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THAT HUSBAND
OF MINE.
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THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
CHAPTER I.
Two long legs, a cut-away coat, a wide-awake hat—
that's Charlie ! A run at the door, a kiss, a hug,—
and ho has such long arms !—and then,—
" 0 Charlie ! what do you think ? "
"Why, I think I'm hungry, little woman," > he
said, sniffing the savoury viands just hot enough to
enjoy. • \
" Yes, hut what would you like of all things in the
world, best, just now ? "
"A cup-custard, I think, or a Charlotte Russe,"
he answered, following me into the little red-carpeted
sitting-room.
"You horrid old gourmand! always thinking of
eating! " I cried, the tears in my eyes.
" But what can a man do else about dinner-time P "
he asked, putting his hat down without looking, and
then jumping a foot high at the shriek I presently
set up.
" O Charlie, you've put your hat right into the
custard! I brought it out here to cool," was my
6
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
agonised rejoinder. And then I took* up the horrid
thing by its flapping brim, and held it there dripping
large yellow flakes.
"By Jove ! it's ruined! " he exclaimed in a tragic
voice.
" The custard—spoilt irretrievably ! "
" No, no, my hat; and I paid three dollars for it
yesterday ? "
" Charlie, may I put it in the fire ? " I asked with
a faltering voice. "It would soothe me inexpressibly
to see it burn."
" Certainly, my dear; cook it in any way you
please," he said, with, such gravity, that for a moment
I stood there, alternately crying and laughing, making
what Charlie called a pleasant little diversity. Then
I carried the hat into the wash-room, and poured cold
water upon it. "When I returned Charlie had taken
his place at the table; and I had just dished up the
meat, and Charlie had taken his first mouthful, when
the bell rang.
" I declare to the tocsin ! " cried Charlie ; and when
he said that I knew that something unusual had
happened.
" What is it, my dear ?" I asked with a face of
dismay.
" I invited Inglehart to dinner; and, upon my
word, I forgot it till this minute."
Words cannot express what I looked at that precise
juncture. Charlie shook his head with a long-drawn
sigh. For physical support he leaned hard upon his
knife and fork, and his eyes wandered helplessly.
The door-hell rang again.
" My dear Elsa, your servants are not well trained,"
he said at last lugubriously, rising,
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
7
" My dear Charlie, you are the most provoking- man.
I ever knew. Six potatoes, no pudding, and company
for dinner ! "
" Couldn't you manipulate that custard ? He'd
never know," said ,Charlie in a voice, that, angry as I
was, set me to laughing.
" Hush ! Go to the door, and stay upstairs in the
parlour till I call you; and I religiously hope that
you'll have to go hungry, to punish you."
He went. I heard steps ascending; I felt that
every blind was drawn, every shutter open. I knew
that Charlie would make a point of pulling every tidy
from every chair, and likely as not put his feet on the
sofa; but those were things that vexed my soul no
longer—not, at least, if I did not witness them: so I
set about rearranging my dinner.
Thanks to a law I had made early in my married
life, the tablecloth did not need changing. There
were apples in the house, which would do for dessert.
There was also a little choice honey; but that I had
mentally determined to keep for my sister's delecta-
tion, it was so exquisitely flavoured. There were
preserved peaches, and I contrived to get a little
cream from my next-door neighbour. If I could only
get Charlie's ear, and ask him not to expect another
cup of coffee,—he had already drank one,—I need not
make any more; indeed, there was really no time, for
Charlie rarely spent over an hour at noon.
I changed my dress: my flushed face I could not
change; and presently the dinner-bell rang them
down.
Jack Inglehart was my husband's dearest friend,
consequently I was very fond of him. A bachelor, a
splendid fellow, six feet high, and just turned of thirty,
8
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
I thought him, saving and excepting Charlie, the
handsomest man in the world. He had a dark face ;
his features were clear cut, and, as Charlie used to
say, blooded, or ancestrally handsome; and, unlike
Charlie, his clothes suited him: whether old or new,
black or gray, they always looked as if he had grown
into them. He was of spare figure, broad-chested,
light and elastic, and just the man to make an
admirable hero.
"Jack," said Charlie, as they entered the dining-
room, " here's a wife as is a wife. If you'll believe it,
I had the ill-breeding to forget to send the ' devil' up
to let her know that you were coming; and we'd just
sat down to dinner when the bell rang first."
" 0 Charlie, Charlie ! " wtis my mental apostrophe,
" why need you have said a word about it ? " and, if
the thought had been a voice, he would have heard it
in the next room, with the door shut.
" I'm really sorry, then," said Jack, his ease of
manner deserting him. " I'm afraid I've put Mrs.
Harman to some trouble."
" Pray don't think of it," said Mrs. Harman,
speaking in her blandest tone, which, considering the
boiling going on inside, was astonishingly to her
credit.
" It's all right now," said Charlie, sitting down in
high spirits: " you know we never dine off anything
but silver; and our cook, considering the salary she
gets, is something quite astonishing. Mrs. Harman
forgives you, or rather me; she has the serenity of an
angel, and the tenacity too : you can't put her out.—
My dear, another cup of coffee : I hope it's hot."
" Oh, yes," I said cheerfully, trying to catch his
eye, keeping my glance upon him, so that a small
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
9
stream of the brown liquid made its way to the table-
cloth; hut no, that husband of mine would not look
at me. I wanted to telegraph that that cup was all
he must ask for, in order to make the quantity hold
out. The cream was low now, for I had taken a little
out for the peaches; and I put in as scant measure as
possible, giving him a most expressive glance as I
handed him the cup, and making my lips pantomime
the idea that he was to have no more.
" Eh ? " said Charlie sharply, all attention.
I was instantly busy with the spoons.
" Beg pardon: I thought you were trying to tell
me something," said Charlie, with the expression of
an angel, hut which was so a propos that my cheeks,
red before, were like living flames.
" By the way, Elsa dear, you haven't given me
cream enough," he continued, stirring and stirring
his coffee. " Em very particular about my Mocha,"
he added, smiling innocently at Jack, whose cup was
lavishly supplied: " If it isn't the right colour, to a
shade, I can't drink it at all.—Elsa," and over came
the coffee to me, who had just made a most unchristian
and uncharitable wish, sotto voce, that the liquid
would scald him and so keep him still. Reluctantly
I poured out a few drops, looking intently in his
eyes.
" Oh, I see ! you haven't got enough ;" and he
nodded his head sagely, as who should say, " Give
me credit for sagacity."
This was the. drop too much : I could ha^e cried
heartily then and there. I was sure then that
Jack would never ask for a second cup, or accept
one if it was tendered him; and my fears proved
true. In vain I said there was great plenty—one
10
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
of those polite little lies that I dare say originated
•with Mother Eve when she was housekeeping : Jack
very politely declined; and mentally I shook my
hand clinched at that husband of mine.
What led me to apologize when I served out the
peaches is known only to those tricksy sprites who
manipulate the tongues of women when the head is
not on guard.
" Oh, by the way, too good to tell!" roared
Charlie. "Elsa had a splendid custard made :
what do you suppose it was seasoned with?" and
he laughed heartily.
" Pray, Charlie," said I, feeling desperate.
"Oh! it's nothing you could help, my dear.—
You know, Jack, there are people, who, when they
do a good thing, sometimes put their foot in it, as
the saying is: well, unluckily for my wife's custard,
I put my hat in it, eh ? joke, eh ? good joke!
Now, some women would have got mad, eh ? serve
me right, too ; but Elsa, oh ! she only wanted to
burn the hat, you know."
Jack's laugh was rather faint. I'm afraid he
saw the tears gather near my eyes. As for Char- •
lie, I dare not say what I couldn't have done to
him at that moment. At another time I might
have laughed ; hut my troubles had been gradual^
accumulating, till now the burden had actually
rolled upon my heart and made me weak.
" Oh Jack, I want you— Elsa is there any of
that honey left ? " asked Charlie, bland as a sum-
mer sky, turning to me.
It was on my lips to say " No," as it was not pos-
sible to annihilate that dreadful man ; hut, as I had
never yet told a lie with the saintly composure of
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
11
countenance which custom imparts, I knew that
voice and. face would betray me. At the risk of
losing the esteem of my gentle and Christian
reader, I will confess that I did absolutely at that
moment wish there were any possible means of
prevarication that would save that honey, with
which I so longed to be able to treat my sister at
her first meal. But Charlie's eye was upon me.
" Yes, I believe there's a—a little," I answered,
sacrificing the paring of the nail of the truth; and
I think I mystified Charley, for he stared and
stared at the changes of which I felt my face
guilty. t _
" Let's have it, dear.—Jack, it's the best honey
you ever tasted ; you can't get it in this part of the
country. I have a friend, Ned Talbot, who has a
fine ranch out in Santa Barbara, and he sent it me.
The fiowers there, it seems, impart a peculiar
aroma.—Thank you, love," as I put it in his hand
with a vindictive desire that it might make him
sick. "Now, Jack, if you taste of this, you won't
stop at a taste : try that."
And they didn't stop at a taste: they cleaned the
dish—the great—
But stay ! I must not allow my pen to run away
with me.
Suffice it to add that dinner came to an end. I
wonder if I am sillier than most women ; for when
Charlie and Jack went out, and Jack tramped up-
stairs for his hat, after I had said a final good-bye,
I just sat down, put a handkerchief to my eyes, and
cried like a school-girl.
Charlie found me so when he came in, as he always
did, to kiss me good-bye.
12
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
" Why little woman, what's the matter ?" he
asked.
I made dumb show for him to he silent.
"Jack can't hear: he's on the door-step," said
Charlie, sotto voce.
" I don't care : only go, go! leave me to myself,"
I sobbed.
"But what's the matter ? what have I done ? Ain't
you going to let me kiss you ? Are you tired ? "
"No, no! I don't want you to kiss me—no
matter—go, will you—go!" and I stamped like a
virago.
" Very well: if you see me brought home on a
shutter "—solemnly.
" I don't care : go ! " I reiterated; and then I felt
my hair slowly rise. What had I said ? should I run
after him ? What would all Green Street say ? a
woman flying after her husband with dishevelled hair,
red eyes, and a dishcloth in her hand ! But then the
terrible picture that assailed my fancy,—Charlie's tall
figure brought in between strangers ! Oh, dear ! and
I had impiously said I didn't care. What would be-
come of me P How should I get through the rest of
the day ? Charlie's last words, last look, would haunt
me. And, after all, what had the poor fellow done ?
Surely he could wash his hands in innocency, while I,
perhaps, had cancelled every Christian virtue that I
had prided myself on possessing.
Poor human nature !—so happy but a brief hour
ago, so rapturously happy, and now bowed down
under the veriest straws, unkind, unhappy, and un-
christian.
For some moments I waited, hoping that he would
come back; but I waited in vain.
that husband of mine.
13
CHAPTER II.
An liour before Charlie's arrival, it seemed to me
that I had hardly ever been happier in all my life.
My soul felt " capacious and serene " in its new joy.
Lina was coming at last. In my hand I held her
letter.
" Deak Elsa,—At last the long-promised visit shall be paid.
In October, the month of ripe grapes and red leaves, you will find
me at your door. And I am not coming as one of the hopeless,
this time, although I am close on to twenty-eight. You have 110
idea how young I have grown since Nathan married and took his
three children home. I miss them very much, having had the
oversight of them since Ad. was six. 1 have been weighed down
with mountains of care ; but now all is smooth and pleasant, and I
intend to enjoy myself. If you have any gentlemen friends—but
what nonsense ! consider it unwritten. I'll tell you why Avhen I
come. Till that happy time, adieu."
There were some expressions in this brief missive
that took me by surprise; but I was too happy to
speculate upon their meaning. All I could think of
was, that Lina was coming. The time, too, was aus-
picious. The fall cleaning was over. Charlie had
bought me a beautiful new Brussels carpet for my
parlour; and the bay-window and clinging plants and
hanging flower-baskets that adorned my sitting-room
gave an ah of peculiar comfort, and even elegance, to
that apartment.
To crown all, Charlie's salary had been raised ; and
our little home-world rejoiced in the sunlight of pros-
perity, so that our minds were bright and elastic, and
the present and the future seemed assured.
I longed for Charlie to come home, that I might
impart the good news. You should know Charlie ;
14
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
everybody should know Charlie; indeed, I am writing
this little book for the express purpose of making the
world acquainted with Charlie. Not that he is by
any means remarkable ; but he has the fewest faults,
the manliest virtues, and the least tact, of any man I
ever saw, knew, or heard of.
I married him, first because he was handsome, and
secondly because he was good. I know I should not
set the physical superiority over the moral one; but how
should I have ever known of his virtue if I had not
first been attracted by his face ? There are gray hairs
in the curls now, and the most delicate lines scarcely
visible, but still there, radiating from the corners of
his pleasant dark eyes; but—shall I confess it?—
though many changing years have passed since we
joined hands for life, at the altar, where he made all
the responses at exactly the wrong places, and let the
wedding-ring slip through his fingers from sheer ner-
vousness, and it took took two groomsmen just fifteen
consecutive minutes to find it, while the minister
fidgeted and the whole congregation smiled audibly,
yet with all his faults I love him still.
Charlie's a good boy, but he's pecoolier," said old
Granny Harman, sitting so straight in her ninety-
five years, and her Scotch muslin cap, and seeming to
my seventeen years a sort of compromise between a
statue and a mummy.
" He was always in trouble, from that high up/'
and she held her shaking hand a foot from the floor.
tc But then, Charlie's so good! " she added, with a
queer little smile, " an' I doot if his wife will ever see
a fault in him."
I never did, of course ; but then, as she said, I have
found him " pecoolier."
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
15
Aveline, or Lina, as my sister was always called,
liad not made a long visit for years. Sometimes, on
lier way to the mountains for a summer resort with
my brother Nathan's motherless children, she would
stop for a few hours. She was a bright, beautiful,
winsome girl, looking much younger than her years,
full of life, vivacious, ingenious, witty, and gentle as a
fawn. We were so fond of each other, Lina and I!
and she was the one thing in the world that I was
proud of, except my husband.
During the interim we had corresponded regularly;
and her letters were good enough to be printed,
Charlie said, as indeed they were. To my com-
prehension, Madame Sevigne's were tame in com-
parison.
For several years she had been tied to the cares of
housekeeping and children, bravely taking the place
of my brother's wife in the ordering of his home,
superintending all the domestic concerns, and devoting
her time to the training of his three boys.
Now she was coming to make us a long visit, just
as long as suited us to keep her. I knew what her
visits meant,—less care and work for myself, house-
hold ornamentations, pretty gifts, more time for visits
and amusement, all the sewing in the house nicely
done and packed away, jolly evenings, plenty of music,
my spring out-fit cut and made, my old bonnet trim-
med in style,myself rejuvenated; laughter, industry,
sunshine and beauty added to the daily life, and
sweetness to the daily bread.
I ran up-stairs, round the house, and in my lady's
chamber, on a tour of inspection. Lina should have
the best room, in my eyes a miracle of neatness and
elegance. Everything was ready. The shams that
16
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
I had embroidered with my own hands, and also
fluted with my own particular digits, reposed in their
snowy beauty on the downy pillows of the best bed.
All the little dainty fixings of the toilet-glass, used on
company days, I took from their boxes, and ranged
about the bureau. Tidies, mottoes, rugs, bottles,
china, marble, were speckless and spotless. I
triumphed in the possession of a spare room that was,
in my eyes, perfection itself.
" The last time Lina was here," I said to the smi-
ling personage who looked at me from the mirror
with a rather flushed face, " there was no carpet on
this floor; a pine wash-stand, a deal table, a single
cottage bedstead, and odd pieces of china bought at an
auction store, completed the meagre furnishing. Now
behold the contrast! For the wife of a poor old sub-
editor, it strikes me as being very grand indeed; and
Lina will see that we are coming up in the world.
Then there's the parlour!"
Down-stairs I ran, like a child eager for its play-
things, and opened the door of that cherished apart-
ment. The blinds were down, the shutters half closed.
An agreeable twilight tone softened the atmosphere,
in which the clear, bright colours of the carpet, whose
combination made at once warmth and variety, shone
as under a veil; and the pretty trifles, the lace cur-
tains, the gray sofa and chairs, the mantle-mirror
framed in rosewood, my particular pet and pride (had
I not dispensed with the aid of a servant for many
months, that I might possess that long-coveted
article?), matched so artistically with the slaty-gray
paper dashed with Indian red!
How pleased Lina would be with these signs of our
prosperity ! I could see her brown eyes glisten. I
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE. 17
could hear her eager comments. And yet that hus-
hand of mine was ignorant of her coming.
CHAPTER III.
How anxiously I waited for the clock to strike six,
I need not describe. Fearful forebodings of that
shutter, imaginings of direful disaster, a desire to
throw myself into Charlie's arms and confess all my
wickedness, and an occasional nullifying reminder
that I shondd in a measure put it in his power to re-
mind me of my weakness in all time to come, kept
me in a state of mental effervescence that prevented
me from either resting or working with any comfort.
I therefore put my penitence in the shape of a clean
tablecloth, and all the delicacies I knew he loved for
supper, and, when the door-bell rang at the usual
hour, went to the door with a beating heart and a
smiling countenance—to meet little Thorn, the office-
boy, with a note which ran thus:—
Dear little "VVomax,—Send by bearer rny cane and ulster.
Dick Blake bought a ticket for Nilsson, and you know how we
were longing to see her. Dick's wife, however, is sick ; so he has
given me an invite. Ordinary flesh and blood could not resist the
temptation, so I am going. The best of it is, I know you will be
glad, for you remember you almost insisted that 1 should buy a
ticket because we couldn't well afford two. I send with this a
letter from the old lady, which, after reading, please put away for
safe keeping."
The ulster and cane wTere forthcoming; and I sent
them by little Thorn, in no enviable frame of mind.
I had pictured to myself such a happy evening, and
plenty of leisure to talk about Lina, and make
18
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
arrangements for her future comfort; and I was
doomed to remain at home, and fancy the wonderful
things to which Charlie, for one or two brief hours,
might he transported from this work-a-day world.
Not that I envied Charlie this unexpected treat;
though, of the two, I was the best judge and lover of
music, and, if other matters had gone off as smoothly
as ordinary, I should have felt a downright pleasure
in his absence, and betaken myself to my book or my
piano practice. I promptly subdued the rebellion
going on in my mind, however, and with Aunt Jack's
letter in my hand marched into the little sitting-room,
and from thence" to the dining-room, where I ate my
supper in dignified silence, having no one to talk to.
Aunt Jack's letter was reserved for my leisure. It
wanted still nearly an hour to gas-light; and, after
my small modicum of work had been done, I sat
down to its perusal.
Aunt Jack lived in the West: the Far West it was
when she first went out from the civilization and
splendour of a New York experience to the savage
borders of the wilderness.
Her luxurious home, one of the most beautiful in
all the metropolis, passed into the hands of her hus-
band's creditors; for she would keep nothing back,
though she in law had an undoubted right to protect
herself. The change from a petted, envied existence,
to the then almost barbarous life of the frontier, must
have been appalling: yet she bore it unflinchingly,
and kept up her correspondence with a few friends,
while she helped with her own hands to fashion the
rude log hut they had to put up for shelter. It was
a treat to read one of Aunt Jack's letters, no less
because the log house had become a palatial residence,
and Uncle Jack the governor of his State.
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
19
Judge of my astonishment therefore, when opening
the letter, not taking notice of the envelope, I found
a sheet of rough foolscap, folded after the fashion of a
country clown, and written coarsely over in an un-
steady hand.
" What can have happened ? " I thought: * some-
thing is the matter, and Aunt Jack has employed
some rough amanuensis ; " and I commenced to read.
" Dear old Charlie-boy,—Mattie is now as bright as ever, and
twice as beautiful. We fairly rave over her. You know how you
admired her a few months ago. 1 am sure you would adore her
now, the darling ! She is waiting, dressed in the newest fashion,
for your approval. I am not certain whether we shall let you kiss
her or not, though for past favours I don't know but you have the
best right. She has not forgotten your floral gifts, neither have we.
The night we took her to the theatre you remember : I shall never
forget it. I should like to see her dressed in that style again. She
was first then, you know, and had no rival: she is first still in our
estimation, and so she may be still, I trust, in yours. Say the best
you can for her ; and, if you can come down to-night early,"!
promise you shall see your own face reflected in hers, for I know she
must be fond of you. There ! don't laugh at my ravings : you see I
am as crack-brained as ever over Mattie ; but I will allow you a
little corner in her affections, because you have always stood up for
her so manfully. Expect you to-night: there's to be a supper and
a jolly set-to. Don't fail.
Yours, E. Hastings."
My dominant impulse on reading [this letter was to
scream. If my hair had been down, I should have
pulled it lustily in the most approved tragic style.
Could it be possible,—such a letter addressed to my
Charlie, and bearing internal evidence that he was a
pleased recipient ? For a few moments I sat there
like a dumb woman. Then I re-read it, word for
word, over and over. Who was Mattie ? I knew no
Mattie, did not remember ever having heard of any
Mattie. When had he found time to visit her ? In
c 2
20
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
all our married life lie liad spent so few evenings
away from home. Might there not he some mistake?
No: the same handwriting on the back of the
envelope,—
CHARLIE G. HAEMAH,
At Office Rooms of " Regulator."
It had certainly been addressed to my husband.
My heart swelled with a sense of injury, and still
I would not accuse my Charlie : it was purely impos-
sible that he could thus deceive me. And jet my
very resolution not to doubt had the effect of increas-
ing my irritation. Where was Charlie ? Had he
really gone with his friend to hear Nilsson ? Could
this be a covert invitation to the same place? Was
Nilsson's name Mattie ? Looking at it in every
imaginable phase, I could not shift the difficulty.
" 0 Charlie! " I cried, with a great sob, and then
dashed the tears angrily away, as if every one were
a burning doubt that had no right to be harboured
there. Then I walked the floor, and pressed my
hands together, and ejaculated fragments of sentences,
and blamed Charlie, and despised myself for blaming
him, and did every silly, passionate thing that women
do under circumstances of sudden trial.
" I had a great deal rather he would die," I said
chokingly; " but then, I won't think of it; I won't
believe it." And I sat down, and pictured it all out
in blacker colours than before.
With all the sense of horror that had been forced
upon me by the reading of this letter not intended
for :my eyes, but substituted, in Charlie's careless
fashion, for Aunt Jack's delightfully effusive epistle,
there was a minor sense which I cannot describe, that
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
21
was compounded of curiosity and a longing for re-
venge.. Who Mattie was, and whether she was hand-
some, I would have given the world to know. That
she should in some way be punished, was a self-evi-
dent fact; and not till I perceived that my inclina-
tions were growing unmistakeably murderous, did I
rouse myself from a pained reverie, and with clenched
hands vow that I would not let it trouble me any
more. My resolution was taken. I would not act
like a jealous, disappointed wife; I would not even
let Charlie know I had seen the letter. And more, I
would array myself in my finest habiliments, and go
over to Mrs. Rattlin's opposite. She had begged for
an evening visit; and they were all gay over there,—
too gay, Charlie thought.
The Rattlins were bright, handsome, fashionable
people. There were five of them,—Mr. and Mrs.
Rattlin, married folks; one maiden Rattlin, a pretty
girl; .and two bachelor Rattlins, high-spirited, good-
looking fellows, who had tried their best to get up an
intimacy with Charlie, and failed.
What! stay at home, and mope, and such agree-
able people within a stone's throw ? I thought, as I
half smiled at my flushed face in the mirror, where I
stood, arranging my hair in the most becoming fashion,
not as Charlie liked it. Never! and I brought out
my finery with the resolution to be pitiless, not only
towards my own grief, but his likes and dislikes.
" He says I am pretty, magnetic, attractive : now we'll
see," I said to myself, " how his honour will like the
tables turned;" and I muttered with a singing, qua-
vering voice that belied my worst intentions,
"I'll be no submissive wife."
22
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
A shining figure smiled back at me when I could
smile,—a bright, saucy, fierce little face, rising out of
the soft grey and white lustres that Charlie thought
so becoming; but I choked back all thoughts of
Charlie, and descended to the sitting-room, armed
and equipped for conquest.
I had thrown my white wraps about me, prepara-
tory to sallying out, when the bell rang. Throwing
off my burnous, I went to the door,—for, as Charlie
often playfully remarked, our servants were not well
trained; and there stood Jack Inglehart. He looked
at me with visible admiration as I drew back, feeling
the colour come into my cheeks ; but he entered rather
timidly, doubtless imagining that I had dressed myself
in his honour; for the first thing he said, on reaching
the parlour, was,—
" Why, isn't Charlie at home ? "
"Ho, Jack: he has gone to see Mattie," I replied
with feigned composure.
" I beg your pardon," and he stood irresolutely.
" Gone to hear Miss Nilsson, I mean," I added,
with a laugh. " A very charming singer, isn't she ?"
" Oh, very! but I thought—that is, I understood
Charlie to say that he wanted me to step in on a little
matter of business ; so—I—came."
" Oh, it's all right!" I said flippantly : " when you
have known Charlie as well as I have, you will learn
not to have so much faith"—I put a fierce restraint
Upon my tongue. What! was I to forswear my wifely
allegiance on mere suspicion ? for a visionary defection
should I allow this man to think ill of my husband ?
I hastened to correct myself.
" Charlie forgets easily. He has not the best
memory in the world, you know; and then the calls
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
23
of his profession are very exacting. I don't wonder
sometimes that they drive everything out of his head.
But pray stay," I added: "I am all alone, and it
will he a favour. Shall I give you some music ? "
He acquiesced willingly; and I rattled off a few
waltzes, then sat down by him, and talked of anything,
everything, that came into my head, hut chiefly of my
sister, expatiating upon the pleasant time I meant to
have; while all the time an under-current of bitter
feeling kept sending the hot blood to my cheeks.
" Do you resemble your sister ? " he asked, during
a pause in the conversation, with what I thought a
rather admiring glance.
" Oh, no ! " and I felt myself withdrawing :
" sister Lina is the beauty of the family," was my
rejoinder.
The door opened, and in walked Mrs. Nettleton,
my next-door neighbour. She has a key that un-
locks the garden-gate and the side-door, and some-
times avails herself of the permission given her to
come, in case of any little domestic emergency, to
make a neighbourly call, and chat with me.
Though a person of considerable influence, she is by
no means cultured or careful; and her first words fell
upon my ears with startling emphasis.
" Good Lord! here you are courting, and I thought
you were all alone. Oh! it ain't your husband ! well,
I'm sure I ask ten thousand pardings," she added as
she came in sight of Jack. " Why, you're dressed as
fine as a fiddle. Well, I won't disturb you: two's
company, three's none."
"Pray don't go, Mrs. Nettleton: let me make
you acquainted with a friend of my husband, Mr.
Inglehart."
24
THAT HUSBAKD OF MINE.
" Oh! 'tisn't a friend of yours, then," she said
with her terrible laugh. " Much pleased, sir, I'm
sure, but I didn't intend making a company call. My
old man is grunting with the rheumatiz, and nothing
will do but he must have a mustard-plaster ; and I'm
all out of mustard, for I never eat it, and Cross-sticks
seldom." (Cross-sticks was the playful name she had
invented for Mr. TSTettleton.) "So I was going to
ask you. How just tell me where it is, for I'm 0 K
in these premises, and 1 won't steal your spoons or
your sugar."
" But it is locked up, and my keys are down stairs,"
I said, longing to pilot her out of the room.
" Oh, of course !—Mr. Riddlecart, don't never
marry a woman that's painfully neat. It's a real
relief to get into my own house, and count the cob-
webs, after I've been here. Besides, you can't make
a neighbour of her, for she keeps everything locked
up; and closed cupboards ain't my definition for
neighbourliness. But, my goodness gracious ! there's
Cross-sticks making up such faces, and me staying to
gabble! Good-night, Mr. Riddlecart," and she fol-
lowed me down stairs.
I stood irresolute after she had gone. Her coming
had thrown an additional weight on my spirits.
that husband of mine.
25
CHAPTER IY.
She will tell all tlie neighbours.
That was the fear that kept the blood in my cheeks,
so that I actually dreaded to go up stairs again. The
miserable consciousness that I had been found alone
with a strange gentleman, dressed in my best, and in
so near proximity that she had charged us with
courting, took away what little ease of mind I had
left.
As I slowly entered the parlour, Jack was turning
over the leaves of the " Selections from Favourite
Operas," and finally found one, which he professed
himself ready to sing with me, for it was a duet.
He, being near-sighted, leaned over my shoulder;
and while we were closing the song in a rather
colourless manner, for I could not forget myself, the
door opened again, and there stood that husband of
mine.
" 0 Charlie ! " I cried impulsively, and then turned
ice-cold, and gave him most stately greeting.
" Why, Puggie, how pretty you look! what are
you dressed up so for ? Ah, I see," and he turned to
Jack, laughing: "she never rigs herself in that fashion
for me, now-a-days."
" I thought you went to hear jSTilsson," I said, going
to the back of the room and sitting down.
" So I did ; but it occurred to me that without you
the affair was flat, stale, unprofitable. So on purely
philosophical grounds, I couldn't enjoy the music, be-
cause, don't you see ? there was only half of me there.
26
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
And then I happened to remember that I told Jack to
come down this evening ; and, on the whole, I wasn't
comfortable : so here I atn."
I longed to ask him how he had left Mattie. The
sight of him at so unexpected an hour seemed to
bite in the cruel thought that had assailed the outer
walls of that jealous nature which I had never before
suspected myself of possessing. But there it was,
—the creature with the poison fangs and the green
eyes.
" Come, Puggie,"—the name had amused me be-
fore, but now it annoyed me,—" give us some music
before we settle down to business."
" Excuse me, Charlie," I said, in a voice that
sounded strange to myself. " Mr. Inglehart must be
tired of my poor performance."
" I didn't ask you to play for Inglehart," he still
continued playfully,—"not exclusively. I want to
hear something."
" "What, after Nilsson ! No, indeed; and, if you
will excuse me, I will leave you to finish your busi-
ness together," I said, rising and moving to the door.
I felt that I could not sit there much longer with
that oppressive sense of injury battling with my better
self.
" So you won't play for us, and you won't stay
with us : are you ill ? " he asked, his tone altering.
I shook my head, and made an ignominious retreat;
for I felt that I could not bear his eye and his ques-
tions much longer. I wanted to get by myself, and
cry it out. I made what show I could of decency,
by turning bravely at the door, and trying to laugh
good-bye to Jack ; but by the time I was outside my
cheeks were wet.
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
27
Charlie opened the door—came out.
" See here, little woman," he said, " can't you for-
give and forget ? " But I rushed up stairs like the
wind ; and I thought he muttered something it might
not he pleasant to hear, as he turned again ; and then
the door shut to heavily.
With a sense of relief I began to throw off my
finery. It was evident Charlie thought I still held
the resentment engendered by the trouble at dinner;
and I was quite willing he should.
The next morning I awoke with a dull sense of
some injury tugging at my heart. Imagination
opened her tired wings again; and I turned away
from Charlie's unconscious face with a thrill of anger,
and a determination that I would do my duty, no
matter how beautiful Mattie might be, or how often
she lured him from my side.
It was scarcely light yet, but I could not sleep ;
and with mulish obstinacy, worthy of a woman, I
went down stairs one hour before the time, lighted
the gas, and the fire laid the night before, and then
sat down, folded my hands one over the other, and
thought and thought.
It was a dark morning. The rain blew against the
windows, the wind was high, now and then a cloud of
smoke puffed out of the stove. For how many years,
for how many mornings in all those years, had I thus
made of myself a servant, for the sake of the man I
loved ! I had pinched and economized, that we might
pay for the neat little house in which we had begun
our happy married life; and now one disloyal action
had made work, life itself, repugnant to me. My
worse, imperious self asserted its right to complain,
to despise, to hate the author of this sickening re-
28
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
pulsion that I now felt for the first time in my life.
I sat and mused in bitterness, until I heard
Charlie's step on the stairs. Then I stirred myself,
and longed for wings that I might fly away and he at
rest.
The fire burned cheerily, the kettle was singing
and puffing, the aroma of the coffee escaped on.
the air; hut the table was not yet set. In vain I
tried to raise the ghost of a smile to welcome my
husband: I could scarcely have done it if my life had
been at stake. I felt the lines growing hard in my
face, and my hands spasmodically clinching now and
again.
He evidently was not sure of his reception ; for, as
he came in, he avoided my eye, and pushed aside
something that impeded his passage with an impatient
movement. If there had been a cat there, perhaps he
would have kicked it: I don't know.
" Coffee smells good!" he said, rubbing his hands.
Ho answer.
" Cold morning; nasty walk down town."
Complete silence. Then with an explosive voice,
" I say, little woman, couldn't you swear something ? "
It was the old, inimitable manner, and my frigid
lips almost parted in a smile.
" Don't keep a fellow in ice longer than you can
help," he shivered, spreading his hands out to the
blaze. " I thought that shutter would do the business
yesterday: I'll contrive to make it a door this time.
I'm sure I'm all in the dark yet, as to what I offended
you about. I suppose it was asking poor Jack to
dinner."
" I don't care anything about that," I managed to
mutter.
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
29
"Don't peep like a sick canary :—give good whole-
some vowels. I'd rather hear Mrs. Nettleton's elo-
quent Billingsgate, almost. Come, now: didn't you
like it because I went to hear Nilsson ? speak out,
because I didn't like it myself."
" Did you go to hear Nilsson ? " I asked bluntly.
" Did I—go—to hear—Nilsson ? Why, didn't you
get my note ? "
" Y—es."
"Well, then, why in the name of the century-
plant do you ask me if I went to hear Nilsson P
Where were your ears last night, my dear? You
certainly heard me say that I went, and that I was
not pleased to stay there without you."
Ah! hut that was not it: the letter,—the letter
that I would die before I would show him,—that was
the direful cause. I felt my lips tremble, and my
eyes were hot.
" I feel as mean as a dog without any tail to wag,"
he went on, " with you in the doldrums. Come, give
me my coffee, and let me go ! Oh, by the way, what
does Aunt Jack say P "
This was the last straw. I turned my face away
to wipe my eyes.
"No bad news, I hope," he went on. "I didn't
read it myself, I was in such a hurry to get off some
items. Hey—what ? Why, little woman ! "
" I didn't—didn't get—get Aunt Jack's let—letter,"
I sobbed, thoroughly broken down.
" Didn't! why, I sent it."
" N—no, you didn't: you s—sent another."
" Another ! " there was a long pause : Charlie was
turning his pockets inside out. " Why, to be sure !
here's old Aunty's valuable epistle; and, let me see—
so
that husband of mine.
why, I must have sent you "—an ominous pause—
" Hastings's letter; well, yes, I did."
"Yes, that's the name; all—a—about—Mattie,
the horrid thing ! "
A light seemed just then to break upon Charlie's
mind. He is not quick-witted for nothing. He
sprang to his feet.
" I declare to the tocsin ! " and then he laughed.
I am not quite sure but he yelled; I think he did, to
the accompaniment of boot-heels,—a good way, I
thought, to brave it out.
" I'm a precious noodle: let me see that letter," he
said, the tears of excessive hilarity rolling down his
cheeks. I slowly and somewhat reluctantly procured
the letter. He read it, all the time laughing in an
undertone; then I felt myself clasped by two strong
arms, and drawn slowly to a favourite resting-place.
" What did you think of it, dear, and of me ? But,
ha, ha ! let me laugh a little, though I can imagine ;"
and on came another fit of laughter, which he tried
to smother in my neck. " Why, little woman, who
do you suppose Mattie is ? Look up here ! prepare
to be astonished. Mattie is—is—a steam-engine !
Oh, fie, fie, little woman! jealous of a steam-
engine !"
It was my turn now to hide my head, to cling close,
close to the heaving chest.
" How did I know ? " I sobbed.
"To be sure; how did you know ? That addle-
pate Hastings is the foreman, or something, of the
finest department in town, and he idolizes the great
brass-mounted creature: she was christened Mattie,
after his wife. Don't you remember the time they
had a jollification in the National, and I sent out to
that husband of mine.
31
grandfather's for flowers enough to decorate two steam-
engines ? That's what he means. 0 my sweet little
Elsa ! it would take more than a fire-engine, if she is
a beauty, to drive me away from you. So—and you
meant to turn the tables on me, woman fashion !
That's why you were so stunningly got up for
Jack."
" I wasn't got up for Jack," I made'quick reply.
" How did I know Jack was coming ? No, it was
worse than .that."
" What do you mean, my dear ? " queried Charlie,
with an anxious face.
" I dressed to go over to see the Rattlins."
He looked grave.
" I'm glad you didn't, little woman. Ned Rattlin
was in all the papers yesterday for forging papers to a
large amount. I'm afraid you would have found them
sorry company. As for Mattie, Hastings wanted me
to puff her, as I did before I left the offi.ce. I didn't
want to go to their supper: I'd a thousand times
rather stay here at home with you. Why, you little
witch, didn't I leave Nilsson for you ? " and—. But
no matter : imagine the making-up.
CHAPTER Y.
It was just the time to tell him of Lina's expected
visit, which I did between sips of coffee. I was really
too happy to eat, now that tormenting vision had gone.
I think I dreamed three successive nights of a steam-
engine that made horrible faces at me.
Charlie was delighted.
that husband of mine.
" We're nicely in trim for company,'! he said, " and
Ave'll have no end of good times. There's Jack, too,
poor lonesome old bach : how grand 1 we can hunt in
couples. I'll put a flea in his ear."
" Charlie ! " said I.
" Three exclamation points ! what's up now ?"
" Charlie," said I again, with solemn emphasis, "do
you want to spoil everything ? "
"I'm not aware of any such beatific intention,"
said Charlie, looking blank.
" Then don't you say one word to Jack: leave him
to me."
" Humph ! " muttered Charlie, " and find him lean-
ing on your shoulder. Don't think I'm blind, little
woman. Jack's all very well, but he's exceedingly
human, and he thinks you a paragon."
" Then what will he think of Lina ? for you know
in good looks there's no comparison. But indeed he
didn't lean on my shoulder; he's only near-sighted,
and stooped over to see."
" Yes, yes, I understand. But time flies. When
is Lina expected ? "
"This day week. We're to meet her at the depot
at six p.m."
" All right. How give me a kiss, little woman, and
promise me you'll never be jealous again."
" It will be utterly impossible," I made reply:
" whether I can say as much for you, remains to be
seen; " and, with this laughing rejoinder on my side,
we parted good friends.
It rained still, but my little home was full of heart-
sunshine again; what did I care ? My trials were few,
my duties pleasant, my husband loved me, and Lina was
coming. I ran hither and thither, happy as the bird
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
33
that sang in my window, in spite of the clouds and
the rain.
When I went up stairs a momentary depression
seized me. Charlie, in lieu of the towels which I had
forgotten to spread on the rack, had snatched from
the drawer two of my finest and largest tidies, that
had never yet been used, and, mistaking them for
towels in the dusk, had rubbed them into shapeless-
ness. There they lay on the wash-stand, appealing
mutely in their soiled beauty. I did feel a little pang
at sight of their condition, and gave a passing thought
to that husband of mine, that was> not as compliment-
ary as it might have been.
Perhaps, when I saw a sealed packet on the bureau,
labelled,—
"for my little woman,"—
and opening it found a new, bright, crisp, ten-dollar
bill, looking me innocently in the face, I did feel a
heart-beat or so of reproach. It was so like a man
to think of money as a restorer of good-will, and yet
so kind and thoughtful of him ! I put it with the
little store we are saving for a rainy day, trusting that
that hour may be far, far in the future, yet feeling
with the poet that—
" Some days must be dark and dreary."
Making good use of my time, I enlisted Jack in
Lina's favour, and that without guile; for I could
think and talk of nothing else. Jack had his weak
points in common with all humanity; and one of
them was his admiration of very young girls. It was
a childish fondness, I see now, bordering strongly on
D
34
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
the parental, fostering temperament of the man; but
then it troubled me, for I had set my heart on having
Jack for a brother-in-law. And my many rumina-
tions, coupled with the pleasure he seemed to expe-
rience in our little home, tended to convince me that
he would only have to look at Lina, to see her at her
best, and to listen to her sensible, sprightly, and at
times witty comments, to become strongly interested
in her. It may be judged, then, whether I did not
have a trying ordeal on the night before that in which
she was expected to he with us.
Jack and Charlie .were sitting on either side of a
small table, preparing for a game of backgammon.
The evening was cool, and I had built up a cosey fire
on the hearth, so that the sparkle of the leaping flame,
the brass andirons whose huge tops shone like balls
of fire, the gas-lights softened and broadened by fall-
ing through a globe of clear water, the deep rich
colours of the carpet, made our humble room a very
paradise of light and comeliness. I was busy stewing
oysters, in a social way, over the fire, and had just
brought in a small pile of dishes, and deposited them
on a table near by. Fortunately Jack sat with his
back toward me, while Charlie opposite him faced me.
The click of the dice in their wooden boxes made an
harmonious accompaniment to the crackle and snap of
the fire.
" Doublets, three goes ! " cried Charlie. " Never
happened before, did it, little woman ? and all sixes.
Why, it carries me nearly out! I shall beat this
time, old boy, as sure as fate."
"All right," answered Jack: "it will be the first
time. Fate ought to be good to you once."
" I'm sure it's not skill," Charlie made reply. "I'll
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
35
tell you what! When Lina comes, we can have a
hand at whist; eh, Jack P—Little woman, the oysters
smell good.—Yes, and Lina used to play an excellent
hand. By the way, how long is it since she has been
here ? 'Twas, if I remember rightly, in 18—, When
was it, Elsa ? "
" 1870," I said, almost gasping, and trying to catch
his eye desperately.
"So it was,—the year we came from Boston'.
Lina's no chicken "—
A cry from the cook, which startled both men to
their feet.
"What's the matter ? burnt yourself? " ejaculated
Charlie, rising, and coming towards me.
I gave him a look that ought to have stabbed him
to the heart, and at the same time held on my finger.
I had been building such a delightful little castle, in
which Lina was the sole mistress; and now to have
that husband of mine calculating Lina's age,—it was
too bad! Not that I would have deceived anybody
for the world; but I wanted Jack to see her before
any such matter-of-fact considerations came on the
carpet.
"Please get me a little cold water, Charlie," I
said; and out he went dutifully. I knew it would
take him some minutes to find a goblet, and some
others to get at the pump.
"Excuse me, Mr. Inglehart," I said, "Charlie is
so long!" And out I flew to hurry—perhaps to
harry—that husband of mine.
" Charlie, I don't want the water, but I do want
you to hold your tongue ! " I said angrily, " You are
determined to upset everything."
" Pray, what is spilled now ? " he asked.
d 2
36
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
" Your common sense. What in the world did you
want to speak of Lina's age for ? You know how
such things sometimes influence a man."
" O-h ! then you didn't burn your finger P You
miserable little hypocrite! I'll pity you again in a
hurry, I guess."
" But why will you be so imprudent ? "
" And how about you, Mrs. Elsa P What is burn-
ing now, I wonder ? "
The oysters !
I rushed back, but it was too late. The stew was
utterly spoiled; and Jack wras complacently stirring
the fire, quite oblivious of the horrid compound he
was brewing.
" Your fire was almost out," he said.
" I wish it had been quite," was my rejoinder, with
a touch of temper; for Charlie was laughing in the
doorway, and nothing was more dreadful to me than
that.
"Is our savoury mess to be given to the dogs?"
queried Charlie nonchalantly, "because I'm hungry."
By this time I was out of the room with my spoiled
dish ; and when I came back, heroically determined
to make the best of it, Charlie was gone, and Jack sat
reading the paper.
" I hope you're not very fond of oysters," I said to
Jack. I was sure Charlie had been bragging about
my stews.
"I am fonder of some things," he said, smilingly,
—" for instance, of music. Does your sister sing ? "
" Much better than I do;" and, once launched on
my favourite topic, I was happ}r, though secretly
wondering where Charlie had gone.
" Here you are, little woman ;" and my husband
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
37
made his appearance, followed by a tall mulatto,
hearing in his hand a tin can.
" Just off the fire," he said, as he dismi^ed the
waiter. " I like to do things in style : you'll perceive
my oysters are not burned," and he turned them into
the dish, spattering every thing, including my new
dress, with the gravy. However, he was so pleased
with his impromptu treat, that I could not find it in
my heart to say one word. So we ate our oysters in
peace, and were happy.
CHAPTER VI.
" Mind, at six, Charlie!" was my parting sentence.
" I'll be on time, Elsa. I'm quite as anxious to see
Lina as you can be, though I'm only half a relation."
I had decided not to go to the depot. In the first
place, I was not well; and in the second, as we kept
no servant, I wanted to make the place cheerful for
her arrival, which would not happen till after gaslight.
My house was in order from garret to cellar ; my
anticipations were of the most exalted kind, and there
was nothing to disturb my beatific enjoyment until
discord entered in the shape of Mrs. Nettleton.
She came through the kitchen way as usual.
"Well, Harman, I expect you feel as slick as a
kitten," was her elegant salutation,—" at peace with
all the world and the rest of mankind. What were
you- and your husband quarrelling about last night ? "
" Quarrelling ! what do you mean ? " I asked, in
surprise.
38
TfiAT HUSMNI) OF MINE.
" Why, I heard you in my room. Such stamping
and shouting! ' What do you say now ?' says Cross-
sticks : '^there's your model couple, fighting like cats
and dogs.' I tried to listen, but I couldn't make any
thing out. You see I'm-frank."
"I see : frankness is your redeeming feature. I'm
much obliged that you came to me first. The guar-
relling was this : Charlie was taking off Fechter, now
I remember, and did rant for half-an-hour or so,
while I personated Juliet. I think the laughing
might have redeemed us from that horrible suspicion."
" There's a good story spoiled," said that aggrava-
ting woman. " I was really and truly in hope that
you were having a regular family broil. I can't bear
everlastingly good people: there's a screw loose
somewhere."
" One don't need to fight in order to prove that one
is human," I said.
"No, I s'pose not: it breaks out in different ways
with different people. Now, when I found you moon-
ing on the sofa with that nice friend of your husband's,
who comes here a great deal too often "—
" Mrs. Nettleton !" I said, rising explosively,
" there are some things I won't tolerate, even in my
own house, even from a friend; and that is one of
them. Do you dare to insinuate that there is any-
thing wrong in Mr. Inglehart's visiting this house?
Can't my husband invite his friends here, without
some miserable gossip making scandal about it ? "
" So it seems," said my neighbour quietly.
" Why ! have you heard anybody speak of it ? " I
further queried.
"Plenty," was her provoking reply. "Has it ever
occurred to you that you are rather pretty ? "
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
39
" But who have you heard speak of it P " I per-
sisted angrily.
" Why, it was only yesterday Miss Smith asked me
who that handsome man was who came here every
night."
"He doesn't come every night."
" I was only telling what Miss Smith said," replied
that exasperating woman. "And Sam Long said
that' Charlie had better keep his eyes open, for there
was evidently a flirtation going on; and Mrs.
Preston "—
" Stop," I said, breathless : " I won't have another
word. Yes, but I will: what did you tell them
when you heard such scandalous speeches P"
" I told them I never knew a pretty woman that
didn't like to have her husband's friends admire her,"
she said mercilessly.
" Then you thought so too."
" Yes, I thought he admired you."
" And are men and women all alike ? is their
standard so low ? "
" There's pretty much of a muchness," remarked
.Mrs. Nettleton. "Perhaps it's because we're not
pretty, and haven't any particular Jacks,—we in the
street,—I can't say,—and maybe we all wish we
had: the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked,
I'm sure when Cross-sticks gets in his tantrums I'd
as soon have some friend of his to make me pretty
speeches as not."
"I'll tell Charlie just as soon as ever he comes
home," I said, indignant tears in my eyes. " And as
for you, I wish you hadn't come in ; for I was happy,
and you've just spoiled my day."
" And Satan came also," said my neighbour, with
40
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
her harsh laugh. "See here, Harman, don't go to
pulling anybody's hair; for, don't you understand P
it's all envy. JSTow, to speak downright truth, I
believe you love your husband to distraction; and
I'm awfully glad your sister is coming. The first
day I saw you, says I to Cross-sticks, 'She looks
sweet and good; but I'm sorry she's so pretty,
because we're all ugly in this street; and it's the
nature of most ugly women to want to pull out the
eyes of any one who has beauty.' Says I, ' Every
step that woman takes will be watched, every word
she says exaggerated, and every thing she does
twisted and tortured. If she looks at a man, she's
a flirt: if she don't look at him, she's cunning and
underhand. In fine, Harman, you'd no business to
be pretty: that's the long and short of it. I don't
want to tell tales out of school, and set you against
the street generally, because I believe it is no worse
than other streets. The fault's in you and your
bonnets, and — In fine, as I said before, you
should have been commonplace; and all the Jacks
and Toms in the world might have come here, and
there wouldn't have been a breath of scandal."
" I'll have nothing to do with any of them: I'll
cut them all," I said defiantly, feeling, but not
reasoning upon, the worldly logic of my neighbour.
Naturally I condemned myself easily. I had always
distrusted my own power, and was far enough from
wishing to attract, even before my marriage; and
to have such motives imputed to me, filled me with
horror. There was a distinct feeling in my con-
sciousness of the situation, that, however frank and
friendly my neighbour might claim to be, it was not
exactly kind of her to place the burden upon my
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
41
shoulders in that abrupt way. It was not possible
in the heat of anger to sum up the argument, and
look at the matter from her coarser point of view. I
could do nothing but suffer, and wait for a propitious
time to pour my grievances into Charlie's ear. I was
sure of his sympathy and condolence ; also I felt, in a
vague sort of way, that he would know how to punish
my defamers.
" Well, now, if you're going to behave like a fool
about it, I'm sorry I told you," said Mrs. Nettle-
ton, seeing my tears. " It's a triumph to make a
whole street-full of women jealous and curious.
Glory in it, my dear, and be sensible. Talk it over
with Charlie, and have a good laugh together:
he'll enjoy it, or I don't read him right. And now
for yeast-powder: I want that receipt you promised
me."
I went up stairs to find the receipt, and did not
breathe fairly until I saw the back breadths of that
woman's calico wrapper going over the door-sill.
Six o'clock came, and I had reasoned myself into a
more enviable frame of mind. Lina would be here
soon : Lina, with her grand, philosophical way of
viewing things, her calm good sense, would help me
bear my troubles; and, better than all, she would take
Jack off my hands, where my gossiping neighbours
had placed him.
How I watched the clock! how I listened for car-
riage-wheels! My head ached, and my face was
flushed; but I had finished every detail of household
business that had to do with the comfort of my ex-
1 e-pan in the house was
gold, silver, coffee, sponge, and fruit-cake, that my
delicate manufacture of
42
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
long experience and tested skill could compound,
while the tea-table, I flattered myself, could not have
been improved. At last, seven o'clock, and there
was no carriage, but Charlie's step instead. It was
a great disappointment, and I felt myself growing
chill.
" Saw everybody out of the cars, and no sister to
bring home to my poor little woman."
" O Charlie ! "
" I know: it's a keen disappointment. But there's
another train due at ten: I'll be there."
"But she would have telegraphed,—I know she
would. Are you certain you went to the right
depot?"
"To he sure I am: the P. and 0., as you told
me."
" 0 Charlie! "
" Explosion number one : now what have I done ? "
" It was the D. and 0. How could you misunder-
stand me?"
" My dear, I took it down from your lips."
" I told you plainly as I could speak, the D. and
" I am unwilling to tell you so, but you are as
much mistaken as if you had shot that venerable
personage known as your grandmother."
" Charlie, you are unkind."
" Elsa, you are unjust."
He did not know all I had had to bear: he only
saw me trying to choke down the tears.
" Women are first-class engines," he said; "upon
the slightest conflagration, or hint of one, out pours
the water; the supply is never cut off, I believe.
Come, Elsa, we're not making it any pleasanter, to
that husband of mine.
43
stand here and cackle till there's hot blood. Kiss
and make Tup, and I'll to the D. 0. and Gr. S. if you
say so, or farther still. I asked Jack to come here
to-night."
" Charlie, is it possible ? "
" But he declined."
" Oh! there's one man in the "world, then, in the
possession of a few grains of common sense."
" Thank you, Mrs. Harman," said Charlie with
freezing dignity.
"Well, I didn't mean—that is—I "—and a vision
of Mrs. Nettleton presented itself before me.
"I've no doubt Jack would feel immensely flat-
tered. I'll tell him some time, but now I'm off."
" Charlie! " but he was gone, and I flung myself
down, quite miserable.
CHAPTER VII.
The tea gave a most appetising odour, and here
was my husband gone without his supper. During
the time we had stood there bickering, he might at
least have eaten a biscuit and taken a sup. And I
had sent him away in anger, or as near anger as he
ever allowed himself to experience. Would Lina
wait for him at the depot F Had she directions with
her? did she remember the number of the house, if
she attempted to come by herself ? And what would
she think at meeting with no one in that great, noisy
depot, and at such an hour ?
With these thoughts I tormented myself, walking
in and out of the dining and sitting room. I might
44
THAT HUSBAND OP MINE,
look for them soon now, for the D. and 0. Depot was
much nearer than the other; and I flew to the window
at every repetition of the sound of wheels. It seemed
to me that for months I had not seen so many
vehicles pass. I learned afterwards that there was
a wedding a long way down the street; but when a
carriage stopped in front of the house, I rushed to the
door.
Only Charley made his appearance : it was cruel.
"I was so sure she was there that I hired a
carriage," said Charlie ; "and of course I had to
drive home."
" And you didn't find her ? "
" I did not. There's some mistake : she has been
detained, or she didn't come. Depend upon it, some
one asked her to marry him, just as she was starting,
and she went to church instead."
" Charlie, don't joke," I said.
" If I had a modicum of Jack's common sense,
now! "
I grasped his hands, and when I lay sobbing on
his bosom, I think he was repentant.
" There, there, we won't joke any more on serious
things," he said, soothing me. " There's some little
mistake; but depend upon it, it will come out all
right. Let us be good Christians for once, and leave
it in His hands. Won't you give me some tea P I
confess to feeling a little fatigued."
We ate and drank in silence. Then as we sat
together, I gave him the outlines of Mrs. Nettleton's
visit. He started for the door: I never saw him so
angry.
" I'm going to tell that woman never to put her
foot inside my door again," he said.
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
45
" Charlie, you wouldn't he so imprudent: you
know he is one of the proprietors of ' The Regu-
later.'"
" I don't care for old Nettle, and I don't care for
his wife. I'm not going to have you murdered by
inches, and I'll tell that desperate old meddler so to
her face."
"That's right, Charlie! keep your promise, my
son," said a well-known voice, and there stood Mrs.
Nettleton, her harsh face aglow.
Charlie's bravery oozed out at his fingers' ends : I
knew it through sympathy.
A woman who could forgive such language from a
man must have been more or less than human. I
have never yet exactly found out in which category
Mrs. Nettleton was, but she certainly behaved with
admirable wisdom. She must have known that she
herself was indicated by his speech, but she had the
adroitness to say,—
" I'm not old Mrs. Mullinary, to be sure; but I can
settle a score of that kind a good deal better than you
can. Men can't fight women, but women can. Mrs.
Mullinary is a cheat: she never leaves you the full
pint; I've tried her again and again, and Mrs. Harman
has found her out, I suppose. Oh, leave her to me !
I'll worry her so that she'll go to confession to-morrow
with a heavy heart."
" To be sure, Mrs. Nettleton," said Charlie, with
cold politeness. He could have knocked a man down
easier than to have exchanged half a dozen angry
words with a woman, valiant as he had seemed.
"Your sister hasn't come, then. Half of Gr Street
has made that discovery ; now, that's curious."
" I went first to the wrong depot," said Charlie.
46
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
"So I imagined, for my little nephew told me1 he
saw your sister—at least, the lady who was here some
years ago—at the upper station."
Here was new trouble: what if Lina had missed
her way! I fancied a thousand incoherent, impossible
things. All my neighbour's eloquence was lost upon
me.
" She's been here before. She's an English tongue
in her head. She knows where you are. She's no
fool, and no chicken either. Don't be a goose, but
just sit still and wait patiently. Depend upon it,
before you know it, she'll be here."
At that moment a carriage rattled up to the front
of the house. Charlie was out like a flash, bare-
headed. I heard the old merry laugh; and almost
before I could speak or think, I was in her arms, all
cares forgotten.
Ah, what a sweet meeting it was ! The old self,
too, scarcely a year older in appearance since I had
seen her last! And that laugh ! all doubts, all cares,
all bad visions, fled before the contagion of its happy,
care-free music.
" I've had such an experience!" she said, laying
aside her wraps ; " and oh, I'm so tired! "
" You'll have supper, then : everything is ready."
" So I see; but no supper, if you please. I've been
fed like a princess, and made a most charming ac-
quaintance. 0 Elsa ! and he knows you ; and really,
he is so handsome, so companionable, I wonder you
never wrote about him."
" She means Jack ! "
"She has seen Jack! "
Spoken unitedly by two persons slightly chagrined.
" 0 Lina ! and I did hope to have the pleasure of
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
47
introducing him to you," I said ; " but if you're not
too tired, tell us all about it."
Mrs. Nettleton had disappeared.
"Well, I am very tired, and suffering with my old
enemy, the headache; but I must tell you why I
came so late. In the first place, nobody was at the
depot."
Charlie explained, with my voluble assistance ; and,
for once in my life, I was not told not to interrupt.
" Never mind: don't waste any regrets upon it; I
assure you I don't. Of course, as we neared the city,
the cars thinned out, for it seemed to me they stopped
every few minutes. At the last depot but one, a young
man entered. He reminded me of Charlie, only of
course he was not so good-looking."
"No, indeed," with some energy from myself.
" Nor so old," continued Lina with a laugh.
"Not so mature, if you please, Miss Lina," cor-
rected my husband.
" I don't know why I wks attracted by his face ; but
I was, for some mysterious reason that psychology
fails to account for so far."
" Oh! I don't wonder. Jack is splendid ; isn't he,
Charlie ?" with an annoying recollection of Mrs.
Nettleton and her visit.
" I believe he so considers himself," said Charlie
gravely.
"Well, never mind: I presume he is quite as con-
ceited as good-looking men generally are. I looked
at him, and he looked at me, always rather stealthily,
and especially, on my part, because he brought Charlie
to mind, as I said before."
" IJmph! " said Charlie ; and, laughing merrily,
Lina continued,—
48
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
" When I saw no Charlie, and no Charlie's better
half, I was very much disappointed; for my journey
had begun to tell on me, and I felt tired and hungry.
However, I had sent my luggage by express; and
after waiting full thirty minutes, and no indications of
anybody coming for me, I hired a carriage, and gave
the directions. Oh, yes ! he knew just where to
go, had been there before : so he shut me in, and
slammed the steps, and off'we "rattled.
" It was quite too dark by this time for me to dis-
tiuguish the way; but it seemed unconscionably long.
I peered out, but could find no landmarks. At last we
stopped before a house somewhat resembling this, but
much larger, though I did not notice that circumstance
at the time. Up the steps I toiled, after paying, and
rang at the door. It was answered by a little fairy
about as old as your sweet May would have been, if
she had lived; and I fancied I saw a resemblance."
Charlie sighed. The loss of our darling had been
the one terrible sorrow of our lives, — our little
heaven-held babe, who staid with us but one short
year.
" I couldn't help kissing her for May's sake," con-
tinued Lina, " though I wondered at her presence. I
was ushered into a lofty parlour ; and then I knew I
was lost. A sense of strangeness came over me. At
the farther end of the long room a gentleman sat read-
ing a newspaper; and if you will please tell me by
what instinct I recognized the back of his head when
I had been admiring his face for the last hour or so,
I'll be obliged.
" He rose, after a moment or two, laid down the
paper, turned, gazed, started,—I thought he changed
colour,—and came forward.
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
49
"' Pray, sir, will you be kind enough to tell me
where I am ?' I asked.
"' Mrs. Harman, a widow lady, keeps this house,'
he said, and I saw the corners of his mouth curl up
under his moustache. ' I fancy you have been brought
to the wrong place.'
" ' I certainly have*-' I said; adding, soito voce, ' I've
not heard of Charlie's death, and I hope Elsa isn't a
widow. Besides, this house is utterly strange to me.'
"' Curious,' he said: ' the coachman must have
been tipsy. I know your destination. Charlie Har-
man is a friend of mine: I am very intimate at his
house; and you—are the sister they are expecting.'
" ' I certainly am; and I cannot think why he
failed to put in an appearance,' I said, feeling su-
premely ridiculous with that six-footer laughing at
me, as I knew he was, inside. Fortunately the widow
Harman came in just then ; and learning the facts of
the case, and that her handsome boarder was interested
in my situation, she was kindness and civility itself.
While the gentleman went out to get another hack,
she had some refreshments brought up, and then in-
sisted on my resting. I was never more kindly treated
in my life, by your friend for your sakes, and by the
landlady, I shrewdly suspect, for his sake ; for she
can't be much past thirty, and a very pretty woman
too. So there you have the whole story."
" And all your scheming, little woman, to keep
Jack out of your letters, that you might have the
supreme satisfaction of being the first on the field
to make them acquainted, goes for nothing," laughed
Charlie.
It was too bad.
E
50
THAT HUSBAND OF MTNF.S
CHAPTER VIII.
Such confidences! such happy chats! but of course
you know all about them, kind reader. The days
and weeks rolled by on golden wheels. Charlie the
tactless behaved angelically, and Jack came and went
as usual; no, not quite as usual, for whereas formerly
he manifested some respect for wholesome hours, he
now seemed utterly unaware how the time flew. And
he seldom asked me to sing: who could wonder,
listening to the rich, liquid tones of Lina's voice P
I can see her now as she was then, her rippling,
golden-brown hair, clear beautiful profile, with the
straight brows, the perfect nose, the red lips, the
graceful pose, looking for all the world like a lass of
ripe eighteen; throwing me—where I was very willing
to be—in the shade completely.
Our mornings were well filled with work and merri-
ment. Many things in the menu underwent a trans-
formation. Lina netted and talked, crocheted and
talked, sewed and talked, worked with broom and
duster, and made things straight, and talked. We
were always together, always finding new, rich mate-
rials for the use of our tongues. Some of the neigh-
bours came in, and went away full of praise.
Mrs. Nettleton still made her impromptu visits;
and Lina studied her, and laughed at her, not as an
enemy, not with a sneer or contempt, but a hearty
sense of the humorous, and a thorough appreciation of
the roughness that concealed a deal of good sense and
good feeling. And in the clear delightful evenings,
Jack came, and I saw my heart's desire gradually be-
coming accomplished. He watched Lina absorbingly
THAT HUSBAND OF MIND.
51
at first; tlien he deferred to Lin a ; and always when
we left the house for recreation or amusement he took
Lina.
It seemed to me I renewed my youth. My old
interest in outside matters came hack to me. Together
we enjoyed concerts, lectures, galleries; and it was in
one of these latter, that Charlie distinguished himself
after the old fashion. There were, among a great
variety of brilliant works of art, some much-talked-of
pictures. Charlie, though knowing little of the tech-
nical rules of the profession, took upon himself to
criticise the paintings that particularly pleased or
offended him. One of these last was considered by
some critics quite a masterpiece, and by him a failure.
We had traversed the length of the gallery ; and
Charlie lingered so long before some of his favourites,
that I attached myself to Jack and Lina for the second
round. Presently, in due course of time, we came
across Charlie, talking with a little man in black, with
a pale face and heavy beard.
"Hallo ! " said Jack, " Charlie has made acquaint-
ance with the painter of that picture, I see. I Avonder
who introduced him. I should particularly like to
know him myself."
We strolled on and near his vicinity. Charlie's
voice was audible, his movements energetic. A
terrible dread came over me. Suppose Charlie did
not know the man, but had picked him up as he
would any stranger. I grew positively cold, and drew
a little nearer. My presentiment was correct.
"I tell you," said Charlie, "the man who painted
that picture was a blunderer, an ignoramus. I don't
see any thing in it to rave about."
" Does it follow, because its beauties are hidden to
£ 2
52
THAT HUSBAND OF jj1KEi
you, that therefore it is worthless ? » queried the little
man, with a peculiar expression of the eye and lip.
"0 Jack ! he has made a blunder," I whispered:
" what shall we do ? "
" Let him find it out," laughed Jack.
" I never saw such colours in nature; you never
saw such colours in nature. Candidly now, did you
ever see just such a sky as that P "
" Precisely," was the answer.
"I should like to know when and where," said
Charlie explosively.
"When and where I painted it," said the artist
composedly,—" near Munich, in the year '36."
Charlie turned about. His face was a study. He
looked the little man over from head to foot. Jack
nearly exploded at his response.
" Ah ! it may be very like a German sunset; but
I'll be whipped if ever we get up any after that style
in America." And again, "I beg your pardon; but,
if it wall be any palliation of my rudeness, my wife
admires your picture very much."
The little painter laughed heartily; and as we
turned, after moving on a short distance, we saw the
two shaking hands as vigorously as if they had been
friends for a lifetime.
" Isn't it queer ? " said Charlie, when he rejoined
us. " I've made the acquaintance of the most famous
painter in the world, by abusing him."
" Charlie," I responded, "I was ready to die with
shame when I heard you talking to him."
"Well, you needn't have felt a bit badly. He
complimented me for my straightforward blows ; said
it was refreshing to hear the truth now and then from
a plain-spoken man."
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
53
" But did he think it was the truth ? " asked Jack.
" Oh! well, of course he knew it was, to me. I
don't s'pose I've convinced him that he is not a
painter."
" I'm sure I should hope not," laughed Jack.
" But still they're an awfully conceited class," said
Charlie. And yet he confessed to me privately, that
he never had felt so cut up in all his life, as when he
learned to whom he had been abusing the picture.
" But I was hound to put a bold front on, and stand
my ground; though of course I apologised." Charlie
was very silent during the rest of the evening, and
we could hardly prevail upon him to express an
opinion. Lina and Jack also seemed somewhat con-
strained, so much so that I wondered if anything had
been said of that sweet old story to which generation
after generation has listened since the world began.
CHAPTER IX.
Curiously enough, I began to feel that I had lost
Lina. Gradually her merry spirits failed her ; and
so did her tongue. She sat through long silences,
seemingly lost in thought. What could be the
matter ?
" When is the wedding coming off? " Mrs. Nettle-
ton asked, one morning, when Lina was upstairs.
" I don't know that there will be any wedding," I
made reply.
" Then I can see better than you can through the
walls of a brick house," she said. " I think the
54
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
neighbours have stopped talking now: that man is in
love with your sister."
" Of course he is in love with her," I said: " who
wouldn't be ? "
" Well, I dare say a good many men have seen her
before," -was her dry' rejoinder.
"Yes, and she has had proposal after proposal;
but she never would give one of them the least en-
couragement. How could she, with three children
and a helpless brother to take care of? Now, how-
ever, she has really got time to fall in love; and I
hope she will. I won't say I have schemed for it;
but I have hoped, and perhaps prayed for it."
" All right. Of course the Lord has heard your
prayers : I'll take that for granted. Do let me have
a hand in the wedding-cake, for luck, if it's only
mixing the raisins, or beating the eggs."
" We'll see about it," I made gay reply; hut I was
not quite at rest about Lina. Something troubled
her: I could see that. The signs were unmistak-
able in Jack's manner, if I could read anything of a
man's heart, and I pride myself on my practice that
way in Charlie's case, and of being a shrewd prognos-
ticator; but Lina, my own sister, puzzled me. She
would Hush and glow at the sound of Jack's footstep,
her eye would brighten if he spoke to her; and then
would come that droop and dejection as soon as he
had gone, the effort to rally, the dead failure, and her
abrupt disappearance. Never before had she been so
unwilling to talk about herself; and, if I spoke of
Jack, she quickly turned the subject.
I bored Charlie on the subject, but he could not
enlighten me further than to say,—
" Jack will have her if he can get hef ; but of late
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
55
I have seen myself, that she rather discourages his
attentions."
" 0 Charlie ! I hgven't noticed : that is terrible ! "
and I set myself to work harder than before to study
Lina.
" Lina, what do you think of Jack ? " I made a
venture one day, when she was sitting in the hay-
window, trimming a new dress for me.
" What do I think of him ? "—she looked up in
some surprise—" as much as ever I did. He is an
exceptionally fine fellow, quite as good as Charlie,
which is saying as much as I ought to."
" Oh ! " only I thought you were rather cool to-
ward him the last time he was here," I ventured.
" Cool—why—I don't know," and she bent lower
over her work, but not before I saw her face go from
red to white. " Was I at first so very demonstrative ?
I hope not."
" Hot any more than you should he, dear, and yet
there was a difference. Do you know Jack is coming
to tea, and will bring my namesake with him, by
special request ? I do hate to entertain a stranger,
and yet it seems as if so much was due her for her
kindness to you."
" Coming to tea! " said Lina. " I wonder if—if
he ever gave that poor little soul any encourage-
ment."
" What poor soul P "
" That widow: nobody will ever love him better
than she does, I fancy. He ought to marry her."
" Lina, are you crazy ? "
" There's no law against it, I suppose: she cer-
tainly is very near his age, and she as certainly loves
him. I saw that during the little time I was there."
56
THAT HUSBAND OF MINK.
"Bat I'm sure he don't love her: I'm positive."
"You were always one of the positive kind," said
Lin a; " but for all that he may marry her, you know."
" Never! and you don't think so yourself, you
know you don't, Lina. You know you'd feel like
death if he did."
She gave me one look,—she was very pale,—then
she gathered the dress up in both hands, suddenly,
passionately, and hurried from the room.
What had I done ? Was she angry P I had never
seen her angry in my life: her judgment was always
so cool, she was so free from absurdities of all sorts.
I felt like a culprit, and yet a sadness possessed me;
for I knew that underlying her silence and her action
was some secret sorrow that I could not even guess at.
I put by my work, and wandered about aimlessly.
If Charlie had not come home loaded down with
bundles, I could not have borne the suspense much
longer.
"There, look at that! " he said. "Did you ever
see such glorious oranges P Every one cost six-
pence, and I suppose a dozen will do! What! not
in the doldrums again, I hope! What's the matter
now ? "
I related my conversation with Lina.
He laughed at me.
"Jack loves her, sure as guns," he said; "but
maybe they've had a little tiff. Don't you know the
course of true love never does run smooth ? Even we
have our small crosses, you know, little woman."
" Oh, but such very small ones ! "
" Yes ; but nevertheless they're spots on the moon.
Jack will soon lose the languor of intention which
marks the first stages of that romantic episode called
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
57
love, and declare himself: then it will come ont all
right."
"But why in the world did Lina fly away from me
in that fashion ? can you imagine ? If she likes him
and he likes her, one would fancy she might be con-
fused or nervous, but not angry or unhappy."
" Oh, well! don't meddle with it, my dear ; such
things always grow on one's hands ; let them alone.
If there is any trouble, be sure Lina will tell you about
it in time."
" But it makes me a little unhappy," I replied. " I
did hope it would be all sunshine while Lina was with
us ; but she has ^changed within a week: she's not like
the same person.""
" My dear, did you expect to get through Lina's
visit without an infliction as old as the Jews, that of
'hip "htppp t 'o ? "
" What do you mean, Charlie P "
" Trials, troubles, and tribulation. When I was a
boy we had a favourite play. Several of us would be
blindfolded, and then joining hands march valiantly
forward, repeating: —
'Here we go through the Jewish nation,
Trials, troubles, and tribulation,'—
and, perhaps, we brought up with a bump against the
barn-door, or a flounder into some hole. I don't
think we ever tried it without coming to grief, and it
was a favourite play. So if you look for unlimited
pleasure in this visit of Lina's, there'll be sure to be a
barn-door in the way, and you might as well make up
your mind to stumble against it. We are all blind-
folded, groping'as soon as we come into the world, and
groping till we go out of it: at least, that's what the
minister says : but I didn't mean to stumble on to
theology. Let Lina go her own way, and don't inter-
58
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
fere. My word for it, she'll tell you everything, or
slie's no true woman."
I went up stairs to call my sister to dinner, after I
had put the oranges away; and here let me say
that, having a distaste for the fruit, I forgot all about
them. Lina's door was locked; and when I knocked
she declined coming down in a voice that betrayed
tears, pleading a headache. It was very strange.
The more I puzzled over it, the stranger it grew.
However, we ate dinner without her, though I must
confess it was a silent meal, missing her merry
chatter.
How should I get at the cause of my sister's de-
pression ? Jack was unchanged with regard to his
interest in her, but evidently felt that there was a
change in her manner towards him. Charlie had
counselled me to leave the matter alone, and I had
always found it safest for me to defer to his judgment.
Presently came the postman with letters—all for
Lina. I had the curiosity to examine the postmarks.
Two of them were from old Scranton, the home of my
childhood ; one bore a foreign seal; the other was from
a neighbouring town to our birthplace.
" She'll be glad of the home-letters, I "know," I
said to myself as I went softly up stairs. " I wonder
who her home correspondent is : such a large clerkly
hand! I never saw it before; but of course I don't
know all Scranton."
I knocked at the door; a faint " Come in " was the
response. The room was quite dark: Lina was on
the lounge at the foot of the bed. She had been
weeping.
" Here are letters for you," I said, holding them
out. She took them with a faint cry ; threw the two
THAT HUSBAKD OF MINE.
59
superscribed with the heavy hand aside, with, I
thought, a shudder; thanked me, and proceeded to
open the others. All sorts of wild thoughts assailed
me as I went down stairs. Had Lina been spending-
recklessly, giving away or lending money, or was her
income in danger ? Something she had done to cause
this unusual excitement; and the two missives that she
tossed aside so contemptuously were perhaps lawyer's
letters. It must be some unusual crisis, thus to affect
the well-balanced mind of my usually self-contained
sister. I was afraid to ask her if she was coming
down, for I felt my heart sink in anticipation of her
answer. Jack would be there at six with his pretty
landlady; and I had so depended on Lina for her
pleasant entertainment: all her sayings and doings
were so pointed and tempered not only with judgment
but with grace. I always had a keen sense of my
own deficiencies, and never more than when I was
called upon to entertain company. But Lina was
simply superb: the more trying the situation, the
grander she rose to meet all its difficulties.
I was consequently as much astonished as re-
lieved when she came down stairs at just the right
time to a moment, faultlessly attired, and looking
only a trifle paler than usual. In her hand she
carried a letter.
" It was too good to keep. I want you to read it,"
she said, a smile in her heavy eyes.
"I didn't know, dear, that you had any correspon-
dents in Scotland."
" Yes, indeed, a little lady who is going to astonish
the world," she answered. "I first found out the
wonderful power of her voice; and it was at my
suggestion she took up with the idea of travelling.
60
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
En passant, she wrote me this vivid description of
Edinburgh, or rather the part she saw."
The letter was written in a faultless but very fine
hand.
" Fkiexd of my He aft,—I am hanging in the air, or seem to
he, to-night. How I got here, I hardly know ; for it was between
twilight and dark that an exceedingly nondescript sort of vehicle
laboured up the steep streets, threatening to spill me out every
moment. When I landed, I felt as if I were under an avalanche
of housetops, and presently they were all coming down on my
devoted head. Story after story projected,—dim, dark, funereal,
goblin-like,'—but presently a mighty hall seemed to swallow me
up ; and walking down from the vastness of its farther space, came
our landlady, a speck in the distance, but presently emerging into
the luminous circle created by the one hanging lamp. She was all
nose and white apron,—a slim, spare, high-cheek-boned, raw-
looking Scotchwoman, with more cap-ruffle than hair, and an ex-
ceedingly narrow smile on exceedingly wide lips. Oh, my dear!
the Scotch people in America are nothing like what one meets in
this their ain countrie. Ho, indeed! And the old houses in
America are like the great-great-great-grand-children of some dame
permitted to live beyond the normal term of life.
" Our landlady summoned from some region below a girl with
red arms, red cheeks, and red hair ; and we were ushered up the
broad old staircase, whose balusters had been carved ages ago by
some beauty-loving workman, into a small suite of rooms, filled
with furniture of the most antiquated description. And from the
rounded, projecting window of that room, before the red lassie
came up to lay the cloth for supper, Tat and I" ("Tat is
her sister, my dear," said Lina) "saw old Edinburgh by gas-
light. How shall I describe it ? how shall I paint it so that you
shall form at least a faint idea of its beauty ? Fancy hanging
gardens all studded with diamonds ; fancy a hundred terraces
shining with glow-like sparkles, now running a zigzag line of
brilliancy down a steep declivity, now mounting into some eyry
on the tops of the mountains. Fancy a city in the air, lighted
from end to end,—fairy fountains of flame playing in the far
distance, balconies shelving out into the darkness of night,—a
wonder-world, showing here and there glimpses of outline, but no
base to rest upon. We were startled from our delightful outlook
by the clatter of dishes. Our maid came in, covered from wrists
to shoulders with the belongings of the tea-table. Yeiy deftly she
managed them. The dishes slid from the hollows of her arms;
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
61
only long experience could have enabled her to carry such a load.
And yet, talking with her afterwards, she said she was new to the
place, having only been here a twelvemonth.
" ' What's your name ?' asked Tat.
" ' Jetmy Deans Haflitt, miss,' she answered with a courtesy that
would have delighted the heart of our grandmothers, and a broad
grin showing very white but very uneven teeth.
"'Jenny Deans!' cried Tat, glowing, 'why, who were you
named for ?"
"'In honour of the name of my godmother, miss :' another
courtesy.
" 'Yes, but don't you know Scott's heroine was Jenny Deans ? "
" 'Nomiss, I dunnot:' said Jenny spreading out the spoons—
real silver. ' Were he sib to ould clishmaclaver Scott wha gaes
aboot in duddies ?' which speech translated means,—
" 'Was he related to the old gossip Scott, who goes about ragged
and dirty ? '
" 'Good heavens !' cried Tat; 'the'ignorance of these Scotch !
To think that Jenny Deans shouldn't know the author of her
name ! it is too dreadful.' 4
" 'Will I whang the bread for ye ?' asked Jenny in her deep
guttural tones.
" Did she mean toast it, or break it, or what ? Seeing our
indecision she took up the knife.
" ' Oh ! cut it,' said. Tat, ' yes, and butter it too.'
"We had a delightful tea; and alter that, till bed-time, we just
gloated on that swinging, hanging up-hill-and-down-dale Edin-
burgh, with all its lamps alight.
"The next day we went shopping on the principal streets,
having been assured by our landlady that we should have a gigot
and neeps for dinner, about which we speculated all the way, but
could come to no conclusion. And oh, that shopping ! All down
one side of the wide thoroughfare lined with noble shops, and on
the other side open country—a splendid park alive with birds,
bright with verdure, trees, grass, glinting water, gardens,—a para-
dise to shop in.
"When we returned we found our gigot and neeps : what do
you think they were ? A leg of mutton and turnips ! How we
laughed !
" Pray write mo how you are prospering, and if St. Olave is
still on the anxious seat. Sometimes 1 wish you would marry
him, and then again I wonder if you could. Still it seems to be
the settled opinion of all the town folks that you will. If so, joy
speed the wooing. As to this world's gooes you corddn't do
better."
62
that husband of mine.
Here I turned to my sister. She was very pale,
but instanter she flushed rosy red. "Was this the
reason she had given me the letter to read? I
turned ice-cold.
St. Olave !—a widower of ten years' standing, the
president of a bank, and fifty! Fearful forebodings
entered and occupied my mind. Lina had not been
frank with me, if—if—but I could not pursue the
torturing thought. St. Olave—and Jack ! I was on
the point of speaking when the bell rang, and our
company came in.
CHAPTER* X.
I was not yet over the shock of that direful sus-
picion, yet I managed to make a show of composure
as I ushered the little widow up stairs. She was
pretty, with a frank, debonnaire expression, and en-
gaging ways. So pretty she was and so very childish
in her manner, that I did wonder that Jack had not
been caught in the toils before now. During the
five minutes spent in shaking out the folds of her
dress, touching hair and collar to see that both were
in the right place, I learned that she was not the
manager of the house; that she only held it in her
name, and her mother was the real head,—which
softened, somewhat the incongruousness which had
attached to her situation in my thought. There was
a silken ripple in her brown hair, a dimple in cheek
and chin, that made her at times quite dangerously
bewitching.
I went down stairs wondering what Lina would
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
63
say to Jack, and with, that ominous name ringing
in my head a hundred changes, St. Olave. Lina
was chatting and laughing now, calm as a summer
lake; and presently the widow and she were deep
in the intricacy of a new crochet pattern, as merry
and unconcerned as if no tears had been shed.
Had that step that haunted me been taken ? If
so, knowing Lina as I did, I was sure there could
be no compromise in her mind. I observed that
in many little delicate ways she brought my name-
sake into notice, and contrived that Jack and she
should be together. If I could only have learned
the facts hinted at in the foreign letter, though I
might have been more anxious, still I should have
felt more at my ease.
I had known St. Olave since I could first remem-
ber,—a sallow man, and handsome in spite of his
complexion ; straight as an arrow, and proud as a
prince. When my father died, I was old enough
to comprehend the attentions he was always show-
ing towards Lina,—the keen, half-sorrowful gaze
which he fastened upon her, the smile if she
chanced to notice him. He seemed literally not to
care if all the world knew his love, and for a long
time it had been my private opinion that he wor-
shipped her. He was very rich, owning real estate
in the neighbouring city, and half a dozen farms in
my native county. Many an anxious mamma had
flattered and feted him, and more than half the
marriageable girls in town would have had him,
chiefly for his standing and his great wealth. But
I had never dreamed that Lina would encourage him.
Even now it flitted through the. corridors of my
thought like a half-ghostly vision.
64
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
I found our new acquaintance exceedingly enter-
taining, particularly when Charlie came home. I left
them alone, declining my sister's offer of help, for I
felt that it was not the time and place to question her,
and how could I have foreborne to do so P So deter-
ring motives kept me by myself.
When all things were ready, I went into the room.
Charlie had as usual put his foot in it by telling a
story about the sharp practice of a widow who wanted
to get some patent right noticed in " The Regulator,"
and was laughing, unconscious of the flushed face of
Lina, or the facial efforts made by Jack to telegraph
his friend and at the same time refrain from laughter;
for the story was a comical one.
" Ah, I tell you, these widows have a way of doing
things," he was just saying as I entered : " they are
the deuce and all for getting round a fellow. For any
sharp practice commend me to the keen mind of a
widow, and particularly a handsome one."
" Charlie ! " said I, with considerable staccato force.
"Yes, dear?" said Charlie quite as explosively,
jumping to his feet, and blindly aware, by my voice
and manner, that he had done something ridiculous.
"Tea is ready : will you take Mrs. Harman out?"
with a slight stress on the Mrs. The blood flew to
his face, to the roots of his hair. Conscious now that
this singularly youthful and charming woman was one
of that class whom he had been holding up to the
edification of all, he looked as near idiotic as a sen-
sible man could well do; and I was glad over his
discomfiture. Mrs. Harman, with the utmost tact,
glided into a new channel of conversation, and matters
were soon toning down to comparative ease, except
when Charlie made an inadvertent remark concerning
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
65
the silver, which was capable of being turned into a
joke.
"My dear, where are the oranges?" said Charlie.
" We will have them this evening," I said aside:
" I forgot them."
" Oh, no, Elsa ! I particularly want them now."
" Then please wait till I turn out the tea."
" Certainly : but tell me where they are; I will get
them."
" No, please," said I with decision.
The tea was poured, and my hands at liberty.
" My dear, won't you send one of the servants for
those oranges ? " queried Charlie again.
"My servants are all out for the afternoon, Mrs.
Harman," I said laughing, or rather trying to laugh,
as I left the table, a thing I particularly dislike to
do; and, after some little trouble, procured the fruit.
Forbidden fruit it must have been, for it brought
trouble with it. Charlie was in his element. He
brought all the napkins in requisition that he could
find, and tried one knife after another, till at last he
bethought him of his pocket-knife. On my best
damask table-cloth the yellow juice ran, that demented
man, quite in his element, all the time eloquent on
the subject of oranges.
At last they were distributed. Charlie, taking a
long breath, tasted his, and the pantomime began.
He made a horrible face, and took another; then he
wriggled and shook his head, and tried another. It
gave me a crawling sensation throughout the entire
spinal column to witness his gestures. In vain I
signalled and shook my head.
" A dollar a dozen for oranges, and sour as vinegar!"
at length the monster asserted.
F
66
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
If I could have reached his foot I know I should
have crushed something-. The spirit of rebellion was
not stronger in '76 than that which now burned in
my bosom. Would nothing stop that husband of
mine ?
"I'll give that Italian fruit-seller a piece of my
mind, next time I see him, the cheat !" continued
Charlie, raising his voice. "My dear, get some
sugar,—two bowls full. It will take all of one to
sweeten mine."
" I rather think there's enough here," I said,
attempting to speak lightly, but almost breaking
down.
" Pass it round, pray do: these are regular
boarding-house oranges."
" We don't have such at our boarding-house, do we,
Mrs. Harman ? " said Jack nearly choking, for I could
see by the movement of his muscles that he could
have roared, had he dared, while the little widow was
similarly affected, though in a less boisterous degree.
As for me, I drank some boiling tea in utter uncon-
sciousness of a scalded mouth and the tears it sent to
my eyes. The degree of hate which I brought to bear
011 Charlie for a few unhappy moments was simply
stupendous, and I am afraid placed me for the time
in that category of criminals who break the sixth
commandment.
Why would he be so thoughtless? so perfect in
everything else, but in want of tact contemptible ? I
thought to myself.
By this time the blunder had got through his
head.
" I beg your pardon," he said, not particularly to
anybody, and then he laughed nervously, and then he
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
67
looked at me; but I did not see that he received any
special comfort from what he saw in my face. If I
looked at all as I felt, he must have thought me a
Daniel come to judgment; for his face grew long of a
sudden, and he pushed his chair hack. For all prac-
tical purposes, he was extinguished for the evening, of
which Jack was the lion. Jack did not devote him-
self exclusively to the little widow, but there was a
certain subtle meaning in his attentions, that inter-
preted itself to my mind in this way: For a day or
two, indeed for a longer period, Lina had been per-
haps unconsciously cool towards him; and it seemed
as if he would like to pique her into jealousy by his
attentions to Mrs. Harman. It did not appear that
he succeeded. I thought I even detected an uneasy
sense of satisfaction in my sister at the result of her
coolness, .though now and then an unutterably sad
expression came into her face. Suddenly an awful
thought occurred to me.
Had my Charlie, in his unconscious but none the
less mischievous frankness, made this strange coolness
between them ? I had seen far sadder results follow
a very thoughtless or random speech. And if that
should be the case, Lina did not like to wound my
feelings by informing me. I slowly came to the con-
elusion that it might be so, and determined to question
her on the first opportunity.
Mrs. Harman sang in an exceedingly sweet voice,
like the piping of a bird; but compared to Lina's
voice it was as the fainter notes of the finch in contrast
to the swelling song of the nightingale.
The feelings of distrust and indignation which I
cherished toward Charlie weakened before the close of
Mrs.'Harman's visit, but I was quite capable of taking
F 2
68
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
him to task rather severely after our visitors had left
the house.
" Blame the oranges : don't blame me/' he said, a
little surly for him.
"Yes; hut why could you not have kept quiet
when you found them unpalatable ? Don't you know
it's the worst breeding in the world to speak of such
things when the matter cannot be mended ? "
"I've not arrived at that point of refinement, I
suppose," he replied rather sleepily. "I ought to
have swallowed the oranges like so many sugar-plums;
and I do wish the boarding-house had stuck in my
throat. However, it can't be helped: and please
don't break my heart; it's very brittle just now.
Come, kiss and forgive. I acknowledge I am a bear,
and you may look me into propriety just as often as
you see fitting occasion. I'm no end of sorry, I am
indeed."
Poor fellow! he looked so handsome and penitent,
so fully aware of bis unfortunate tendency to disturb
the peace of his small household in the most innocent
and unconscious manner, that I could not keep my
anger. It vanished with a kiss.
" And only think how rude of you, that widow-
story," I continued; for, woman-like, though I had
forgiven, yet I could not help recurring to the for-
bidden theme.
"Wasn't it an outrage? I wish I could bite my
tongue either before or after such speeches: I'd a
little rather it would be before, though," he added
reflectively, "because it would suit you better. Do
you think she cared ? "
" Of course she noticed it; but she is very ladylike,
and overlooked it splendidly. And she is so pretty!
that husband of mine.
69
I am a little at a loss to know why Jack hasn't fallen
in love with her before, now I have seen her."
"Jack was saving up for your sister, my dear."
"I don't know, Charlie," said I, shaking my head :
" Lina acts strangely of late. Are you sure, you
unfortunate boy, you have said nothing, even in joke,
that might cause coolness between them ? Every-
thing was going on so beautifully ! "
" Why, of course I am, dear. Whenever I have
been tempted to joke, I have always thought of you,
and your claim upon my forbearance has checked the
mischief; though Charlie and Jack are such old
chums, Elsa, I don't think you needed to be afraid in
the least."
"Only if Lina should hear it. She is more sen-
sitive than I am."
" That couldn't happen, you know, because I've
never said anything. But couldn't you change the
subject? Morally speaking, it has an unpleasant
aspect to me: and, physically speaking, I'm half
asleep."
CHAPTER XI.
Lina was much pleased with Mrs. Harman. She
expressed herself more guardedly than usual when
we discussed the matter on the following day. The
foreign letter and the allusion to St. Olave were
uppermost in my mind; but I felt a reluctance in
referring to them, which made me nervous and con-
strained in manner, until Lina said,—
70
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
" For pity's sake, Elsa, what is the matter with
you ? and why do you look at me so ?"
"I might have asked the first question of you,
Lin a, yesterday," was my reply.
"When, pray?"
"Why, when we were talking of Mr. Inglehart.
Don't you remember how you rushed out of the
room ? "
" Yes." She bent lower over her work. "I didn't
feel like talking about him then. I don't now."
" But I think you might tell me the reason of the
change."
" What change ? " she asked, without looking up.
" The change in you, and in Jack too."
" Indeed ! do you notice that he has changed ? "
"He certainly did not seem so cordial—so33
lover-like, as usual. There, it is out."
" 0 Elsa ! " she responded in a voice that seemed
choked with emotion.
" What is the trouble, dear ? won't you tell me?
You know I would try to comfort you. And if there
has been any little mistake
" Don't, Elsa ! " and this time the voice was almost
inaudible; for her face had fallen lower, and the tears
were streaming down her checks.
"Then you have quarrelled, or you won't have
Jack," I said with sudden decisiveness. " There's
my castle crumbled, vanished. I am so sorry. It
was such a goodly one."
" The next thing to be done is for me to go back
home," said Lina in a very suppressed voice.
" But Lina, you promised—you promised—I did
hope we should keep you with us all summer."
" Yes, but that was before—I may as well tell
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
71
you," she added, more and more agitated: "I only
wish—I dared to wish I might die."
A new current of fear ran through my heart. Was
it so terrible as that ? What could have happened ?
"What dismal future threatened my good and gifted
sister ?
" Only tell me," I said, hardly daring to trust my
voice.
"Yes, I will. You remember, in that letter—the
name "—
" Of St. Olave ? indeed I remember Mm well; "
and a dull fear caused my heart to throb. I almost
anticipated the very words that fell next from her
lips.
"I have engaged to marry him."
The news fell heavily on my consciousness, not
because of St. Olave. At any other time, if I had not
known Jack, I should have thought my sister fortu-
nate in her choice, hut not now, for I divined what
had followed, what would follow.
" He has been very kind ; he has been very con-
stant. For years I have known what he thought of
me, and twice I have refused him. But after the
children were taken away, and brother went home
with his new wife, such a sense of loneliness came
over me ! And I met him again, and began weigh-
ing his merits, among which constancy was surely the
most conspicuous ; and I began also to relent a little,
and allowed him now and then to show me attentions.
He is rich, he is handsome ; but I cannot love him.
If I had married him then, the esteem I felt for him
might have ripened into a sentiment stronger than
friendship ; but now that is impossible. What shall
I do ? what shall I do ? "
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
,"It means you had not seen Jack then," I said,
involuntarily.
" Oh, yes, I suppose so !" she said, exhausted with
the excitement and the tears. "The first time I
saw him, the very first, a new kind of esteem took
possession of me. I felt some way as if I had a right
m him,—had always had. He has never been like
a mere acquaintance; and now"—her voice broke
again.
"And now you love him, Lina: don't be afraid or
ashamed to say it."
"I should be. Am I not engaged to marry another
man ? Does he not trust me with his whole soul ?
Am I not deceitful and a hypocrite P To myself I
look the meanest thing on earth."
" But how could you help it, Lina ?"
"I could: I dallied with the temptation with my
eyes open, till it was too late. And now I must go
on. What did I want of his riches ? " she con-
tinued quaveringly. "I have plenty to live upon:
I didn't need a husband. But some way I pitied
him."
" You thought you loved him."
" I didn't think—not that way: I didn't know
what love was—then," she answered.
"And now that you do, Lina, it would be a sin to
marry St. Olave."
" There it is !" and she held up both hands with a
gesture of despair. " I do love Jack, I do, I do ! "
she added passionately: " the thought of that other
is odious." Then came a little ripple of compassion,
for relapsing into her usual quiet she murmured,
" Poor fellow! he has loved me so long, so hope-
lessly !"
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
73
" Oh, how vexatious! " I could look only on the
worldly side of the matter,—the loss of Jack, the
keenness of his disappointment, for I felt sure that
he loved Lina. And then there was so much sym-
pathy between them, in points of taste, age, ex-
periences, — they were so perfectly suited to each
other; while St. Olave, though in every way suited
to make a woman happy, was yet old enough to he
her father. I had thought of Jack so long as a
possible brother-in-law that I felt a claim on him now.
I wanted him in the family as an adjunct to Charlie.
I was shocked and pained, perhaps more than I con-
fessed to myself, that Lina had never consulted me ;
but yet I could excuse her, for she did not quite
exonerate herself for yielding, not feeling the sort of
regard that such a promise required, and therefore
was shy about speaking of it even to a sister. After
she had met Jack, then began the war between in-
duration and principle ; and now I felt sure that she
would sacrifice herself and Jack.
" Here are my letters," she said, smiling through
her tears. "You know the large white house with
the terraces : well, he tells me he is having it and the
grounds remodelled. He is going to make me a beau-
tiful home, and his letters are patterns of good sense
and penmanship. I wish I did like him better, Elsa,
for he is a most estimable man."
" Not half as good as Jack," I made reply.
" Oh, yes ! better,—greater ; in many respects his
superior. I am not blind to Mr. Inglehart's faults,''
she said smiling ; "but—but I could love even them,"
she added, while a strange quiver passed over her
mouth. " However, it is no use to speculate upon
the omissions or commissions of either, I am like
74
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
some thirsty creature at the brink of a river from
which I dare not drink. I must go home, Elsa; I
must say good-bye to Jack for ever. I dare not stay."
" Has he asked you to marry him, then ? "
" Who P Jack ? I would never let him. I'm
sure the declaration and the question have been on
his lips more than once, hut happily I have staved it
off. I must not give him an opportunity. I will go
home to-morrow."
"Tomorrow!" I cried, aghast. "And Jack's
grand entertainment on hand for next week,—all the
invitations out! 0 Lina! you must stay to the
party."
It was her turn to look astonished.
"What party, my dear ? I didn't know there was
anything of the kind on the carpet."
" Indeed there is, then. I was to have kept it a
secret from you; hut you startled me so with your
proposition to go home. Oh, yes! Jack has asked
several friends to come on next Tuesday night—a
sort of surprise for you. That is why we had the
carpets taken up yesterday, so we could dance. I
know how fond you are of that amusement. And
Carol the elocutionist, and Miss Kraal the pianist, are
to come; and Charlie has engaged several pieces of
music for the dances ; and—I'm so sorry I had to
tell you ! "
" Of course I will stay till then, dear ; hut I must
keep out of Mr. Inglehart's way. Will you help me
do that? "
I made a demure response; but my heart was not
in it,
that husband of mine.
75
CHAPTER XII.
"My dear, the cream will be here at six," said
Charlie, as he started for the office. " How com-
pletely we have hoodwinked your sister ! "
I busied myself with finding his hat, and talking
about the weather.
"Keep her up stairs all you can," was his parting
ejaculation, as I hurried him off.
I stood at the door, and watched him up the street.
The grass in the little garden before the door was
thick with jewels, and the sky was of that calm, be-
nignant blue which imparts happiness, and a nameless
thrill of something better to come, to the dullest heart.
The dear little house-swallows chattered above my
head; in the trees fine webs trembled to the move-
ments of the morning breeze, a diamond on every
delicate filament.
The houses opposite our unpretending house are
rather grand, with their carving and ornamentation,
their fine porches and bay windows. To my fancy,
in the sunlight, they were princely habitations this
morning; while the lesser buildings looked unusually
piquant and picturesque.
I wondered, standing there, gazing at closed
shutters, how the Irvings felt with their little new-
born stranger, who came to this planet only yester-
day. I gave a passing regretful thought to the
Rattlins, who were to move away that day, in the
darkness of the shadow of sore humiliation and dis-
grace. I wondered how Mrs. Murray was, lying but
yesterday at the point of death, but pronounced better
at night. I sighed for the lonely hearts at Number
7G
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
Forty, vvlio had within a week buried their only child.
And so, unconsciously participating in the mingled
joys and griefs of my neighbours, and giving a passing
regret for those lighter trials through which I had
gone myself, I entered my own pleasant domicile.
Presently Lina came down, looking very pale, but
with a set, determined expression in her sad eyes. I
knew how it was, though she had not spoken a word
to me about it. Jack had manoeuvred till he found
her alone, and then and there pressed his case. Poor
Lina! it had been very hard for her; and she had
not had the courage to say no, but had asked for time.
So much I had learned from Charlie.
" It was so cowardly of me," she said; " but what
could I do with his eyes looking into mine ? If I had
only gone home, Elsa, when I wanted to, I should
have had less sin to repent of; but now I have a con-
stunt trouble gnawing at my heart, and I know I shall
spoil your comfort and your party. I must try and
get an opportunity to-night, and nullify my wicked-
ness by telling that young man point-blank that it is
out of the question,—that I cannot marry him."
" And what better off will you be then P "
" I shall respect myself," she answered hesitatingly.
" Could you respect yourself if you married one
man while loving another ? "
" 0 Elsa, don't! I have promised, given my word.-
I must do the best I can. I—shall—try to forget
Jack,—I shall indeed. Once away from here "—
"You can't do it, Lina. What you feel for Jack,
if it's like what I felt for my Charlie, will master you;
because I believe it is pure love, not calculating nop
mercenary. Jack is no better off than Charlie was;
and I would have followed him to the end of t®b
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
77
world, even if I had "been obliged to walk all the way.
You forget and forgive everything when yon love.
I do believe you could forgive and forget real injuries.
Now, that is not the sentiment you feel for St.
Olave."
She shuddered like one over whom a cold breath of
wind passes.
" Don't say anything about it to-night, of all
times," I continued, as she moved away.
"But I must. The trouble, the indecision, the
dread, the struggle, are killing me," she said passion-
ately. "And, unless St. Olave dies, I must marry
him."
" Perhaps he will die," I said. " Isn't there an
hereditary malady,—heart-disease, or something ? "
" Hush, Elsa ! " said Lina, shuddering again.
" The man would rather die," I responded, with
indignant emphasis, " than marry an unwilling bride :
I should. But come, .promise me you will say nothing
to Jack, and I'll tell you something."
She looked at me wistfully.
" I'll go back with you, and help you bear the trial,
or'perhaps rid*yourself of it."
" 0 Elsa! will you ? " and she sprang forward, her
face alight.
" Yes. I mentioned it to Charlie : I do so want to
see the old home. At first he set his face against it;
hut after a while I persuaded him into almost a con-
cession. There is only one thing that troubles me
about it."
"And what is that ? "
" How the poor dear will get along alone."
' "But can't he go and stay with Jack? "
" That's just what I proposed to him ; but, instead
78
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
of that, he wants Jack to come and stay here with
him. 0 Lina! an earthquake wouldn't disarrange
things more thoroughly."
"Surely they wouldn't eat here ?"
" No : Charlie's no cook. He would take his meals
here, there, and everywhere for awhile; but two men
in the house, and only to sleep, would be nearly as bad
as two elephants. But I don't mean to let that stand
in the way. I feel as if my going down will be of use
to you."
" Of course it will, to see your dear face in the old
house again. I'll write to Mammy Brown this very
day. How glad she will he ! "
" But remember it is contingent upon a promise,
which you haven't given me yet."
""Well,"—she thought for a moment, then her
tearful eyes looked into mine,—" I—won't say any-
thing about it. But we must go soon. I must get
away from here."
"Will to-day week do? I couldn't get ready
before."
" It must, I suppose; and now give me something
to do. I must work, work! "
" I don't know what you will do, my dear, unless
you wipe the china. The cake is all baked, and the
jellies made, and the custards ready."
Mrs. Hettleton came in, her arms full of silver.
" There, my dear, the queen couldn't have a hand-
somer show. I knew you'd never ask me to lend it;
and so I've volunteered, purely out of benevolence to
myself. I never can make any display. Cross-sticks
is always grunting over some fancied ailment; he's
got the lumbago now. When he was a poor man,
and worked at the case, he was healthy enough ; but,
THAT HUSBAND OP MINE.
79
since he has made a little money, there's no getting
along with his oddities. Indeed, I believe the Lord
gives some people riches to punish sin. So, as I'd
like to see my own silver set out at least once in a
hundred years, I took the liberty. Now be good, and
let me set the table. I'll make it shine,—it shall
look as nice as if it were spread for a wedding ; " and
she winked knowingly at Lin a, who turned away
abruptly.
" Grood heavens ! I hope that sister of yours isn't
one of those contemptible die-away fools, who faint at
the mention of a husband before they get one. I
thought she had better sense than to run away at a
wink. Everybody knows how it is : I believe it has got
through the thick heads of this community, that Jack
comes here now to see Miss Lina instead of Mrs. Elsa,
and I'm sure "—
" Elsa!" called my sister, just as I was on the point
of defending her, " come here."
I ran out of the room.
Lina stood half way up the stairs, an open letter in
her hand. As soon as she saw me she ran up to her
room, I following.
"I saw the postman coming, and wouldn't let him
ring," she said as she shut the door ; " and—what do
you think ? "
" What ? " I asked, studying her face which was
pale and agitated.
" Here is a letter from St. Olave."
"Well!"
"It has been delayed."
" Yes: pray, what has happened ? "
"Nothing yet. He only says he will be in the city
on the 10th, and will call upon me in the evening."
80
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
" Nothing very terrible in that. I only hope Jack
won't come."
" But, my dear Elsa, to-day is the 10th."
" So it is, and to-night the party ! Why, so much
the better: he will pass for one of the invited guests.
I suppose he is in town now, then. How long is he
going to stay ? "
" He returns home by the next morning's train.
0 Elsa!"
" Well, I don't see anything so very terrible about
it. He is handsome and dignified, and we will do our
best to entertain him. As long as he is coming, I
don't see how circumstances could well be more
favourable, that is, if everything goes as it promises.
Jack needn't know anything, of course."
" Oh, but I shall feel so guilty! My evening's
entertainment will be spoiled, for I really shall not
know how to act between the two. Elsa, why didn't
you let me go home ? " and as she stood before the
mirror she thrust her hair back half unconsciously,
then leaned forward.
* " I'd better marry St. Olave, after all," she 'said,
with a dry sob. "I'm growing gray. St. Olave
wouldn't mind it, I know—but Jack"—
"Would just worship every gray hair in your head.
But I don't see it," I added, on a keener inspection.
" Why, yes, this and thisand then I sat down and
laughed. Lina looked at me, still grieved.
"You dear soul, these never grew in your head.
What have you been doing with my old scarf that has
the llama tassels ? I don't believe you'll ever have
such splendid white hair as this."
"I remember, I just threw it over1 my head when I
dusted. Oh!" and a sigh of satisfaction escaped
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
81
her: "I thought surely my hair was turning
gray."
"Not for twenty good years yet, I hope; and then
Jack and you will turn gray together."
" Hush, Elsa!" hut a quick look of rapture dis-
placed the sorrow. " I can't see my way out; indeed
I can't, Elsa."
" Never mind if you can't now : you will some day,
I'm determined to believe that. And now put all
your fears aside, and try and enjoy yourself. Some
good providence will effect a disentanglement of your
affairs in a way you never thought of. There'll be
no chance to-night of any display of the tender senti-
ment, at all events. What time will Mr. St. Olave
come ? I'm rather anxious to see the gentleman
now."
" Probably not till far in the evening," she said,
her face clearing a little; " and oh! you can't
imagine how I dread to meet him, knowing what I do."
"Nonsense!" and there I paused, for it came to
me that I could have no possible knowledge of what
she was suffering ; not certainly by virtue of any ex-
perience of my own, for Charlie had been my first and
only love. It was only affectation in me to strive to
put heart in hereafter all, for what could I do to lessen
the real trials by which she found herself surrounded.
Only my imagination, tolerably well furnished with
weapons, could meet the difficulty,—meet, but not in
the least overcome it. The moment I said to myself,
" Suppose it were my case," that moment I was lost in
the bewilderment of feeling, that was certainly very
like what she seemed to suffer. But somebody must
put a brave face upon it; and therefore I tried to
banish thought, that I might comfort her. So I rattled
G
82
THAT HUSBAND OF .MINE.
on as carelessly as possible, praised her dress, which
she had put out on the bed, begged her not to cry and
disfigure herself, and found that I wanted some lace
trimming sewed on my own sober gown, and that no-
body could do it as well as she could.
"When I went down-stairs the table did indeed do
justice to Mrs. Nettleton's taste, and that worthy
woman surveyed it critically.
"It is nice enough for a wedding," she said. "I
believe I could pass the brief remnant of my life in
setting tables, there's such a satisfaction in looking at
them. If they don't set tables in heaven, half its
charm will be lost to me, for goodness knows that's
about all I can do in the way of the beautiful.
There's somebody : let me run," she added as the bell
rang. " I'm going to get myself up as fine as a fiddle.
If you want me "—But the rest of the sentence I
never heard, for Charlie looked into the window, and
behold ! Perhaps he had bitten an apple in two, for
nothing else would account for that suspicious protu-
berance on his left cheek, unless—horrible forebod-
ing!—it was the toothache. He had suffered once
before in that same way, as I had very good reason to
remember ; for it was on our wedding-tour, and the
poultices made by my inexperienced hands, at a strange
hotel in the dead of night, came near being the death
of him, for they were made of cold water (what did I
know about poultices?), and froze before I could get
them well on.
I sprang to the door, distressed both for myself and
for him.
" Let me get upstairs, for I'm nearly crazy, little
woman," was his salutation in a stifled voice. "Bring
me some laudanum and some camphor and some
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
83
brandy, and a hot flat-iron, and plenty of cayenne
pepper and away lie shot like a rocket. Between
the pepper and the brandy, and all the other acces-
sories, I had the inexpressible comfort of seeing him
go to sleep: so I stole down to Lina with a long face.
She was dressing; and it seemed to me that pale as
she was, she had. never looked more lovely.
"What did Charlie come home for? " she asked.
" Don't ask me, Lina. Oh! what shall I do if he
can't come down to-night ? "
" What has happened, Elsa ? It can't be possible
that he—that he— I thought he went up-stairs so
unsteadily—I thought—I thought"—
"My dear Lina," said I, with an accent of horror,
" he never drank a glass of liquor in his life. Did
you think he came home tipsy ? "
"Well, he went up-stairs so strangely, and you after
him ; and he spoke so that one couldn't understand a
word he said. I confess that, honestly, I did. But
don't look so shocked, my dear: I'll never think it
again. And now what is it ? "
" It's the toothache; and his face is swelled so that
he—he's not fit to be seen," I sobbed.
"Well, well, my dear, it's my turn to comfort you
now. That's bad ; but there are worse troubles than
that. We must put the best face we can on it."
" A nice face he's got! It looks like a jelly-bag.
It will be no party to me without him."
" Maybe he will be able to come down."
" Oh, no ! he wouldn't be seen in such a fright. I
know him. It will be like the play of Hamlet with
Hamlet left out."
" You must let Jack assume the role of master of
ceremonies. Pray do : it will be doing me the best
62
84
that husband of mine.
service in the world. Of course then he won't expect
to he my shadow. And you know I shall have all I
can manage to take care of St. Olave."
The bell rang: the ices had come, so had a sable
handmaiden, enrolled into my service for the evening
by Charlie. There was nothing for me to do now but
dress and wait, and apologise for Charlie, which, in-
deed, was the most dreaded trial of all.
CHAPTER XIII.
Well for me that Mrs. Nettleton was my next-
door neighbour. With even her unfortunate tendency
to coarseness, a better-hearted woman never existed.
In any emergency, however trying, she was the first
person I thought of; and though she shocked people
with sensitive nerves, she knew how, by her vigorous
will and sterling common sense, to overcome obstacles,
that, to women with less stamina, were well-nigh in-
surmountable.
"Let Charlie lie a-bed and grow], poor fellow,"
she said: " nothing in the world will do him so much
good. We'll manage matters so that he sha'n't be
missed. Give 'em enough to do, and to eat,—'specially
to eat, mind you,—and they'll get along without him.
Now, don't worry. You're not half as bad off as if
you were on a plank in the Gulf Stream. Go up to
Charlie whenever you want to : I'll manage."
At six I was dressed and down-stairs. Charlie still
slept; and the upper part of the house was redolent of
camphor, brandy, and vinegar. The first person who
came was St. Olave.
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
85
"You have not quite forgotten me, I hope," he
said, with the same sad yet sweet smile I remem-
bered.
" Oh, no, Mr. St. Olave! I have not forgotten
you," I said, wondering at the same time how poor
Lina would receive him. And yet to me he looked
taller, thinner, and darker than I remembered. His
face lighted up when he asked about my sister.
"Is she well ? is she enjoying her visit ? does she
like the city ?" were his first queries, a tender solici-
tude in his voice that could not be mistaken.
"It is very fortunate you chose to-night for your
call, Mr. St. Olave, as we give a little party in Lina's
honour," I said.
His countenance changed. Ho doubt he had been
hopeful of seeing my sister alone.
"I am afraid I shall be cle trop," he said: "I
am but 4 an indifferent participator in occasions of
gaiety."
" Oh! but you will certainly remain, Mr. St.
Olave. Lina will be down soon: she is at present
dressing."
Meaning to gain what time I could for her, I sur-
veyed my (perhaps) destined brother-in-law. He was
very grave, very scholarly, very handsome, but there
were lines both of age and suffering in his face. I
felt imprisoned in his atmosphere, and recalled the
life-giving presence of Jack, with his sparkling eyes,
vivacity of manner, and healthy physique.
" Oh ! what was my sister thinking of?" I ejacu-
lated inwardly ; and yet when he smiled, and spoke
of her, there was such a wistful, tender look, that I
could not but pity him, and feel a momentary and
sorrowful interest in his fate. Would this matter
86
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
take the shape of duty, so religiously that every-
thing else must he sacrificed ? and everything else
was — Jack.
"Could he console himself with the widow?" I
found myself wondering. And the answer came
quick, almost fierce,—"No! he loves Lina, I am
sure he loves her ; and he does not love the widow."
Meantime my visitor surveyed the room with well-
bred interest, lifted a hook from the table, and opened
it at the title-page. I saw him change colour at
something, and then the consciousness of what he had
read sent the quick blood to my cheeks :—
" From Jack Inglehart, to Lina."
And underneath was a beautiful little pen-drawing
of a dove with some device,—I have forgotten what,
—for among Jack's accomplishments was that of a
skilful use of the pen, drawing and shading as easily
with that instrument as others with pencils or crayons.
He seemed to read and re-read; put the hook down,
took it up again; looked perplexed, disturbed. His
lips opened as if to ask a question, then shut tightly
together; and then he put the volume away, evidently
resolute to forget it.
I explained the situation,—in other words, spoke of
Charlie's trouble,—and excused myself, intending to
make a visit to my suffering husband. As I passed
Lina's room I looked in.
"What is it? Has he come?" she asked, rising
perturbed and trembling.
I nodded an affirmative.
" How can I go down ? I positively dread to see
him. See how silly I am ; look how I tremble. I
shuddered when the door-bell rang, and vet I did not
lmow it was he,
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
87
"Nonsense! suppose it had been Jack," I said;
" you would have shuddered all the same."
" Perhaps, but how can I go down ?"
" Wait till I have looked in upon Charlie, and I
will go down with you."
" Yes, indeed, I'll wait," she said eagerly; "it will
make a difference,—to me at least."
I ran up-stairs. My poor hoy was still sleeping,
though by certain uneasy movements I knew that the
pain was troubling him. I lingered for a moment,
feeling that the evening pleasure would be only a
toil of pain without him, and then ran down for
Lina. As we left the top stair, the bell rang. We
both looked in each other's faces. Yes, it was Jack.
We met him in the hall, where he was just depositing
his hat.
As usual, he was demonstrative and a little noisy.
I think his " Miss Lina, so glad to see you !" might,
without any special listening, have been heard in the
next house.
"'Won't you go up-stairs in the gentlemen's room,
Jack?" I asked, hoping that Lina might gain a few
minutes.
" No, indeed! I put myself all straight before I
came," smiling saucily. I was obliged to confess that
the dear six-footer had never looked handsomer. In
my heart I pitied Lina, who tried to turn her eyes
away. We went in all together.
I never saw a human countenance change as did
St. Olave's as his eyes fell upon Lina,—a kind of
spiritual, luminous quickening of the whole face, as,
moving forward a step, he held out both hands. For
a moment I thought he was going to kiss her, and
turned, almost terrified, to see what Jack was doing.
88
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
" Mr. Inglehart, Mr. St. Olave, a friend from my
own home," said Lina with, heightened .colour, but
she did not lose her self-possession. Jack bowed:
he had been looking on with a strangely lowering
brow; but he brightened as she spoke, and shook
hands heartily with St. Olave, then, as quickly as
practicable, entered into conversation with him.
He was all animation and activity; but with St.
Olave there was something repressed, a manner as
if he were studying his vis-a-vis, doubtless remem-
bering the title-page of the book near by, and its
presentation.
"Miss Ainslie will tell you that we have been
trying our best to make her in love with our city, Mr.
St. Olave," said Jack, while I went out to consult
with Mrs. Nettleton.
"They have all been very kind to me," murmured
Lina.
" But I hope they have not succeeded—I mean in
setting you against the old home," said St. Olave.
"No ; I return soon," said Lina, growing pale.
" Ah, that is news to me, Miss Lina !" said Jack.
" I thought you were going to spend the summer with
Mrs. Harman."
" I have decided differently," faltered Lina; then
conquering herself, there are matters about the old
house which require my attention, and I shall be
obliged to return sooner than I supposed."
St. Olave looked grateful; Jack gloomed, and cast
side-glances at St. Olave. The bell rang now fre-
quently ; the guests were beginning to come. Lina
led the way to the parlour, followed by the two gen-
tlemen; and soon I had my hands full, what with
greetings and introductions. There was a packed
THAT HUSBAND ON MINE.
89
house, as Charlie would have said; and how gladly
would I have hailed his blunders even, if he could
only have been with me ! Everybody missed him,
and I feared at first that the party would be a failure.
But presently some one sat down to the piano, and set
the ball rolling. Songs, glees, recitations followed,
for Jack took upon himself the role of master of cere-
monies; and well he performed his part. Charlie
could not have done better.
About the middle of the evening he came to
me.
" All goes well," he said, with a smile. " Do you
know how Charlie is ? "
" Still sleeping, I hope, since he's so quiet. Isn't
it provoking that he should be ill to-night, of all
times ? "
" Yes ; but he may wake up out of pain, you know,
and be down here yet in time for supper. By the
way, who is that gentleman with the romantic
name?"
" Do you mean St. Olave ? "
" I do. He seems inclined to monopolise your
sister. Are they very old friends ? "
"Yery; or rather he was papa's great friend, and
we have always kept up an acquaintance."
" Humph ! he acts more like a lover than a friend,"
he said, half angrily.
My face was crimson.
" Jack! " I exclaimed, with my usual explosive
intonation, " don't you see that he is old enough to be
her father?"
"Yes, I see that; but age is no obstacle nowadays.
He looks like a rich man : how is it ? "
"I believe he is tolerably well off," I replied.
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THAT HUSBAND OP MINE.
" He has known Lina all lier life, petted her as a
child, and admired her as a woman; but"—
"Admired!" he said impulsively: if ever there
was love in a man's eyes, say rather worship, it is in
his as he looks at her now. And, by Jove, I don't
wonder ! " he added, with a sigh.
Neither did I. Lina was looking down now,
smiling. Her cheek was pink as a dainty rose-leaf,
and the long lashes swept its delicate contour. Her
beauty took hold of my consciousness like a pain.
" She will not, she cannot, sacrifice herself," I
thought. " She must know how well Jack loves her
by the very love she bears him." And then I fell to
speculating upon the hidden lives of these people
about me.
Miss 0., all smiles as she receives the congratula-
tions of her friends, after one of her beautiful songs
to which we listen with bated breath,—is she always
so radiant and light of heart as she looks just now ?
Does any secret sorrow prey upon her spirit ? If sud-
denly the thoughts of even the few who have honoured
us by meeting here, and pouring out their gifts with-
out money and without price for our pleasure, could
be unveiled, who would be so bold as to dare to read
them ? Not I, for one.
Suddenly an ominous noise startled me: something
fell upstairs. Then a sound succeeded as of some
heavy body crashing, rolling. Dor a moment terror
overpowered me. My guests pressed forward with
exclamations, questions. Had Charlie in an excess of
furious pain broken the pitcher or thrown down the
bureau? I hurried upstairs, Jack following me.
There stood Charlie near the door, looking like a
demon. He had been lying down in his best dressing-
THAT HUSBAND OP MINE.
91
gown, an elaborate affair of drab cloth and blue satin,
over which my fingers had ached for many a week
previous to the last Christmas. He had never worn
it before ; and now it was a mass of wrinkles, stained
with brandy, and altogether ruined as far as its beauty
was concerned.
The bedstead, an old-fashioned high-poster, of
venerable memory, had collapsed, and in one mass of
ruins lay in the middle of the floor.
" The plaguey thing came down like an avalanche,"
exclaimed Charlie, rubbing now his arm, then his
knee, and making horrible grimaces of pain.
" Why, my dear, how could it ? " I queried.
"Because I danced on it," he cried savagely. " I
could dance on hot coals if I had any. I heard the
music, and thought that if I exercised myself this
dratted tooth would stop. When I went down I
couldn't find myself for a moment, and after I found
' myself, I couldn't pick myself up : so I and the bed-
stead rolled round together, and had a little jollifica-
cation on our own account. Did you hear us down-
stairs ? " he asked innocently.
Jack was dancing round now, and roaring under his
breath. I could have laughed till I cried; but the
sight of the ruined finery over which I had spent
such wearisome hours restrained me.
" Oh Charlie, your dressing-gown is spoiled ! " I
cried.
" Is it ? " and he smoothed it out as he limped to
the glass. " Can't it be fixed up ? You see there
was a spell when I felt easier, and thought seriously
of coming down. Well, I couldn't get my coat, you
know, for it is in our bed-room; and so, hunting
through the press, I found this. You can't think hov>r
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THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
nice I looked when I'd fixed myself up,—regular
invalid role, you know, slippers and tie and all; when
whack began that infernal tooth again, screw after
screw, till my jaws were wound up tighter than an
eight-day clock. Then I mixed the brandy, vinegar,
camphor, and cayenne pepper all together, and drank
it down. I declare to the tocsin if it didn't set up a
regular iEtna inside ! I performed a private war-
dance with improvised whoops, and came pretty near
going down-stairs on my head. If I had, you'd have
seen something not announced on the bills. It's begin-
ning again," he went on with terrible contortions of
countenance: " I wonder how a jump from a four-
story window would fix it."
The tears were in my eyes. How could I leave him
suffering so ? and yet what could they do down-stairs
without me ?
" Don't stay here, Puggie : I'd much rather be
alone. Jack will keep me company for a little while;
won't you, old fellow P "
" Of course," said Jack rather ruefully. A thought
occurred to me. Begging to be excused, I whispered
in Charlie's ear, "Don't mention about St. Olave,"
forgetting that my sister's secret was not his.
I don' know what you mean. Who's St. Olave?"
blundered that blessed husband of mine. " Oh, yes!
no, of course," seeing that I was annoyed. But the
mischief was done. Jack looked at me suspiciously,
and changed colour ; while, if I had been detected in
the act of selling stolen goods, I could not have crept
out of the room more guiltily.
that husband of mine.
93
CHAPTER XIY.
"When I went down-stairs, heavy of heart, I found
the company enjoying themselves, particularly St.
Olave, who had penned poor Lina in a corner, and
seemed quite oblivious of the fine music and display
of oratory.
Presently Jack came down, looked in the room with
a careless glance just long enough to take in St. Olave
and Lina tete-a-tete, said he was going to run out a
moment for Charlie, and disappeared. Perhaps half
an hour had passed when he came hack, accompanied
by a man whose felt hat and huge whiskers did not
impress me favourably. Under his arm he carried a
large bag.
" Is he a musician ? " I asked, as Jack paused to
speak to me.
" Well, yes," he answered, with a queer expression:
" he has made some music in his time. He plays the
bones."
Then I comprehended, and started forward; but
Jack was already up the stairs, where the mysterious
man with the bag had preceded him. I trembled from
head to foot with nervous terror, and could scarcely
fix my attention upon my guests.
Presently Lina freed herself, and came towards
me.
" I am very tired," she said.
"Has he asked you anything about Jack?" I
said.
" Mr. St. Olave ? Why should he ? I don't sup-
pose he knows there's a Jack in the world."
94
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
"He looked in the title-page of that book Jack
gave you. down-stairs,—Mrs. Browning's poems."
"Did he? did he see that?" she asked, flushing
a little. " He must have thought strange of it. Oh,
how I wish the party were over! It's grown very
dreary to me. I long to be alone by myself. Has—
has Jack said anything ? "
Before I could answer, Mrs. Nettleton was at my
side.
" Isn't it almost time to feed them?" she asked.
" Everything is ready: I can have the ices out in a
twinkle."
I looked at my watch. It wanted a quarter to
eleven.
" In about fifteen minutes," I said, and was just
turning to go down-stairs for a final inspection, when
a yell, such as I had never before heard human tones
utter, sounded above. Then came expostulations, mad
shouts; and once again the company gathered toge-
ther in knots, eagerly asking questions, when, lo and
behold! Charlie—every vestige of the angel, almost
every vestige of the man, gone—appeared on the
stairs, rushing towards us. If a madman had made
his appearance in our midst,—and, indeed, for the time
being he was nothing less,—the consternation could
not have been more complete. Disfigured with blood,
his dressing-gown torn and stained beyond all recog-
nition, his hair streaming and streaking his face; his
hands wide spread, no shoes on,—he burst into the
room, "with one of the most inhuman yells I ever
heard. To escape from this frightful object became
the study of all who saw him. Some rushed scream-
ing down-stairs, some up-stairs; and those who could
not get out crowded into the corners, under the piano,
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
95
—anywhere to avoid collision with, this frantic dancing
figure; while I followed him with extended arms,
begging him to desist, and crying like a baby.
In vain. Charlie flew to the piano, sat down,—
he has no voice for music, though he loves it well,—
and gave sound to the most unearthly howls and yells,
accompanying himself with both hands in discordant
chords, till it seen^ed as if pandemonium had been let
loose. Then he leaped to the top of the piano, and
attempted a clog-dance. Failing in that, he sprang
to the floor, personating Hamlet, Othello, King Lear,
Romeo, till, attracted by his sonorous voice, the crowds
drew near again, and began to amuse themselves with
his half-insane impersonations.
"Oh that this too, too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a cow ! "
was received with shouts of laughter, while portions
of Romeo and Juliet were mirth-provoking beyond
all description.
" I do remember an apothecaiy ;
And hereabouts he dwells, with hats and cats
And rickety old owls, stuffed alligators,
And in his needy shop a tortoise hung."
And one other I remember:
" Thus far hear me, Cromwell,
And when I am forgotten as I shall be,
And sleep in dull cold marble where no mention
Of me more must be heard,—say my tooth
Was pulled by Richard, duke of Gloster."
Another moment, and he seemed struggling into
consciousness. Jack had of course explained the
secret of this extraordinary performance, and our
friends were no longer alarmed. Charlie had sent
96
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
for a popular dentist, who was the manufacturer of
a peculiar kind of gas, since then come into familiar
use, under the influence of which he had the tooth
extracted. But either he took too much or the
volatile essence acted upon his nervous temperament
in a manner that destroyed, for the time, both con-
sciousness and control of his nerves : hence his half-
crazy exhibition of himself.
He folded his arms, set his shoulders high, and
began deliberately walking back and forth, throwing
aside whatever came in his way, chairs, ottomans,
books, tables ; and still he walked and walked, till at
last, falling upon a sofa in a state of exhaustion, he
seemed to reflect.
At that moment I went up to him.
"Charlie dear," I said quietly.
" She wants to ask a favour of me, and so it's
' Charlie dear,' " he repeated ironically. " She keeps
the preserves for company too. By Jove, I'm glad
when a friend drops in, for then I get something to
eat," he added, with a miserable little laugh. I
could have sunk to the ground with sheer mortifi-
cation.
"Jealous of an engine, too: friends and fellow-
citizens, I— Where the dickens ami?" he asked,
suddenly regaining the full possession of his senses,
looking down at himself, and round upon the com-
pany.
"Never mind, Charlie," I said, "though you do
look slightly disarranged. Everybody knows ; every-
body excuses you."
" But, I say, what have I been talking about ? I'm
a spectacle for gods and men. Do let me get out
some way."
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
97
Jack piloted my crest-fallen hero from the room,
and somebody announced supper : so gathering up the
fag-ends of my resolution, so terribly tried, I ushered
our friends into the supper-room; and tbey were soon
occupied in a manner that for the time prevented all
discussion.
Meanwhile Charlie had dressed, and with the
sounding declaration, " Richard's himself again ! "
made his second entrance in a less forbidding manner.
Then pleasure and good-fellowship reigned.
Mrs. Nettleton proved herself invaluable. She
made me sit down, and waited upon me herself.
Charlie came round, and, learning from Lina the
extent of his transgression during the interregnum of
his sanity, made a comical little speech in which he
took it all back after this fashion:—
"My wife always considers me company, but she
won't give me fruit-cake every night for supper.
" Also she is very kind if I happen to dip my hat
in her custard.
"Ditto, she behaves like an angel when I bring
half - a - dozen fellows without giving her notice,
consequently eating up everything there is in the
house."
Each of these was received with loud applause and
laughter.
" Fourthly, as for the Inferno, it is not complete.
There is no toothache there.
" Fifthly, I have parted with my best friend and
worst enemy, and therefore can crack nuts no more.
ft
" ' Though patriots flatter, still shall wisdom find
An equal portion dealt to all mankind,
As different teeth, by art or nature given
To different people, make their blessings even.'
a
98
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
" Begging pardon of Goldsmith, I subside."
The tears were in my eyes, born of laughter ; for
Charlie's little speech recalled so many of his
oddities and vagaries, and more than all that picture
of the earlier part of the evening, where the dear
fellow danced the old bedstead down, that I could
hardly look or breathe for laughing. Charlie came,
to me.
" Did I make the amende honorable 2" he asked.
" Admirably, as you do everything," I said.
"You ought to put on your best preserves every
night for a year," he whispered.
St. Olave came up to make his adieux.
" I find I must start so soon to-morrow," he said,
" that I beg to say good-night thus early."
"But can you not stay with us ?" I asked.
"No, I thank you : my things are at the hotel. I
am pleased to hear that your sister and yourself are
about to visit Scranton."
Charlie pulled down his face. Jack, who was near
by, walked off to the window.
"Yes, I have promised Lina to go back with
her."
"The dickens you have!" I heard Charlie say
under his breath.
"Then I shall hope to see you soon. Good-
night," and, making his adieux to the company, he
was gone.
" Who is that long fellow, Charlie ? " asked Jack,
drawing a deep breath as he came back to the table.
" I presume that long fellow is the saint my wife
spoke of up-stairs. How is it, Puggie ? is the ancient
gentleman Lina's lover or yours?"
" Don't talk nonsense, Charlie," I responded.
THAT HUSEAND OF MINE.
99
"Whenever she don't dare say yes or no, she
answers in that way, Jack," said Charlie.
"He seemed very much interested in Miss Lina,"
Jack said, biting his lip.
"I thought of the old bedstead, Jack, when she
asked him to stay here to-night.—Where would
you have put the poor fellow, my dear ?"
" I should have found a place for him."
Lina came up looking herself, for the first time
that evening.
"See here, young lady, is that one of your old
beaux ?" asked Charlie, with his usual inconsider-
ateness.
She blushed scarlet, looked at me, and met Jack's
eye : very hard and cold it was just then.
" Didn't Elsa tell you he was our father's friend ? "
she said, her lips scarcely moving. But Jack read
her face in his own fashion. A cloud overshadowed
his own.
" By-the-bye," said Charlie, " where's your pretty
widow to-night? "
" I do not claim ownership in any widow, plain or
pretty," was Jack's answer.
"But Mrs. Harman, our namesake, where is
she?"
"At home, I suppose," said Jack coldly.
" She was invited, I hope."
" Yes, but I believe she was sick."
I noticed that when the company went up-stairs,
Jack and Lina did not drift together as usual; and
after the party Lina hurried to her room, and there,
she told me afterwards, had a good cry.
h 2
100
that husband of mine.
CHAPTER XY.
Charlie consented—relented—argued, made ap-
plications, drew inferences, recited alarming cases;
and finally, when he saw that 1 was determined to
accompany Lina, if it were only to turn back on
the following day and come home, gave up the
contest.
" The very thought of it makes me lonesome," he
said, the night before our journey.
" And do you suppose I resign my pleasant little
home, even only for a week or two, without a pang ?
Shall I not in spirit behold Jack and you occupying
every room in the house ? "
" I'll smoke in the parlour," quoth Charlie.
" I've no doubt of it; and take the sofa-tidy for
a door-mat. As for the carpet I shudder at the
thought."
" We shall enjoy your absence, Mrs. Harman.
Jack shall bring the charming widow here, to sing
' Sweet Home,' just to remind us that you may be
back some day. Meantime I shall learn to be digni-
fied, and address you as Mrs. Harman."
" Charlie! if ever you do invite that woman here
while I am gone ! It will be just like your thought-
lessness, to set the neighbours talking.
" Hang the neighbours ! " said Charlie.
" Instead of that, you'd better be preparing a
pleasant surprise for me when I come home."
" There's something in that," said Charlie, with an
almost sardonic grin. " I'll do it."
" I've not the least doubt of it, my dear Charlie: I
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
101
expect to be surprised every step, from the cellar to
the garret."
" You shall be,—you shall," was his reply, with
renewed enthusiasm, " if it takes every cent we have
laid by."
"Now, Charlie, you know I don't mean that:
promise me you won't draw any money out of the
bank."
" I shall bind myself by no promises, Mrs.
Harman."
"Then I won't goand I threw myself down in
no amiable mood, while Charlie was smoothing the
lounge-cushion preparatory to a siesta. For, gentle
reader, this was Sunday evening. I was to leave early
the next morning : how could we help discussing these
little matters ?
" That's the most sensible thing you've said yet,
my dear. You can't think how I dread dining away
from home."
"All you men think of is what you eat," said I,
more and more irritated.
"Well, I must confess it does enter largely into
our calculations ; else we shouldn't get married."
"No, I suppose not. You marry to get cooks, and
scrubbers, and wash-women."
" Don't forget the buttons, my dear: I laid my
shirts all out," said Charlie, with provoking coolness.
" I'm very glad I'm going to get away from it all.
I'm nothing but a drudge, any way, and I'll stay a
month."
"But, my dear, you just declared that you wouldn't
go."
" And I wouldn't if you were not too well pleased
to have me stay. I think I might be allowed just
102
THAT HUSBAND OP MINE.
one vacation in ten years. I'm tired of such a jog-
trot life."
" So am I," said Charlie, shaking up the pillow
again. " I wish I were going somewhere. The same
faces, the same surroundings, the same tasks, day after
day. Oh for Santa Barbara, or heaven ! "
"Why don't you go to Santa Barbara? why don't
you go
" To heaven ? Now, Elsa, you are in a passion.
But let me explain. To get to Santa Barbara requires
a check for five hundred dollars, a first-class car-
ticket, and six months of leisure: to get to heaven "—
"Oh, hush, Charlie! you are awful," I half
sobbed. " I don't see why you can't let me go with-
out this miserable discussion. You spoil all my plea-
sure, and make me quarrel with you, on this the last
day we may—may ever—be—to—together."
"I spoil! I make you quarrel! Why, what have
I done ? " and the man opened his blue eyes to their
widest extent. " If I remember right, I suggested
getting up a pleasant surprise ; or did you suggest it ?
or"—putting his hand to his head—"I am getting
bewildered."
"And you said that all you got a wife for was to
cook and wash and clean; and "—
"Well, now, did I? I have a hazy impression
that you said that; and you know I make it a point
never to contradict you."
" Yes, as if I were a child," I sobbed miserably.
"I'll te—tell Lina never to be mar—married to
Jack, or any other man. She'll be sor—sorry if she
does."
" She'll be sorry if she does, and she'll be sorry if
she don't," laughed Charlie. "But look here: you
THAT HUSBAND OP MINE.
103
haven't told me yet whether St. Olave was one of
your old beaux. What in the world did he come here
to see Lin a for ? I thought there was something
queer in his actions."
" Supposexyou write and ask him ? " I queried.
" Grood idea ! " said Charlie.
" Charlie, if you ever write or speak to him on that
subject, I'll never forgive you," I responded, rising.
"You are the most imprudent,pig-headed, obstinate"
—but here something smothered me. I think it was
the lappels of Charlie's coat; for as I tried to pass
him he caught me, and, as he has the strength of a
lion, I am as wax in his hands. The consequence was
that a lull ensued in the storm; and anyone coming
in just then (as Jack did) would have thought us in
the first bliss of our honeymoon. I am happy to add
that most of our quarrels ended in that fashion.
"Well, Jack, old boy, you take up your quarters
here to-morrow for two eventful weeks," said Charlie.
" I shall be so glad to be free ! " with a mock sigh.
"And, Jack," said I, "please see to the fastenings
yourself: Charlie never would think of it, if burglars
got in every night."
" I'll take special care," said Jack.
"It's a dreadful responsibility, Jack," said Charlie:
" birds to feed, cats to take care of, mice to catch,
house to clean."
"You'll have neither cats, birds, nor mice, thanks
to the neighbours," said I.
"So you're all going to-morrow, I suppose," said
Jack lugubriously.
" Tm not going," answered Charlie.
"No, of course not; but—can I see Miss Lina, do
you think ? "
104
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
"I'll runup and tell her," I said ; and accordingly,
with some misgivings, wended my way to her room.
She had scarcely been down-stairs all day, complaining
in the morning of a headache. I knew that from one
night to the other she was the victim of a tyrannical
imagination. Her word, passed to St. Olave, assumed
the sacred character of an oath. Her love for Jack,
so pure, true, and real, and so thoroughly over-master-
ing, on the one side, and her strong sense of duty on
the other, placed her in a labyrinth of doubt, from
which she could see no way to honourable escape.
She had been trained to the utmost strictness of ad-
herence to principle in small matters : consequently
this impending choice, involving the happiness of
three human beings, assumed the most awful import-
ance. It would have been impossible for her lightly
to encourage any man : there was nothing of the
coquette in her nature, beautiful as she was. Life was
to her a serious thing, for which, with its every act, to
be held accountable. She had dignity of character,
and mental gifts of an unusual order : hence she was
the severest judge and the most uncompromising witness
against herself. Her present experience was altogether
novel and exciting. She had no one to counsel her,
save a sister with not half her talents, perhaps not her
conscientiousness: therefore she stood alone, and passed
sentence upon herself unflinchingly.
As I went in she put aside a letter she had been
reading.
" From St. Olave ? " I said.
"Yes, the letter came yesterday."
" Is he a nice correspondent ? I mean, is he lover-
like ? " I asked.
"After his fashion, yes. He asks us to come and
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
105
see Oak Ridge,—so lie calls his residence,—and take
tea with him, next Thursday."
" Oh, Lina ! shall you ? "
"Why not?"
"I never would."
" But it is to be my home; and it is a lovely place."
" Did you ever see it ? "
" Only at a distance. He has bought it within a
few years. I suppose he has spent a great deal of
money upon it."
" That's one consolation," I said musingly.
" What ? " she spoke quickly, sharply.
" Plenty of money. I can imagine how delightful
it would be for Charlie and I;" and I thought of
Santa Barbara, where for years Charlie had been
longing to go and visit one of the dearest friends of
his youth.
" Yes, for you and Charlie, I don't doubtand she
spoke with a bitterness I had never heard in her sweet
voice before ; "but—oh, Elsa ! " and, hiding her face
in her hands, she shuddered all over.
" You sha'n't go to Oak Ridge, and you shall not
marry that man," I said with new determination.
"Who will prevent it ? " she asked, lifting tearless
eyes.
"I will. I counsel you to write immediately to
Mr. St. Olave, to write frankly the whole truth.
Then stay here, marry Jack, and don't go back till
you take the old home in your way for a wedding-
trip."
" Oh, Elsa! what a ghastly insult to that poor man !
Why, it would kill him outright."
" And you will die in less than a year if you marry
him, Mow, which life is worth'the most ? "
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THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
"You can't tell that, I can't. I might live to he
old; but any great shock would soon loose his hold on
life. As you said in thoughtless badinage some time
ago, he has some trouble with his heart: he told me
so himself."
" Oh! then, he wants you as a nurse."
"You are mistaken, Elsa," and Lina's cheeks were
as pale as her brow : "he wants me because he loves
me, and has loved me ever since I was a child. Such
constancy is rare. Mr. St. Olave is one of the noblest,
best of men. I cannot wrong him, no, not if I suffer
all my life."
" But Jack "—
"Has only known me a few weeks, Elsa. He
will—we shall both recover from our brief—in-
fatuation."
" Oh Lina, for shame! Is it infatuation which makes
your cheek so pale, and your smile so mournful ? Lina,
there is a love that never dies, and I believe you feel
that love for Jack. And he has never before seen any
one that he thought about the least, in that way; I
mean, till he saw you."
" How do you know that, Elsa ? " asked Lina, with
a faint, quick flush.
"Because I do: that's enough; don't make me
betray confidences."
"And I am the first!" exclaimed Lina, an exulting
smile lighting up her eyes." " 0 Elsa, how foolish I
am ! " and again she hid her face.
"Yes, all these years, for he is thirty-one, you
know. It seems as if he had been waiting for you,
and you for him. It must be so: I will have
it so."
"It is not as you or I will, dear," said Lina,
that husband of mine.
107
solemnly. " Our lives are ordered by a higher power.
I cannot, cannot consent to break this man's heart.
He has built all his hopes upon me. I should perhaps
be his murderer These things happen, are allowed
to happen; and from broken lives grow sometimes the
most heavenly results. I shall keep my word to St.
Olave, Elsa, but I will wait till I return before I write
to Jack."
CHAPTER XVI.
"But come down-stairs now."
" Jack is down there, then."
"Yes, and he asked for you."
" I am sorry. I cannot go."
" 0 Lina! and going away to-morrow. Do come
and say good-bye to the poor fellow."
" I will not see him. Don't you understand that I
cannot see him ? " she asked with a quiver in her
voice, and I saw her hands clutch convulsively.
" And in this state you are going to your bride-
groom• I think he'd thank you, if he knew."
" Hush, Elsa ! can't you ? "
"Ho, I can't and I won't. I had better be as rude
as Mrs. Nettleton, and set your duty before you. I
tell you St. Olave would much rather die than have a
wife who loves someone else."
"And I tell you I shall get over this as soon as I
am away, out of sight and hearing. Why, even his
footstep on the— But how absurdly I am talking!
Elsa, you must make my excuses. I am not well,
really. I am not in a fit mood to talk with any-
body."
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THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
" I'll just tell him the truth, then," I said angrily:
" I'll say you won't come down."
" I know what he will talk about: he'll continue it
some way."
" But I promise you Charlie and I will sit up, and
sit, and sit, till we drive him off, Only don't send
the poor fellow away without a sight of you,—pray
don't."
" My only safety lies in not seeing him," moaned
Lina.
" But he probably thinks it is all caprice; that
you have been amusing yourself with his atten-
tions."
" 0 Elsa! he can't; you don't believe that," she
said aghast.
" I don't know : it looks like it."
" I wish to Heaven I had never come ! " she made
passionate exclamation.
" "Wish the next best thing, that you had never seen
Jack, my dear: it does so much good to wish."
"True, true, there is no use in it," she said
languidly.
"I'm very thankful I didn't make the match,
though it was in my heart all the same. But you
see, dear, you both fell in love at first sight, so it
couldn't be helped."
"It must be helped," she murmured.
" Come, come ! time presses."
"I cannot go down, Elsa,"
" How, are you in earnest ? "
"I cannot go."
"You won't see him again. It's not likely he'll be
at the depot to-morrow, if you refuse him your com-
pany to-night,"
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
109
" I can't go down. I had rather not. Indeed, Elsa,
you must make my excuses."
" I'll do no such thing. I'll tell him you won't,
as I said ; " and I fear I slammed the door as I went
out.
"What! isn't Lina coming?" asked Charlie, as I
entered.
"I don't know : she is not very well," I said, not
daring to look at Jack.
" You're not going to leave us to spend a dull even-
ing all by ourselves," said Charlie, as Jack, looking
sour and dispirited, arose to go.
" You two are never dull, I dare swear," he said ;
" but I—I believe there's an engagement somewhere.
Anyhow I'll go walk a while. What time do you
leave, Mrs. Harman ? " he asked, turning to me; and
I pitied him, for he could not conceal his deep disap-
pointment.
"By an early train,—seven, I think."
" Then you will kindly present my compliments to
Miss Ainslie : I shall probably not see her again."
One thing and another detained him. Charlie had
a fine picture which he wanted him to pass judgment
upon ; then he asked his opinion on a new book, and
hunted up " The Regulator" in order to read a
criticism from some able pen. Poor Jack had dawdled
on till nearly nine; and now, just as he had turned
determinedly away, the door-knob creaked: my heart
gave a great throb: there stood Lina, convicted by
her own sweet, beautiful presence. Never had she
looked so like an angel; and as for Jack, if the heavens
had opened, I don't think the illumination of his face
could have been surpassed. He was so overjoyed, so
delighted, that he did not even return her greeting,
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THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
but stood looking at her brightly, as if she had been a
spirit.
How beautiful they were together !—she, her head
reaching a little above his broad shoulders, all grace
and softness and elegance; he, the impersonation of
manly strength and nobility. I thought I had never
beheld so lovely a picture; and it seemed as if she had
held the cup of her trouble upside down, and let every
drop of bitter run out, she was so charming, so social,
so full of life and vivacity. I could almost see the
pattern of her thoughts,—how she determined, if this
was indeed her last sip of happiness, to make the
occasion one upon which he could look back with
unalloyed pleasure. Outside it was moonlight; the
white beams drifted in, and gave the room a pictur-
esque vitality. Charlie and I sat at one window,
Jack and Lina at another. They chatted and laughed,
and talked of matters pertaining to everything but
themselves. I wondered what had come over my
wilful sister, thus to change her determination. Had
she let reason and common sense have their way at
last ? had she decided to take my advice P It seemed
like it; and I was silently happy. It was so pleasant
to see them sitting together, to hear his careless
laugh, and to fancy how they looked into each other's
eyes!
True to my promise, I kept Charlie up, though
he ventured all sorts of hints. I knew by some fine
instinct, that the moment we left them, she would go
also.
The clock struck eleven before Jack rose to say
good-night. Charlie had said good-night some time
before ; for, his head reclining upon my shoulder, he
was fast asleep, poor fellow ! I sat still, for I wanted
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
Ill
a word with Lina ; but she ran up-stairs as soon as
the front-door shut: so I waked Charlie with some
trouble, for he was a sound sleeper, and while he was
on his way to our room, I ran in to Lina.
There she lay her length upon the lounge, weeping
as if her heart would break. The sight chilled me
at once.
" Lina, what have you done ? " I cried.
" I have been inconsistent, weak, and wicked," she
answered. " I thought I locked the door. 0, Elsa!
when will this trial be over ? "
I sat down by her side, and softly drew her head
upon my shoulder.
" What made you come down, after all P " I asked.
" I don't know. 1 struggled a long time before I
could decide ; then all at once, I began to fear that he
was going, that perhaps I should never see him again,
—never, never, never ! The thought was such agony
that I could not bear it: my only fear was that he
would be gone ; and I believe I prayed wildly that
you might keep him for only one more word, one
more glance. So when I came down, I was so happy
to find him still there, that everything seemed heavenly
beautiful; and I could easily have fancied myself in
paradise. But it is all over. To-morrow I shall go—
oh, so gladly !—away—away. Maybe, once gone, I
sha'n't think of him—in this way."
"Do you not see what great dishonour you are
doing St. Olave ? " I said gently. " Suppose he knew
all this ? "
" But he does not know it: he never will. I shall
forget it myself by-and-bye ; " and she tried to laugh,
but it was a feeble effort.
"You won't forget it; Jack won't forget it: and
112
that husband of mine.
all for an old man with one foot in the grave. Se-
riously, I've a good mind to tell him myself."
"No, dear, yon won't," said Lina composedly.
" There—it's all over: this is the last trace of weak-
ness that you shall ever see. I have quite made up
my mind. As soon as I get home, I shall write to
Jack. I told him I would. He shall know every-
thing. He has misgivings now, I think,—has had
ever since he saw St. Olave. I shall he very happy :
don't you worry. You may have the homestead. I'll
make it over to you as soon as I am married; and you
can come and spend your summers there. Won't it
he delightful? "
" Oh, very ! " I said dolorously : " almost as cheer-
ful as going to look at your own grave-lot. If you
marry St. Olave," I said, with a sudden access of
spleen, " I'll never come and see you, never ! And I
wouldn't live in a house where I've pictured you and
Jack, with your love-in-a-cottage felicity."
"That will do," said Lina quietly. "I'm sure
you'll change your mind just for Charlie's sake. He
couldn't hear a long parting—from—oh, but I forgot
—Jack is not in the case ; " and she turned away that
I might not see the tears.
CHAPTER XVII.
Mrs. Nettleton was up early to see us off. She
brought in a little lunch of boiled eggs and biscuit
sandwiches, and bade us think of her when we ate
them.
" As for your Charlie, I'll keep a sharp eye on him,"
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
113
she said. "There'll be no gallivanting round this
mansion, while you're gone, unless it's with me," she
added laughing. " And I'm going to keep a journal
of all the gossip during the time you're away: it will
be a big kite with a long tail to it. Maybe I'll send
it over to you. Anyhow, be good girls, and keep your
faces clean," and this was the elegant parting saluta-
tion of my next-door neighbour.
Charlie went down with us, all smiles. It did my
heart good to see that the smiles were forced, and that
every now and then he quite forgot what he was
saying, and could scarcely keep his hands, off of me.
" Keep her in a dark closet, Lina ; don't let any-
body see her: I'm not quite prepared to lose her yet.
We have been boon companions for eleven long years;
and though she does pull my hair dreadfully some-
times, and scolds me enough to break my heart into
little pieces, though she can be cross, and look like a
little savage, still I have a kind of sneaking regard
for the young woman,"—saying which he passed his
arm round my neck, dislodging my travelling hat that
it had cost me so much pains to arrange properly, and
tearing my new veil.
" Why will men be such bears ? " I could not help
exclaiming.
"For bear, my love, for bear!" exclaimed Charlie,
solemnly, and tried to put my hat in its proper place,
succeeding only in bringing down my hair. I believe
■ I cried a little and laughed a little, but nevertheless
I was sufficiently belligerent to send Charlie on the
front seat, with Lina.
" There's Jack! " cried Charlie, just as the carriage
drove up to the depot, and my second toilet was con-
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THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
eluded. "It needed no prophecy to tell that we
should find him here."
Yes, there was Jack. Lina's face flushed rosy red
as she gave him her hand on getting out of the car-
riage. Charlie led us into the depot, as it was yet
quite early, then left us, but returned in a moment
with as many as six paper parcels, oranges, peanuts,
buns, sponge-cake, and half a dozen illustrated jour-
nals. Jack had made provision for the inner man
alone, presenting us each with a pretty convenient
volume, and the journals of the day.
And now came the parting. Absurd as it may
seem, it was the hardest thing I ever did to leave
Charlie standing on the platform. Oh, if I could have
had my choice at that moment,—could only have re-
turned to my snug little home!
Lina was very pale, but quite self-controlled. I
fancy she thought it was the last parting with Jack
by the way she clung to his hand, and looked into his
face. I could not wonder, Jack's brown eyes were
so wistful.
" I shall soon be myself again," she said, drawing
down her veil, and turning her eyes resolutely away;
while I unfolded the first of Charlie's purchases in
the illustrated line, and tried to see them through a
strange mist that blurred my vision.
Just like him, the dear, careless fellow! The first
picture was a terrific representation of some late col-
lision,—two engines over-riding each other, maimed
bodies, a conflagration, and general disaster. I laid
the paper quickly aside, and busied myself by looking
at the objects that passed with kaleidoscopic swiftness
and colouring before my eyes. I had not travelled
this way since I took my wedding journey, and no-
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
115
thing looked familiar. Two women behind us were
talking incessantly; and as I soon wearied of the
same succession of fields, houses, red earth, and blue
sky, I could hardly help becoming interested in their
conversation.
" She didn't enjoy her money much, did she P"
asked the younger traveller.
" No: it seemed a judgment on her for giving up
that poor young man. He had loved her so long, you
see, and the blow was so sudden."
" But what became of him
" Oh! he died of a broken heart, scarcely a year
afterwards. He told her she would be his death, and
she was."
"I don't think I could marry anyone I didn't love,
under any circumstances," said the young, grave
voice.
" I hope not, child. But we are none of us strong,
very few strong enough to do exactly right, let the
circumstances be what they may, and the conse-
quences too. People will go on making mistakes, I
suppose, till the day of judgment."
I knew Lina heard this conversation, for the voices
were very peculiar.
"That's what they could say of me," she whis-
pered significantly: "he had loved her so long, you
see, and the blow was so suddenand she shook her
head in her own positive fashion.
"At least, let us enjoy ourselves for a time," said
I, nestling close to her, pitying her so. " Put off the
evil day as long as you can, Lina. I want to forget
everything, and see how near I can come to childhood
again."
I 2
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THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
To my surprise, an elegant carriage was drawn up
near the depot, when we reached Scranton.
" How thoughtful! " murmured Lina : " he has
sent his own carriage and coachman."
" And how exceedingly comfortable to have a car-
riage of one's own ! " I said, leaning against the lux-
urious cushions, as the staid driver gathered up the
reins. " I declare, Lina, if only poor Jack weren't
in the way, I could almost envy you. If there is one
worldly wish I have above another, it is that I may
some time ride in my own carriage. Charlie wishes
it too, for" my sake; but, poor fellow, I fancy he will
have to walk all his life, and I with him; but then,
I don't mind."
Lina was regarding me with a wistful expression.
Having made up her mind to accept the riches of
this world, I shrewdly suspect she was even then
casting about in her thought how she would benefit
her poor relations. She would, accepting the situa-
tion, be obliged to turn to other matters for solace
and interest, that Jack's image might fade from her
heart, if that indeed was possible.
The old up-hill, down-dale streets, how natural
they looked! There was the little set garden of
Ma'am Canterbury, at whose shop I had so often
spent my pennies for hump-backed horses and straight-
backed camels. The roses grew just as luxuriantly
as of old, climbing all over the quaint little yellow
porch, into the small window that once always framed
the white face of her sickly boy. The boy had been
dead now many years, and lay over in the church-
yard, which was very near the cottage.
Dear old hilly streets, over which I had tramped
so unweariedly when a child ! Sweet, unchanged
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
117
orchards, with their bloom and brightness; low, un-
dulating hills in the far distance, melting into the blue
of a June sky; merry children, happy and playful,
dancing under the trees, just as I had danced without
a care or a fear so many years; and at last the turn
into a shady road, the four lofty beeches in front of
the little yard, the low-roofed, many-roomed cottage :
ah, here was home!
Mammy Brown stood in the doorway, her very
turban cap glowing in the red sunshine, in token of
the gladness of her warm old heart. Forty years had
she presided over the kitchen fires and household
god's of our pleasant cottage home. When the father
died, and the low-voiced mother followed him, she
had wept with and consoled us,—had in one sense
been a mother to us; for, though ignorant, she was a
sensible, thoughtful, high-principled woman, half
Scotch, half English; and not for her right hand
would she have done a mean or unrighteous thing, be
the gain to herself ever so assured.
And the rooms through which I ran like a girl,
—small, but numerous; and the old hall dining-room,
the largest in the house, wainscoted with oak, the
ceiling fancifully painted by my artist uncle. In my
childhood, it had been a miracle of beauty to me.
Originally it was the hall; but papa, liking the situa-
tion, had made it into a family-room, put in a bay
window, and otherwise beautified it, till it was my
pride and glory. How often my twin brother and
myself had sat in the great window, reading out of
the same book, or busy with our little schemes ! I
was to be May queen, perhaps, and he made the
wreaths and floral decorations; or, if it were Christ-
mas time, when we all went over to the little church
118
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
to decorate the altar and the chancel, the holly and
evergreens were found by his busy hands, and fash-
ioned into all kinds of fanciful devices, till the solemn
Gothic interior looked like a bower of beauty. Dear
twin brother ? Destined himself for the church, he
died on the very day set apart for his ordination.
But the tabie in that room, how it had shrunken
since the days when eight or ten happy people had
gathered there of a meal-time ! First went the heads
of the family, then death claimed two of my brothers,
another married and went away, then an uncle died,
next an old pensioner of the family, then a relative
who lived near and was often with us; till finally only
we two were left, to sip our coffee, and talk of the
shadowy past. But it was a rare happiness even then.
I forgot that I had ever known cares or trials ; and,
though Charlie's laughing eyes would thrust them-
selves provokingly into everything I read or saw, and
his comical, quizzical looks met me at every turn, yet
I managed to enjoy my liberty after a fashion. It
was so delightful, wandering in the mazes of the old
kitchen-garden, where Mammy Brown dug and hoed
and planted every morning.
"Miss Elsa, your mamma, she used to say that
I was better than any man at garden-work," said
Mammy Brown, her spare dark face half lost in the
depths of an enormous sun-bonnet, as she lifted
herself from the task of weeding before breakfast.
"Men!" she added, gutturally, "who wants] them
about?"
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE-
119
CHAPTER XVIII.
" You still have your antipathies against the male
sex, I see; " and I gathered a wild flower or two.
" Yet I think you liked my father."
" Of course, but only for your mother's sake. Your
mother was too good for this world: she was a sort of
angel from her very birth. Now, the man that could
git her must have been a very superior male crea-
ture ; and you see she couldn't live without him."
"But you don't do all the garden work," I said,
while she untied the strings of the great check-apron,
and took off her gardening gloves.
" Yes, I do, every mite of it,—me and a boy," she
added reluctantly. " Men is men, and boys is boys.
I can abide boys, but not men. Men'll have their
own way, but you can make boys do your way.
Haven't you found that out yet ? " she asked sharply.
" Well, I get my own way when I want it very
much," I said, laughing.
" Hum ! then I. reckon you don't want it often, for
you and Miss Lina was allays of the giving-up sort.
I ain't sure but it's better, too, for women that will
git married; but I allays wanted my own way in
everything."
We were now in the kitchen, and she was beating
eggs for an omelet.
" What do you think ? shall we have a wedding
soon ?" she asked, pausing in her occupation, and
looking at me wistfully.
" I can't say : I'm afraid"—I began.
" So'm I. How, there's no airthly need o' Miss
Lina's gitting married. She and me might live so
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THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
cosily. I sort o' reckoned on it, when the children
went away,—'lotted on me and her jest keeping
house together without no troubles of the man sort.
But that walking-funeral come over here, and I'm
sure he made love to her."
" Oh ! but, Mammy Brown, you shouldn't call him
such names : I'm sure he's good-looking."
" Yes, but he's onhealthy ; I can see it in his eyes,
and his housekeeper says he's liable to die any
minute; I'm sure such a man is a walking-funeral.
And Miss Lina is so young looking, and smart, and
lively : I don't want to see her tied to that poor sick
critter."
" Neither do I, to speak candidly," I said.
" But there ! if 'twa'n't him it would be somebody
else, just for the disarrangement of my plans. And
I don't know as I've got any right to have my say
about it, either," she added, turning but the yellow
edible, and rapidly garnishing the dish: " but I've
been so long with Miss Lina I'd hate to lose her,
though she'll take me wherever she goes ; but no
place won't be like the home where, in a sort, I
raised ye."
Lina came in just then, pale, pre-occupied.
"You know we're to go over to Mr. St. Olave's to-
night, or rather this afternoon," she said. " I re-
ceived a little note informing me that the carriage
would be here at three : so we must be ready."
" Goin' to look at the house ? " asked Mrs. Brown,
pouring out the coffee.
"I suppose it means that," Lina answered, looking
at me with a faint smile.
" I shall have to start before the letters come,
then," said I.
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
121
" Tears to me you have lots o' correspondence,"
said Mammy Brown.
" Oh, yes ! I get a letter from home every day."
"What in the name of prudence can he find to
write about ? "
" Would you like to know ? " X asked.
" Well, yes. I can't write a letter more than once
a year, and then I can't fill two pages. It's awful
work."
I took Charlie's last letter from my pocket, and
having finished my meal I read aloud :—
" My dear Whimsey "—
" Who's that ? " queried Mammy Brown.
" That means me. I have all sorts of titles."
"I sit in the old snuggery in the midst of unbroken
stillness and furniture. Jack smashed a mug to-day,
but then he is unused to the care of housekeeping,
and somewhat awkward as yet. We got up this
blessed morning at five o'clock. It is really a luxury
not to have to be called ; and I think when you come
home, little woman, I shall be so habituated to
waking myself up, that you will have no more trouble
on that score.
"Water all gone, not enough to shave with: so I
toted down stairs for a tumbler full, and, by the time
I reached the top again, saw that the water had found
its level by leaking out of a small hole at the bottom.
Can't think how that shaving-mug got broken : don't
remember having any special grudge against it. Then
I sent Jack down for more water, with a bigger
pitcher ; and that's how the mug got smashed."
" Then he has ruined your beautiful set! " ex-
claimed Lina, betraying astonishment at my smiling
composure,—" your green and gold."
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THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
" My dear, I packed my green and gold securely
at the bottom of a chest, out of harm's way, and
gave him the unmatched set out of Biddy's room, at
least it would he if we had a Biddy. They wouldn't
know the difference."
"But never mind," continued the letter, "Jack is
going to get it new all round; so you'll be rather
glad than otherwise.
"We are good hoys, we two ; we sit in the%moon-
light, and talk about our wife and sweetheart."—
Here Lina flushed crimson, and bent over her cup,
while Mammy Brown, her eager eyes wide open and
investigating, looked from one to the other.
" I sewed some buttons on my shirt yesterday, and
Jack declared there was something wrong about it.
Afterwards we found out that it was because I used
black silk: so Jack took them off, and sewed them
with blue, which was the lightest colour we could
find, and a decided improvement. I don't think you
could have done it better yourself. I may have made
one mistake ; I suppose I have. I must have left the
door open a minute or two,—either the front door or
the hack, or the side, one of the three,—for I found
a very choice family of kittens in the middle of your
bed in the spare room when I went to get some
towels out of the drawer. It was for the space of
some minutes a study for a painter. Could you have
seen the sweet and forgiving expression, of that
strange cat's physiognomy at my intrusion, heard her
low murmur of content, and then could you have seen
her hack curve when I went towards her, and the
rigid altitude of her caudal appendage, you would
have written an essay, then and there, on the univer-,
sality of parental affection. The cat was white, with
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123
a smudge on its nose, and for a second I stood ap-
palled; for you know I have no special love for cats,
and this one looked as if it were ready to fly at me
with a three-cat power. However, after some trouble
we dislodged the creature; and Jack and I, armed
with a kitten a-piece, which we held by the extreme
tip of its infantile tail, travelled three times up and
down stairs, till we had deposited six small cat-
kins in the ash-bin. Jack counselled that we bury
them then and there in the ashes; but the howling of
the afflicted cat appealed to my tenderest sympathies.
I thought how should I feel if I saw you with a
smudge on your nose, imploring for life at the hands
of a monster twenty times your size, and was merciful.
To-morrow a small boy, who has no idea of the mag-
nitude of the office he has undertaken, will arrive
here with a basket, descend to the ash-bin, and dis-
pose of the afflicted family, for cash received. I pity
him if the white feline is anywhere round.
"Since then I have scrupulously shut the door of
the spare chamber, not forgetting to let Jack have an
extra peek at its splendour, for the sake and in memory
of you know who."
" I'd like to know who Jack is," spoke up Mammy
Brown, adjusting the strings of her turban cap. " At
fust I thought it was a dog, but I soon see it must be
another man."
"Yes, Mammy, it is another man," I said.
" "What's he like ? " queried the woman with a side
glance at Lina.
" Oh! he's nice," was my response ; " one of the
handsome kind, with splendid brown whiskers, tall,
manly, and young," with unconscious emphasis.
" Oh ! young, is he ? " said Mammy Brown, as Lina
124
that husband of mine.
rose to leave the table, with a warning glance at me.
" Then I wish to patience she had liked that one,"
she added as the bright folds of Lina's morning-gown
disappeared. " She'll die at her mother's age if she
marries the other : the poor dear was only thirty-five,
and didn't iSflok twenty in her coffin. I'll never forgit
it: people just hung over her, she was such a pic-
ture. And Miss Lina is more like her mother, any-
way, than you,—yes, in her face and her manner.
You favour the Ainslie side ; but they're not bad
looking," she added reflectively.
CHAPTER XIX.
The carriage drew up before the front door pre-
cisely at three o'clock. Lina had been nervous all
day, unable te settle to anything. She had written
the letter to Jack, but I had prevailed upon her not
to send it till after this visit.
" What difference can it possibly make ? " she asked
impatiently. " I have made up my mind. Why do
you counsel me to delay it?" and her restless hands
and eyes betrayed the anxiety she felt.
" Because," was my vague reply; and I had no other.
Reason I could give none with propriety, and my di-
plomacy had seldom been of the triumphal sort. In
tact, I had no genius that way.
Lina looked sweet and sad. She was dressed simply
in black, with pale pink b.ows at her throat,—so pale
they seemed almost white.
" You are losing your colour," I said.
" Because I am losing my youth," was her answer.
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
125
"And yet a few months ago you rivalled me in
bloom."
" Happiness is a beautifier," she said. " I was very
happy when I left here ; indeed, I have been always
happy till now. And don't fear," she added quickly:
" I shall he happy again."
What could I say ? I certainly did not believe she
would ever he happy again; but I could not find it in
my heart to tell her so. We got into the carriage,
and were driven silently along. During the whole
distance Lina did not smile. As for me, I observed
everything minutely : the very hedges, the fences, the
gardens, the cows with bended heads cropping the
sweet grass, the hens and chickens living their short
and pleasant lives in the open sunshine, the many
quaint and often poor little houses of the labouring-
men, for there were mills on the outskirts of the
town.
" What pleases you so ? " asked Lina, as I laughed
aloud.
"The little man in duck trousers, and the little
woman in a sun-bonnet, or rather the sun-bonnet with
a little woman inside." They were two children, one
perhaps three and the other four, trotting along close
to the fence, on the narrow, hard clay path. There
they travelled hand in hand, he in a slouched and
ragged hat, a world too big, the trousers rolled up
from his pudgy little feet; she in the household bon-
net, whose cape hung almost to her shoes. Grave as
their grandparents they trudged along, and it mattered
not to them that their puggy features were smeared
with dirt and molasses. All the world ministered to
their pleasure, to their necessities: they were wise
enough in their generation.
126
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
" Poor things ! " sighed Lina forlornly.
" Poor! why, all the riches of the greatest million-
aires do not represent to them what a few pebbles,
the sunshine, a flower, a bit of painted glass, a mother's
kiss, mean to those small atoms of humanity. Don't
pity them."
" I don't for the now, hut for the beyond," she
said.
" And how do we know but that may he heaven ? "
"True, dear. I have no right to anticipate for
them, or for myself either: so I will try to he
content."
" Oh what beautiful grounds we are turning in !
This, then, is the place ; a very paradise. If flowers
could make you happy, surely your future is bright
enough." Such lovely colours ! circles of pink, white,
blqe, scarlet, all framed in by low borders of box of
the most vivid green; and there, on the broad steps
leading to the mansion, stood St. Olave himself, very
pale, but serenely happy. He came down and opened
the door for us, and led us in as if we had been
queens. I must confess that at that moment I did
wish Lina had never seen Jack, all this seemed so
fitting for her. The hall was full of soft colours,
falling through stained glass; and at the end we looked
upon a conservatory, and heard the sound of plashing
waters.
Mrs. Eoose, the housekeeper, a stately woman, very
richly dressed in silk and lace, led us upstairs into the
dressing-room. I wanted to fly round and examine
things, and, with a housewife's interest, longed to find
out whether it was lace on the pillow-slips of the great
bed in the corner, or embroidery. There were but few
trifles in that splendid room : everything was stately,
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
127
rich, imposing, and in absolutely perfect order. And
so it was wherever we went,—inside or outside. Even
the pens for the pigs were model pens, and there was
no litter in the barnyard. The windows of the con-
servatory were thrown open ; and there, amid a mass
of Southern blooms, we sat and looked out upon a
lovely landscape, half forest, half upland, a long
stretch meadow after meadow, leading up the gently
swelling hills that were dotted here and there with
cattle.
Mr. St. Olave devoted himself assiduously to our
comfort. I certainly felt my heart warm towards
him as I noticed every little delicate attention and
the thought and care he gave to the minutest details
that appeared to add to our enjoyment. The supper
in the spacious dining-room was set out with old
family silver, some of which, Mr. St. Olave told us,
was brought from Holland; and later he improvised
a little repast out under the light of the moon, in
which we partook of the rarest fruits; and alto-
gether our time passed so pleasantly that I caught
a faint echo of Lina's old-time merry laugh, now and
then.
Yes, it was very pleasant to feel that one's sister
might have all these good things to her lot, a freedom
from care, and a power to do whatsoever she chose
whensoever she chose. St. Olave was so thoroughly
a gentleman, too, exceptional in his looks, manners,
habits; and it was easy to see that he worshipped
her.
Lina leaned hack in the carriage on the way, and I
would not break the silence; hut after we arrived
home our tongues were loosed.
" I am sure that housekeeper don't like me," said
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THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
Lina, languidly taking out her comb, letting the
rich brown hair fall at its own will oyer neck and
shoulders.
" What makes you think so, dear ?"
" It was simply an impression,—a feeling I had
when she came near me. She has been there twenty
years: naturally she feels jealous of one who may
usurp her authority."
" I thought her very kind looking."
"Yes, she matched well with the surroundings;
rather a handsome woman too. Why couldn't he fall
in love with her ? " she asked pettishly.
" For the same reason, I suppose, that Jack didn't
fall in love with the widow."
" Hush!" she said, with a scared look. " I have
been seeing him all day. If I were superstitious, I
should think some trouble had befallen him. Now
you are laughing at me."
"No, I assure you I am not."
" It is true : it seemed once or twice as if I heard
him call me. I could enjoy nothing, although I
wished to appreciate Mr. St. Olave's delicate atten-
tions. I'm rather glad, on the whole, that I didn't
send that letter."
" I thought you'd be."
"Not that I don't mean to send it: of course I do;
perhaps to-morrow."
" Then, on the whole, you are satisfied with your
future home," I said.
"Oh, don't!" and she shuddered a little. "In
darkness or in daylight, I am haunted by a ghost. I
always shall be if I go there."
"To be sure," I answered: "that's what I told
you. I wouldn't go there, then."
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
129
" Oil! but I must: tbat is decided. Now I am
away from—now tbat I am here—tbe task will grow
easy. How did I behave ? Did you think from my
manner " She hesitated.
"You seemed to be on the best terms with yourself
and Mr. St. Olave."
" Is it possible you thought so ?" and Lina spoke
with an irritation altogether foreign to her. A wave
of emotion swept over her countenance: she seemed
scarcely able to restrain her tears.
"I'm sure, as long as I had decided to give up
Jack, I'd try to get all the comfort I could out
of such magnificent prospects," I said. "I only
hope I sha'n't envy you. Naturally I like ease and
elegance."
" Would you change with me?" asked Lina turning
half fiercely.
"You know I wouldn't; but you won't have Jack
and his salary of two thousand a year. I wish he
would come here and take forcible possession of you,
—carry you off."
"Such things are not done in these days," said
Lina, trying to smile.
" Don't you wish they were? "
"It would be a foolish wish," she said.
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THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
CHAPTER XX.
Suddenly we were startled by tbe apparition of
Mammy Brown, looking as if .she had risen in her
" Come this way a minute, Miss Lina, and you too,"
she added, nodding to me ; and we followed, she lead-
ing u-s into a little bedroom at the top of the second
flight of stairs, whose generally well-ordered interior
had the appearance of having been tossed up generally.
In the middle of the floor lay a carpet-bag, yawning
as if it had been trying to get to sleep, and couldn't.
Clothes were thrown here and there ; and, tracing the
line of shoes and stockings of small dimensions, our
eyes were led to the old four-poster, wherein, upon
pillows so soft that they brimmed over on whatever
pressed them down, smiled in their sleep three cherub
faces, all looking almost infantile in their profound
slumber.
Lina's face was all one glow of delight, as she saw
this pretty vision so unexpected.
"My dear boys ! my dear children! " she exclaimed
rapturously. "When did they come? why didn't
you send me word? "
" He wouldn't let me: he said he wanted to sur-
prise you; and they tried to set up, but they all got
so sleepy ! So they went to bed, and I wasn't to say
a word till morning; but bless me! I couldn't keep
in that long : no woman couldn't."
" I'm so glad you told me!" said Lina, gazing her
fill, after she had kissed them all. "You never saw
little Neddy, Elsa: he's the image of our own father;
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131
you can see his likeness even now to the picture down
stairs. Oh, how pleased I am,—the darlings! I
wish they could stay with me always. I wonder if it
is wicked to wish they were mine to take care of. It
would all have been right, if"—her lip trembled—
"they had staid."
" How long are they going to stop ? "
" Only till to-morrow night," said Mammy Brown.
"You see, she's going on a visit to her own folks ; and
he said, that, as they came through here, he must
stop and see you and the old place, if it was only for
an hour." x
" "We'll have a lovely day to-morrow, and forget
everything," murmured Lina, bending over the curly
heads. " You don't know how much we liked each
other,—these boys and I: they were so full of life,
and yet not a bit rude.—You must get up a splendid
breakfast," she added, turning to Mammy Brown :
" they were always so fond of rice-cakes."
"Yes, indeed, I've thought of that: I put the rice
on two hours ago, and plenty of it; and I've had
some chickens killed, and dressed 'em myself. Mr.
Nathan seemed dretful pleased with his supper; said
he couldn't find anybody could cook like me, and I
believe he meant it. I got him up some of them
milk muffins, and tossed a bit of the dried beef and
cream in the frying-pan : you know how he likes that.
And a very pretty little woman she is."
This odd addendum referred of course to Nathan's
new wife.
" I put 'em in the best spare," said Mammy Brown,
" and aired everything. Nathan always was afraid
of a strange bed, even in his own house."
The following day was given up to jollity. Lina
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THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
had not been so happy for weeks. The children hung
about her in a way that was enough to send a pang
to the heart of a stepmother; but Nathan's wife was
a sensible little woman, and seemed quite willing to
take the second place until she could win the first.
" Aunt Lina, are you going to get married ? " asked
Ad, the eldest boy.
" What nonsense! who has been telling you
such things ? " queried Lina, changing colour never-
theless.
"Papa said so. Besides, you were up to old St.
Olave's last night, when we came."
"Hush, dear, you musn't call him old St. Olave:
it's not respectful," said Lina.
" But papa did: he said he was almost old enough
to be your grandfather, and that he was afraid you
would be sorry."
" If you should be very unhappy, my dear," I said
to her aside, " it will not be for lack of warning."
"If I am very unhappy, Elsa," she made reply,
with some warmth, " I do not propose to blame any-
body but myself. I shall be quite ready to acknow-
ledge that it is my own fault."
The boys were rather shy of me; and I could not
blame them, they had seen so little of me for years.
Yet I loved them: they were kind-hearted, sturdy
fellows ; but I could never have won them as Lina
had. Of her they never tired. She always seemed
like a new creation to them. Her brain was stored
with stories; her hands were wonderful for invention.
With them she was a very child. All her colour
came back, her vivacity, her beautiful, brilliant
manner. How she would romp with them, never
seemingly weary of their merry, noisy protestations,
THAT HUSBAND ON MINE.
133
out doors and in ; while I sat quietly, and chatted
with my brother's new wife. She, too, had much to
say about Lina, who had been her schoolmate; but,
contrary to my expectations, she considered my sister
fortunate in her choice, or rather fortunate to be chosen
by St. Olave.
" I think him very handsome, and I know he is
very good," she said, as we watched the boys fro-
licking with Lina in the garden, running in and out
among the great pots of oleanders that had been
among my mother's most cherished treasures.
" There was not much chance for her, you see, for
she was fast drifting into spinsterhood; and I'm
sure Lina ought to be married, she's so pretty and
so affectionate. Besides, she will be rich. It isn't
as if she had been out in the world, you know, and
had formed attachments of any kind. I think Lina
could love very deeply, almost passionately; but as
she has never met her twin soul, as they say, the
esteem she must feel for St. Olave will ripen into a
steady, warm attachment, and I'm sure she will be
happy."
I thought of poor Jack, and sighed. Just then the
noisy troop came in; Lina flushed and driven by the
boys, but laughing. They clamoured for music.
"Yes," said Nathan, entering at that moment:
" sing one of your good old songs, Lina."
" Well, what shall it be ? " asked Lina brightly.
" Why, you remember my favourite; old as the
hills, to be sure, but still I like it. Let me see: I
believe I could repeat it word for word,—
' If thinking of him day and night be any sign,
If thrilling at the wish that he were mine,—
Then I'm in love.
134 THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
If wondering where he is with conscious sighs,
Trembling to fancy I but meet his eyes,
Be tokens of that glad and sweet surmise,—
Then I'm in love.
If thanking God for this great gift be any sign,
If placing him within my heart's most sacred shrine,—
Then I'm in love.
If opening the temple of my mind,
I drive out all the unworthy guests I find,
That he may greet the noblest of her kind,—
Then I'm in love.' "
I pitied Lina. Her colour went and came : I could
see how short her breath grew, and how her fingers
trembled.
"Anything but a love-song," she said, trying to
speak steadily. " I don't believe I could sing that
to-night."
" Oh! give us something jolly," cried the oldest
boy, for which I am sure she could have kissed him
heartily.
" Yes," echoed the youngest; " sing,—
' The hair's all gone on the top of his head.'
That's what I like; that's what you used to sing when
you was little, like us."
Without a word, Lina plunged into a bright little
medley ; and soon the hoys were dancing, and kept it
up till tea-time.
that husband of mine.
135
CHAPTER XXI.
The next day it rained. Lin a rose early, and was
practising some new music when I went down stairs.
Mammy Brown had gooseberries to pick, and I found
her a more congenial companion.
" It does take so long to top and tail 'em," she said
pathetically, glad of my offer to help. " Miss Elsa,
I've had a right bad dream about Miss Lina. I doubt
whether she ever gits married to that man, for my
dreams is always a true sign,—always ! "
" What was it ? "
" I dreamed that we were all going to the wedding.
There seemed to he all the family here,—the folks
that's dead, and the folks that wasn't, and yet we none
of us wondered how the dead got alive again: I'm
sure I didn't, it seemed so natural. I thought your
mother helped dress Lina, and a grander wedding-
dress I never see. Why, light seemed to come from
it, it was so splendid, and the veil shone like silver;
hut Miss Lina's face was dead white under it. Well,
there was a procession, two and two, to go to the
house of the bridegroom ; and as we came in sight of
it, lighted from top to bottom, suddenly every light
went out, and we couldn't none of us know where we
were. However, we groped about till we found the
house, and went in, all in the dark. Inside, there
was a faint shining that came from neither sunlight,
moonlight, nor candles : every room was plain to be
seen with all its furniture, in that singular lack of
natural light, when suddenly we come upon the
parlour, which was shinier than the other apartments;
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THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
and there, stretched upon a hoard, lay Mr. Olave,
candles as tall as himself burning at his head and
his feet. I thought the man moved and spoke, but
for all that he was dead; and what do you think he
said ?—
" ' The ceremony must he put off: I don't think I
shall be married to-day.' Then a mist seemed to
come over everything; and I could only hear Miss
Lina sobbing as if her heart would break, and her
mother trying to comfort her. Now, wasn't that a
queer dream, anyway P "
" Yes, but you had probably been thinking about
Mr. St. Olave, and their marriage. It was not
wonderful that you should dream about them."
" Yery true ; but, Miss Elsa, I tell you my dreams
always mean something. How did she like the
house ? "
" It is a beautiful place: I think she liked it."
" It ought to be : why, he has been spending heaps
of money. I always thought he was a close man, but
I must say he's done the handsome thing. But I've
a notion that Miss Lina looks unhappy about it. I
hope she likes him. I hope there ain't nobody else."
Her eyes finished the sentence, and I did not feel
at liberty to enlighten her: so I picked the goose-
berries in silence.
" I thought she looked sort o' queer when that young
man's name was mentioned yesterday;" said Mammy
Brown, trying to feel her way to my confidence.
" Did she ? He is a very dear friend to my
husband," I made reply.
"Why couldn't your Charlie come up with you?
How well I remember when he came to Scranton that
time, after you'd been spending the winter in the city
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137
with, your poor uncle that's dead and gone ! It didn't
take you long to catch a husband, did it ? " and she
laughed merrily. "You wasn't hut sixteen then.
Why didn't you bring him ? "
" Business, my dear old friend. Charlie is tied to a
newspaper. He calls himself a bob at the tail-end of
a kite : he never can get off. I wish he could: it
would be so pleasant to go over to the old place
together!"
" Two sweet-tempered young things," I used to say:
"how easy life will go with 'em ! And you look as if
it had, Miss Elsa. There ain't none o' that worried-
ness about the eyes and forehead which people have if
things don't go right."
" But things don't always go right: Charlie and I
have horrible fights sometimes; that is—I suppose I
shouldn't blame Charlie, for my temper is the quickest.
And don't imagine," I added, laughing at her un-
equivocal astonishment, " that we throw the dishes at
each other, or practice with the shovel and tongs. Oh,
no! it's only a little tiff now and then, in which I
generally come off second best, and Charlie gets all the
glory. But there's the last gooseberry, and I must go
and find Lina."
She was sitting at the window, looking out upon the
storm.
" I miss my boys so much! " she said.
" And I miss"—
« Your Charlie ! "
" Just a little."
" Oh! then you are getting home-sick," and a look
of alarm chased the sadness from her face. " Don't
leave me before the time, Elsa: I staid with you at
my peril, and now"—
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THAT HUSBAND OP MINE.
Astonished at the wildly-beseeching look and tones,
I began to soothe her with promises.
"I confess I am terribly shaken this morning; I
confess I don't know what to do," she added, as, an
image of forlornness and disquiet, she stood there
looking out upon the dripping branches close to the
window. It was one of those moments when the
agony of the suffering heart makes one ready to yield
to whatever temptation promises relief. " While the
children were here, I almost forgot it; hut, waking up
this morning in the silence, such a horror came over me
as I never experienced before. I dare not think; and
yet it is all the time before me, this future that I
dread so."
" If you had only the courage to tell St. Olave, I'm
sure he is just the man to pity and forgive you. I
am certain he would release you at once."
She did not speak, only stood there still looking out
into the gray, wet garden.
" Come : here are wools, here are hooks, here is
music. Occupation is the great panacea, even for
heart-ache. Let's do something pretty and pleasant,
or else I'll go into the kitchen and help Mammy
Brown make rhubarb pies," I threatened laughingly.
Reluctantly she took up her worsted-work, and soon
we were chatting of other things. After dinner I had
occasion to go up-stairs to find one of my letters,
when, looking from the window facing the road, I
saw at a distance the carriage of St. Olave. I knew
his two beautiful grays. For a few seconds I stood
debating whether I had better stay where I was, and
leave Lina alone with her fiance; hut I knew she
would call for me, and also that, being in the house,
I should go down. If it had only been a pleasant
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
139
day, by this time I should have been shawled and
bonneted and half way up the road.
I ran down stairs.
" St. Olaye is coming here," I said. " Now, Lina,
is your opportunity. I will stay up stairs, and you
shall tell him all. You'll never have a better
chance." She started at the intelligence, and looked
for a moment so wild and undecided, that I pitied
her.
" I can't tell him to-day : I haven't thought about
it," she said, almost pantingly. "Elsa, you must
come down, you must. When you are gone for good,
and I am left to myself, then there will be time
enough. Elsa, you must stay."
What could I do but stay ? The carriage by this
time had come to the door, and Mammy Brown ap-
peared with a comical face.
"Show him right in here," said Lina, putting aside
her wools, and smoothing down her face; and pre-
sently St. Olave was on the threshold, looking
smilingly in upon us. My heart warmed to the man
as he stood there, and I remembered the long period
of his devotedness, and felt how wholly he trusted
and reverenced my sister. It seemed to me that such
love was almost divine, and I felt a sudden doubt of
Jack. I wondered if he would be willing to wait long
years with only a feeble hope of some time realising
the happiness that might, some far-off day, be his.
Undeniably, St. Olave, whatever came, would love
my sister to the day of his death.
"It is very pleasant here," he said, coming for-
ward; and perhaps, fresh from the set splendour of
his own home, where things were never out of place,
the large room with its blooming bay-window, scat-
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THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
tered papers, lounging-chairs, and sunny carpet, did
suggest a comparison possibly unfavourable to, the
mere formal elegance of Oak Ridge.
Lina rolled a chair near the window. I picked up
and sorted a few of the papers; and Lina spoke of
the weather, all the time avoiding his eyes. St. Olave
was slow of speech, probably because his ordinary talk
was on business, and he did not go much into general
society. He could not rattle off common-places with
Jack's bewitchment of manner, and round, ringing
voice. "Oh, dear me!" I thought, "how Jack
would talk and laugh, would have seen a hundred
things on his way here, in the papers, in books, to
interest and instruct!" And here was this man,
with perhaps the deeper intelligence, who though not
dumb, was certainly very quiet.
Occasionally the silence was broken by the stamp-
ing of the two grays.
" What beautiful horses you have, Mr. St. Olave!"
I said : " I never saw a more perfect match."
"You like them? They are a pretty pair, pret-
tier, I think, than the bays, though they travel better.
I always drive them myself."
" They are fast, then ? "
" Oh, very ! "
" That's what I like; a smooth road and good
racers," I said with enthusiasm.
"I should like to drive you and Miss Lina—that
is, if she is not averse to rapid travelling.
" Oh, no !" Lina spoke up; " the faster the better.
I'm never afraid."
" There is to be a new preacher at Lime Hill to-
morrow," said St. Olave, after a short silence. "If
it clears off, I should be pleased to drive you over
that husband of mine.
141
there. Our own clergyman is ill, and I hear that
Mr. has a wonderful reputation."
I was just about to utter a delighted response for
my part of the invitation, when the door opened, and
Mammy Brown, with a half-amused, half-perplexed
face, looked in.
" My dear,—it's—it's—Charlie—and—that—other
one," she said, and disappeared.
CHAPTER XXII.
I had noticed some little confusion outside, hut had
given it no heed; now the clatter and the voice were
unmistakable. My heart throbbed with a sudden
joy; I felt the blood pouring all over my cheeks ; and
in another moment, regardless of company, I was nest-
ling in Charlie's arms.
But somebody stood just behind him, with eyes only
for St. Olave,—somebody pale and tall, and with his
right arm in a sling. I cannot describe the expression
that sat on Lina's face as she met Jack's eyes, and
saw that he was injured. It was like a cry that
painted itself on the imagination without being heard.
St. Olave saw it; St. Olave perhaps felt it, for he
started to his feet, and set back his chair.
"Why didn't you let us know you were coming,
Charlie ? " I asked, as soon as I could find breath to
speak.
" That would have spoilt our little game, my dear.
I wanted to surprise you. Jack here, you will take
notice, is invalided. He made a too intimate acquain-
tance with some machinery in the factory, and came
142
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
very near having his arm torn off at the elbow. But
I am pleased to report that the patient is doing well,
and now that he is in the sunshine of Miss Lina's
countenance, to say nothing of your own, he will do
better."
This awkward speech brought plenty of colour in
Lina's pale face ; and I saw St. Olave bite his lips,
and give a gasp or two. For Jack looked all the
handsomer for his pallor, and Lina could not readily
command her self-possession. I feared she would be
obliged to leave the room.
But instead St. Olave rose, and after having gra-
ciously iuvited both gentlemen to visit him, took his
leave. I noticed that his hand was almost ice-cold as
I shook it at parting, and nothing more was said
about the drive.
Poor Lina! how could she help it if her face would
brighten as soon as the horse's hoofs grew fainter in
the distance ?
" Stunning tum-out, that of St. Olave: is he a
good neighbour?" asked Charlie, making Jack take
possession of the broad, bright-covered lounge.
" When did this accident happen ?" I asked,
anxious to give Lina time to compose herself.
" On Thursday," said Charlie ; and it's the greatest
wonder that it didn't crush the life out of him."
I caught Lina's eye. She was deadly pale. It was
on Thursday that she had confessed to being haunted
by a presentiment.
" The first thing I knew of it," continued Charlie,
" a paragraph in my own paper announced that he had
been killed. I threw down everything, and rushed to
the Harman boarding-house. There I saw the fellow,
alive but not kicking ; for the surgeon had just gone,
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
143
and he was very still. It proved to be only a flesh-
wound, no bones broken; and the consequence was,
with the surgeon's advice we started for Scranton last
night, and here we are. All he wants is quiet and
good nursing ; " and he looked roguishly over to Lina.
There is no denying that St. Olave's absence was a
great relief. That rainy evening stands out in my
memory with distinct and peculiar blessedness. Mam-
my Brown brought in a basket of light wood, and
made a charming hearth-stone fire, and Charlie drew
up Jack's lounge. The tea-table was set in that
glowing circle ; and we ate and drank merrily while
Lina laughed at Charlie's sage remarks, and grew
grave every time she looked at Jack. The evening
was devoted to music; Lina sang as charmingly as
ever, and Mammy Brown brought in hot lemonade and
sponge-cake.
Sunday came with a clear and cloudless sky. Mr.
St. Olave drove up for us, pale and grave as usual;
and Lina and I accompanied him, leaving Jack and
Charlie at home. I chatted all the way ; for neither
St. Olave nor Lina seemed disposed to talk, St. Olave
in particular being very consii Lined.
On our return St. Olave proposed to drive our two
visitors to a charming waterfall; and I thought he
looked somewhat relieved when Jack declined. Charlie
went, however, at the proper time; and I give the
after conversation as it occurred, word for word, first
declaring that Charlie was quite in ignorance of St.
Olave's engagement with my sister.
"If you had told me, mind, just as it was," he said
to me on repeating the interview, " I should not have
put my foot in it as I did: therefore you are to
blame."
144
that husband of mine.
CHAPTER XXIII.
They drove to the waterfall, and after that to
several points of interest, finally through a winding
path that brought them in sight of Oak Ridge.
"What a fine place!" said Charlie: "splendid
location! I shouldn't mind being the fellow that
owned that homestead. Used to belong to old Judge
Billings, didn't it ? "
"Yes, years ago, and was always considered a fine
property. Suppose we turn in at the gate here: you
see my horses know the way."
" Then," said Charlie, " this is your property? "
" I call it home," answered St. Olave. " Stop
with me awhile: I should like to show you my
pictures."
" With pleasure," said Charlie, and they sprang
out at the door. St. Olave led the way into the
house.
" I declare, you have a splendid place." (Since
then Charlie has had serious doubts with regard to
Lina's judgment.) "Xow all you want is a pretty
little wife to make it perfect."
St. Olave smiled a very faint and transient smile;
and the two sat down before some fruit and coffee
which a servant brought in.
"Your friend came near having a serious accident,"
said the host. "He is a genial, good-looking fellow:
I like his face amazingly."
" Yes, Jack is one of the right sort," said Charlie.
" Since he saved my life some eight years ago, when I
fell overboard from a fishing-smack, and couldn't swim
a stroke, we have been fast friends. I hope we shall
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
145
be something nearer some time," and he gave one of
his significant glances.
" Ah ! " was St. Olave's quiet observation.
" Yes: my wife has always been scheming to get Jack
well married. Women will do such things, you know.
In confidence, that was her little game when she ex-
pectedher sister. Lina's an uncommonly pretty girl."
"Uncommonly," said St. Olave, fingering his watch-
chain, then shifting his position.
("I thought the fellow acted queer," said Charlie,
speaking of it to me at the time he related the con-
versation.)
" So she fully intended to make a match of it. But,
bless you, fate plays strange games sometimes, you
know: through a curious accident Jack and Miss
Lina met before she reached our house."
" Ah, yes ! " and St. Olave turned very pale, and
pressed his lips together.
" Met—and—the obvious result followed : they fell
in love with each other."
"I see," said St. Olave, breathing hard.
" Curious, wasn't it P For a while things went on
swimmingly. Jack frequented our house more than
ever; came there every evening, in fact, up to a cer-
tain time : we all looked for an early wedding."
"Then he—he—I suppose—asked her hand in
marriage ? "
" Oh, yes! I'm quite sure of that. But all at once
some difficulty came up : I don't know what it was."
" On her part ? " asked St. Olave steadily, though
his very lips trembled.
" Yes, on her part. It may have been on the score
of age, though she is a year or two younger than he ;
or perhaps the young fellow is not rich enough."
L
146
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
St. Olave sat rigidly straight, and. stared, his trouble
in the face. The sweetest dream of his life had been
rudely broken. The image he saw of his despair was like
that of a face reflected in a mirror that distorts every
feature. His life, so far as it was to be any pleasure
to him, was wrecked, his sun going down in darkness.
" Pardon me for the question: you are sure she
loves him? " said St. Olave, in a forced voice. " I
have always felt an unusual interest in the daughter
of my early friend ; that must be my apology for such
close questioning."
" Oh! I am quite certain of that," said Charlie:
"at least, my wife tells me so, and she ought to know.
There's some obstacle in the way: I don't know what,
and I sincerely hope it may he overcome for Jack's
sake. He's a good fellow, and his heart is bound up
in her. I don't think he ever loved anybody before.
And he makes a very fair living. It's not probable
that he will ever be rich, any more than I shall, for
he hasn't the faculty, and he began at the foot of the
ladder; but then, why should one waste one's best
years in the endeavour to make money which when it
comes may be too late to give any real pleasure ? "
" True, true ! groaned {St. Olave: " what is money
without love ? " and that was the only time that
Charlie suspected anything.
" When I heard that," said Charlie to me after-
wards, " I began to think that perhaps the old gentle-
man had something to do with it, after all. He
looked so strangely white, and gathered himself up now
and then, as if to bear some shock more effectually."
And then Charlie rose to go ; and Mr. St. Olave also
rose politely, and did not urge his guest to prolong his
visit, but sent him home behind his coachman.
THAT HUSBAND OP MINE.
147
Charlie was more silent than usual in the evening ;
but Lina, relieved that St. Olave did not come (for
she had vaguely looked for him), was her own happy,
light-hearted self for a few hours. The two stayed for
three days; and I had almost made up my mind to
return with Charlie, when a letter received from
St. Olave altered our plans.
CHAPTER XXIY.
Lina came to me with it in the morning before
they started. She said nothing, but looked one
moment radiant, the next dejected.
" Read it," she said, seating herself at the window,
resting her head on her hands. " Aloud," she added,
as she saw me preparing to peruse it to myself.
The missive began:
"My dear Miss Ainslie,—You will doubtless be surprised
at tlie, tenor of this epistle ; but, in my humble opinion, simple
justice demands that I liberate you from your engagement to
myself. The reason is, that latterly I find myself failing day by
day, and that the state of my health is so precarious as not to
justify me in chaining a young and beautiful woman to my side,
who should have all the world before her where to choose.
"And this I do voluntarily of my accord, while yet loving and
trusting you as I could love and trust no other woman on earth.
You must know that; you must have seen that I, in my silent,
blind fashion, have yet worshipped the beauty of God's handiwork
in you, even while I thought of resigning you. That this step is not
taken without a struggle, that I seem to myself to be relinquishing
all that has promised to make the sweetness and poetry of my life, I
could call Heaven to witness. With many prayers for your happi-
ness, and with a tender interest in all that makes your life of value
to yourself and others, I now take leave of you, as a lover, sub-
scribing myself,
"Ever your devoted friend,
"St. Olave."
T. 9
148
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
"What do you think of it?" queried Lina, the
tears in her eyes, while yet a smile broke brightly
over her lovely face.
" I think, as I have thought on one or two occa-
sions before, that he's the noblest fellow in the world,"
I said.
"And don't you suppose he hoped What am
I to do ? " she asked hesitatingly.
"Hoped that you would not release him?" I
asked.
She nodded.
" I don't believe he hoped anything. I believe he
sees how it is, and he is great enough to sacrifice him-
self for your happiness."
" Oh! do you think that ? It almost makes me
love him," she sighed. " I should have married him
—I should, indeed,—but now "—she drew a deep
breath—" oh, what is it to be free! "
"Yes, if one ever is," was my rejoinder.
My visit of two weeks lengthened to four. Lina
revoked her decision, and consented to stay with me
the remainder of the summer. Charlie wrote me, not
long after his departure, that he had considered the
hint which I had dropped some time before, on an
occasion that I might remember, and had prepared a
surprise for me in the shape of a pony-phaeton; my
acceptance of which, he begged to assure me, would
greatly enhance his happiness, and, he trusted, my
own personal pleasure.
" A pony-phaeton ! " I cried, aghast. " Lina, is
the man crazy? What can we do with a pony-
phaeton ? we have no stable."
"Board it out," said Lina.
" What, the phaeton ? "
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
149
" The horse, my dear: have a shed built for the
carriage. But it was a queer present for Charlie to
buy."
" What do you suppose it cost P " I asked.
""Well, that depends. A horse worth anything is
worth a hundred dollars, and a phaeton, unless it is
second-hand, twice that."
" Three hundred dollars at the least, then! My
dear Lina, we had that and a little over in the bank.
Can Charlie have been so rash as to spend all that
money ? I must write to him immediately."
" Stop, Elsa : I wouldn't write, particularly when
the letter will not get there any sooner than we shall,"
said Lina, laughing. " If the thing is bought, why,
the best you can do is to enjoy it."
" But I can't drive, and Charlie is never at home
in the daytime. I shall worry myself to death over
it."
" Be sensible, my dear, and wait till you know
all about it. Never worry over what can't be
helped."
" Pretty advice for you to give," I said, meaningly.
She blushed and laughed.
" But that could be helped."
" And so can this : I'll sell it as soon as I get
home. If Charlie imagines I'm going to uphold him
in any such extravagance, he's mistaken. A pony-
phaeton, in our circumstances ! why, the neighbours
would laugh at us."
" I don't know why they should. I can drive : at
least, I'd enjoy it a few times first. Besides, it would
never bring what it cost."
" How ridiculous of Charlie ! it has taken away all
my pleasure. He has drawn every cent from the
150
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
bank, I know be bas; " and witb tbat comfortable
conviction I journeyed towards borne.
Mammy Brown went witb us, and we sbut up tbe
old place for a time. Lina was quietly bappy and
very tbougbtful. "We bad not seen Mr. St. Olave
since tbat eventful Sunday wben tbat busband of mine
so blindly set things right. I noticed, tbat, wben I
spoke of Jack, Lina contrived to change tbe subject.
" I'm by no means sure tbat I shall marry him,"
she bad said one day. " Tbe fact is, tbat poor St.
Olave bas so risen in my esteem, tbat other men look
small beside him."
" What! you're going back to St. Olave, after all ?
What inconsistency! "
" I didn't say that. I can't go back to a man who
has himself broken our engagement; but I am con-
vinced tbat be did so solely because be saw or imagined
tbat it was for my happiness. It was very noble of
bim. I would have married him."
" And broken your heart."
" Hearts don't break easily, Elsa."
" You'd think so if you could bear Charlie some-
times. I don't know bow many times be has been
broken-hearted. But wait till you see Jack."
She did. Jack was at tbe depot witb Charlie, and
I saw Lina's heightened colour under her thick tra-
veiling veil.
"Jack, you spoke for a carriage, didn't you?"
queried Charlie, wben our trunks and travelling gear
were collected together.
"Yes; here it is."
I looked round in expectation of tbe pony-pbaeton;
but, as there was nothing of tbe kind in sight, I kept
a wondering silence,
THAT HUSBAND OP MINE.
151
"Charlie," said I, "let Mammy Brown go with
Jack and Lina in the carriage, and yon and I will
walk: I'm so tired of riding !"
" Just as you say," said Charlie, after a brief ex-
postulation; "I'd rather walk than ride, any day."
Jack threatened to walk home with us, but Charlie
hustled him into the carriage; and then, in the old
sober fashion, I linked my arm in Charlie's, and we
marched on.
What we talked of for the first few moments is
of little importance to the reader; and besides, if
weeks have never seemed months, and months years,
when away from those one loves, you will not care
particularly to know. We soon changed the subject.
" I say," said Charlie, " that Mr. St. Olave is a
brick. There's hardly his equal in the world. It all
comes of my telling him about Jack."
" Then you told him ! " I said, aghast.
"Of course I did. He asked questions, and I
answered them. You wouldn't have had me hold my
tongue. Besides, you had never warned me that
St. Olave was sweet on Lina: if you had, mum would
have been the word. How could the girl give up such
a prospect ? "
" Precisely for the reason, sir, that I gave up "—
"Oh, yes! I've heard that before," he responded
quickly ; "but there is something yet to tell you. It
seems that he has considerable to do with the B
Iron Works, for which Jack was clerking; and he
has used his influence to promote Jack, and double
his salary. Think of that!"
This was delightful news: it made one's heart glow,
thinking of St. Olave, and I did not wonder at Lina's
irresolution.
152
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
" And now I want you to tell me about tbe pony-
phaeton, Charlie," I said, as we were nearing home.
"Not a word," said Charlie, gravely; "not a word
till you have seen it."
"But did you take the money out of the bank ? "
" Don't look a gift-horse in the mouth, my dear ;
control your curiosity; be wise as the serpent, and
harmless as the dove."
"But did you take the money ?"
" Mrs. Harman !"
" But did you take
" Here we are almost at the door."
" But did you "—
" Mrs. Harman, allow me to assist you.—Jack, here
you are."
Jack stood at the door, the carriage having arrived
some time before. I heard Lina's merry laugh. How
pleasant it was to feel that now confidence and har-
mony were restored!
I entered.
"Permit me!" cried Lina, still laughing. She
stood behind a queer, mahogany-coloured article, that
almost hid her from view: it was a pony-phaeton,
in gingerbread, large enough for the sign of a wheel-
wright.
So ended my expectations. I was so confounded
that I didn't see the joke for a minute; but when,
some little time after, Charlie carried me up-stairs,
and introduced me to a magnificent easy-chair, for
which I had been longing for years as the one thing
indispensable to the finish of my pretty parlour, I was
foolish enough to cry, and Charlie silly enough to" pet
me for it.
There is but little more to add to this simple story.
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
153
Lina and Jack were married at our house, and St.
Olave sent them a splendid service of silver, and a
beautiful letter, with his best wishes. As Lina read
it the tears ran down her cheeks.
"Surely," she said, "I have been honoured with
the love of such a man. And indeed I do love him,
and shall write and tell him so."
" What do you think of that ? " I asked Jack.
" I'm not in the least jealous," he said, smiling:
"he is well worth loving."
Jack took a house in the same street with us, the
next door hut one; and it is such a comfort to run
hack and forth, with our trivial, and, I hope, harm-
less, gossip, our new designs, receipts, and hooks !
Lina is as happy as the day is long, and Jack makes
a pattern husband. As Charlie says, he has for years
. had the benefit of his example. Mammy Brown
lives with them; and, being a worker and a manager,
Lina's duties are light. The old house is let to a
good family, and there is room enough for us to spend
some pleasant weeks there every summer.
Not long ago St. Olave died, leaving to Lina, by
will, twenty thousand dollars. Jack is building a
stable, and the pony-phaeton promises to become a
reality.
Charlie is getting stout, but he is the same merry,
careless, tactless, dear old fellow that he was in the
first year of our marriage; and, though I would not
tell him so, yet I declare to you there is nobody in'
this world quite so nice as
THAT HUSBAND OF MINE.
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