Year: 1874

life thanking heaven for the introduction into |!
it of this same feature of personal paragraphs.


CHAPTER IN.


But for our anxious desire to avoid MAX
ing long story, we should like to devote
considerable space to the married life OF our
hero at Podgcrs Place. We should like to
show, with more particularly than we do'
how with the progress of time the Ioathlng
which animated Scribbleton toward his ven
erable wife at the date of their marriage
had gradually diminished, until he began 10
regard her with feelings OF genuine fr'end!l-
ness; if not of friendship. Her advances
toward their marriage had been so bold, so
out of keeping with his exalted idea OF the
female character, that he had been shocked
and disguised beyond measure; and only the
strong merccnary desire to acquire her ample
fortune, and the belief that his welded life
must be of brief duration, had prevailed
upon him to accedc to her proposals. But
the marriage consummated, she appeared to
better advantage; and the study which Serb
blcton made of her satisfied him that her mo-
tive had been better than he had credited her
with 1t was evident that she almost wor-
SHIPPED him as an author; and Scribbleton
| discovered, too, that herlifc since her former
husband de;'.n l's't; boon oxce"ainrlv lonely.
tor she had certain disagreeablc points of
character that influenced the people of the
village to avoid her society, and, except the
lawyer and the doctor, visitor rarely enter
ed her dwelling. What, then, more natura!
than that she should earnestly long for COM
panionship, and that, compelled to eNtraordi-
nary measures to crafty this long ing. she
should bethink herself of the person OF all
persons with whom her thoughts were mos;
occupied and whom from the ever recurring
evidences Of his genius she most admired !:
And have not thousands of wiser and better
people than Mrs Podgers had recourse to
marriage to secure coveted companionshp
that was otherwise beyond their reach: "And
is she to be blamed,' asked Scribbleton of
himself, "bccause being 4 woman of little
cultivation and by nature of somewhat rude
instincts, she did not effect her purpose by
the delicate means that younger, more beau
! tiful and more refined gentlcwomcn rely upon
to lead masculine hearts into incxtricabe en-
tanclement: She was conscious that wealth
was the only attraction for a man of Scrib-
bleton' years and position to which she could
lay claim, and therefore she had not hesita-
ted to present it, in as alluring colors as pos
sible, to his imagination.


And, furthermore, Mrs. Podgers was SIM
cerely dcsirous of comforting upon her liter
ary idol the advantages of her wealth, mainly
because of her admiration for him, but in
part because she was extremely dissatisfied
with the prospect of its eventually going to
the Pegonk Society for the Relief of Desti-
tute Orphans. She was charitable enough in
disposition, but this society had so frequently
come up in unpleasant connections during the
lifetime of her former husband that she had
grown into cordial dislike for it, so that it
was the last charitable institution on the face
of the earth that she would willingly have
endowed. Had she been free to dispose of
the estate at her own pleasure, she would un-
doubtedly have made her will in Scribbleton's
favor, whether he was or was not her hus-
band. But this was privilege she did not
enjoy. and 1t was therefore another induce
ment to her to make the advances to Scrib-
bleton that we have recorded, and that, to
her somewhat coarse perceptions, had not the
indelicacy which would have caused our ideal
woman to turn from them with horror.


Scribbleton reflected upon all this, and as
he saw the favorable change which came
over her when she had effected her purpose,
when the former loneliness of her life was
dispelled and she enjoyed his constant pres
cnce, he regarded her first with liberation and
then with favor. Her evident devotion, the
sort of hero-worship which actuated her at
all times, the clumsy, senilc tenderness she
lavished upon him, operated to the steady re-
duction of his first repugnance; while pity
for her weakness and gatitude for her gcner-
Gus desire to enrich him filled its place, and
led him to adopt conslerate demeanor in