcely ever looked at it in
that way,
/ had been weak and helpless, alone
in the world, not very strong in health,
when he had come to my fathers fu-
neral, and after paying all expenses, had
simply said: now go up and pack up
your kit. You must come with me to
Norlington Farm. Can't say, I'm sure,
what old Betty will say, but there's
nothing else, as | see, to be done. Re-
member, my girl, tbs not lady's life l
am offering you, but | suppose you are
not too fine lady to know what work
means?"
If l had been then, all was corrected
by now. During those seven years l
have worked hard and lived hard. Yet
there are those who say old Peter Glen
ME is worth half million of money.
My golden week OF happiness is gone,
but, although William is gone, | am
strangely content. | do not regret the
step have taken. Since the morning
after my marriage my uncle had been
better and quieter. Old Mr.. Baines,
the lawyer, had been with him full
hour that morning, and old Jenkins