Year: 1859

CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK.


Mrs. Openshaw's Christian name was Alice


and her first husband had been her own cousin


She was the orphan niece of a sea-captain in
| Liverpool; quiet, grave little creature, of


great personal attraction when she was fifteen
| or sixteen, with regular feature and blooming
complexion. But she was very shy, and be-
| Geved herself TO be very stupid and awkward
ard WAS frequently scolded by her aunt, her
| own uncle's second wife5- SO, when her cousin,


Frank Wilson, came home from long absence


at sea, and first was kind and protective to her;


secondly, attentive; and thirdly, desperately in
| love with her, she hardly knew how to be CRATE
| full enough to him. 1t is true, she would have
preferred his remaining In the first or second


stages Of behavior; for his violent love puzzled
and frightened her Her uncle neither helped


nor hindered the love affair; though it was 90


ing on under his own eyes. Franks step-moth-


er had such variable temper, that there was


no knowing whether what she liked one day


she would like the next, or not. At length


she went TO such extremes of crossness, that


Alice was only too glad to shut her eyes and


rush bEndly at the chance of escape from do


mestic tyranny, offered her by marriage with


her cousin and, liking him better than any


)ne in the world except her uncle (who was at


this time at sea), she went off one morning and


was married to him; her only bridesmaid being


the heuse1naid at her aunt's. The consequence


was, that Frank and his wife went into lodgings,


and Mrs. Wilson refused to see them, and


turned away, Norah the warm-hearted house


maid, whom they accordingly took into their


service. When Captain Wilson returned from


his voyage, he was very cordial with the young
couple, and spent many an evening at their


lodgings smoking his-feff1e and slipping his


grog; butEhc tod them that, for ouietness'
sake, he could not ask therz to his own house


for his wife was bitter against them. They


were not very unhappy about this. ---


The seed of future unhappiness lay rather
IN Franks vehement, passionate disposition


which led him to resent his wife's shyness and
want of demonstration as failures in conjugal
duty. He was already tormenting himself
and her, too, in sighter degree, by apprehen-
5ions and imaginations of what might befal
her during his approaching absencea at sea. At
last he went to his father and urged him to in
sist upon Alice's being. once more received un-
der his roof; the more especially, as there was
low prospect of her confinement while her
husband was away on his voyage. Captain.
Wilson was, as he himself expressed it, "break-
ing up," and unwilling to undergo the excite
ment of a scene; yet he felt that what his son
said was true. So he went to his wife. And
before Frank went to sea he had the comfort
of seeing his wife installed in her old little
garret in his fathers house. To have placed
her in the one best spare room was step be-
yond Mrs. Wilson's powers of submission or
generosity a-s


The worst part about it, however, was that
the faithful Norah had to be dismissed. Her
place as housemaid had been filed up and,
even had it not, she had forfeited Mrs. VIII
sons good opinion forever. She comforted
her young master and mistress by pleasant pro-
phecies of the time when they would have a
household of their own; of which, in whatey-
er service she might be on the meantime, she
should be sure to form part. Almost the last
action Frank Wilson did before setting sail,
was going with Alice to see Norah once more
at her mothers house. And then he went
away.


Alice's father-in-law grew more and more
feeble as winter advanced. She was of great
use to her step mother in nursing and amusing
him; and although these was anxiety enough
in the household, there was perhaps more of
peace than there had been for years; for Mrs.
Wilson had not bad heart, and was softened
by the visible approach of death to one whom
she loved and touched by the lonely condition
of the young creaturet expecting her first con-
fnement in her husbands absence. To this
relenting mood, Norah owed the permission to
come and nurse Alice when her baby was born,
and to remain to attend on Captain Wilson.


Before one letter had been received from
Frank fwho had sailed for the East Indies and