The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1932-12-30
CHAPTER III

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Violet Manning was an extremely
pretty woman with an infinite capacity
for doing nothing. She had been the
only child, much spoiled and petted,
of a shopkeeper in White Water, the
next village to Hamstead. who had
stinted himself to give her "advan-
tages." She was sent away to would
be-but- idn't-quite-make- it. fashionable
boarding school, and acquired veneer
of culture, and contempt for her
parents, her neighbors, and her home
town, but not very much else. On her
return to White Water, after she was
Finished at school, and had taken
a three months trip to Europe she
might have been the belle of the coun-
tryside if she had only been. as pleas
ant as she was pretty. But her would
He SWANS fell off, one by one, before
"the disdain of her manner; and it was
with secret relief that, at the age Of
twenty-five, she accepted Martin Man.
ming, and went to live on Lady
Blanche farm. She was careful to
convey the impression, to him and to
Everyone else, that she was doing him
great favor to marry him, and he at
Ast, believed her. A sturdy couple
Dm "out-back"-Horace, or as he
Fas more frequently called, "Hod"
Evans and his wife Myra-were in
stalled in the big brick house as
"help." And Violet lay in bed late in
the morning, and sat in the north par
lor-heretofore used only for weddings
and -embroidering center
pieces, and went to church on Sunday,
dressed considerably better than any
one else in Hamstead. A woman with
more brains would soon have been
bored into activity by such an exist
ence. But Violet was not bored. She
was supremely satisfied at the easy
and pleasant lines into which her life
had fallen.
When she was a little over thirty,
Martin, who still worshiped her blind
", died, leaving her with two small
children, and enough money to live on
comfortably, If simply. Every Sunday
morning she went to church with
Blanche and Paul at her side, her
heavy black silk dress trailing down
the aisle behind her. Every Sunday
afternoon she went to the cemetery to
place flowers on Martins grave, tax
ing the children. When the role Of
bereaved and sorrowing widow began
to pail little, and no one stepped
forward to relieve her of it, Violet's
laziness took refuge in that of the
model housekeeper and devoted moth
err. Fortunately, with a contentment
rare in New England, Myra and Hod
stayed on; Myra ran the house to suit
herself. H0d helped the Woodworking
and plodding Seth with the farm labor
which Paul was supposed to be too del
icate to perform. since an attack of
scarlet fever, which had left him in a
weakened condition, had given his
mother the fixed idea that he had
heart trouble. To be sure, Paul moved
the lawns and weeded the garden. but
always under her careful supervision.
He had been away to a nearby semi
nary to school, and drifted half way
through course at an agricultural
college; but he was not a natural
student, and the farm ran along .well
enough" without his help. When for
no very clear reason, he stated that
he had decided not to finish his course,
his mother did not try to force him to
do so. More through lack of vital
interest than through viciousness. he
became dissipated. Violet excused
him. There were some things. she
said, that she couldn't. with modesty,
discuss with him. Boys always s0wed
wild oats for time, and then settled
down and married some nice girl, just
as Paul was going to settle down by
and by and marry dear Mary. There
was no use worrying or making a vul-
gar fuss over what was coming out all
right in the end. anyway. And mean
while Blanche was such comfort
Blanche had also inherited her moth
ers good looks, and the discomfort
which the latter had felt in her youth,
but there was more Manning" to
her, as Hamstead said.
At ten o'clock in the morning fol
lowing Philips unceremonious arrival
81 Lady Blanche farm, Violet was
lying in bed with a new novel. still
unopened beside her, when there was
brisk, II gentle, knock at the door,
rV' s-r~v walked in.