Year: 1870

| ~ Ou W Shb " duN luiuO
for you in town."


Andrew Thurston spoke very camly,
and chance visitor might have thought
he spoke kindly. He certainly spoke
deferentially: but his lips were com
pressed, and there were lines upon
his brow which were not usual. Or
dinarily he would have said, as he drew
on his glove, "Now, my love, what
can | get for you in town?"-and he
would have spoken gayly and frankly,
with sprightliness and sparkle For
they had been married not year vet,
and only the day before Andrew de-
clared that they would never outlive
their honeymoon. dolly" he had
said, with kiss, "when we cease to
love, We shall cease to live; for life
could be nothing without love"


But now cloud had come-yery
small at first--not bigger than man
hand-but yet cloud Dolly had
never complained of fatigue or weari-
ness, and yet she was far from robust.
On this particular morning she had
arisen with an aching head, but she
did not tell Of it. She did not smile as
was her wont, and her husband asked
her what was the matter. His ques-
ton seemed to imply that her manners
had fretted him--there was almost an
accusation in it-and she replied, rath-
er shortly, Nothing"


"But there must be something
What is it?"


This, TO his wife, rendered over sus-
ceptible by her headache, seemed a
disputing of her word, and she an
swered-


81 tell you-nothing."


"But, Dolly, you wouldn't act so if
there was nothing the matter


"Act how?" demanded the wife,
flushing under this direct charge.
"What have l done?"


What could the husband reply to
this? What single act of hers-what
word, even-could he point out?-
Something in her manner had Jared
upon the sensitive chords of his heart,
and cloud had come between them;
but how could he tell it? How could
he give to another an idea of that
which he had only perceived because
it dropped discord into the exquisite
harmony of his jealous love? He could
make no plausible answer, and this
fretted him still more.


80, nothing, nothing" he said, draw
ing back. "If you don't choose to
confde in me, all right"


"The wife's eyes flashed now, and |
she spoke quickl Us spoke so quickly
and SO feelingly that the husband was,
in turn, offended; and, with a hasty
word upon his lips, he went away to
his chamber and made ready for the
city, which was distant but few miles
from his suburban residence.


When Andrew Thurston re-entered |
the sitting-room, with his hat in his
hand, he asked the question we have
already heard


"Do you want me to get anything
for you in town."


How cold his voice sounded to the
wife, who sat, with bowed and aching
head, by the curtained window. 1t
did not sound like the voice of her hus-
band, and she did not look up. She
would wait until he came to kiss her,
as he always did before he went away,
and then she might be able to speak
TO speak upon his bosom, where she
could hide her face-but she dared not
trust her voice now. She knew she
should cry if she>spoke, and she would |
not have her husband see her do that
if he were angry with her. But he
did not come to her. He turned away
without another word, and was gone.


Andrew Thurston knew that his wife
must have heard his question, aud as
she did not Immediately answer, he al
lowed his anger to express itself in a
slam of the door as he went out. He
pulled on his gloves very vigorously,
and stepped off with measured and
majestic strides. But not long So
The fresh morning air famed his brow
with a cooling influence, and he began
to think. He missed something For
the first time since he had been married
he was going away from home without
his wife's kiss. Surely cloud had
arisen upon the domestic horizon, and
something very much like storm had |
come upon their peace. He was un-
happy; and the more be meditated the
more unhappy he became.


'.Dollie was to blame" he said to
himself. But this did not heal his
wound.