2
Ijc tmcs, New Bloomftclir, ?cu
Tho Doctor's Mistake.
66
"T'S of no use to talk about my
JL being your wife, Charley. Your
father never will consent, nnd mother
will never even let mo boo you if slio
can help it without his consent. No,
you musu't coino a step further !" And
pretty lloso Carter drew her arm out of
Charley Ilulbcrt's very decidedly, when
they reached the end of tho village com
mon. "You know it almost breaks my
heart to say it, Charley, but I don't
think I can ever meet you so again.
Mother will bo sure to find it out, and it
would vex her so. And she has had
enough trouble without my giving her
any poor mamma !"
Handsome Charley Ilulburt shrugged
his shoulders impatiently.
" Your mother comes before mc, of
course! It is no matter how I feel. You
way coolly that you can never meet me
again. That means I suppose, that wo
are never to seo each other again."
" Why, no, Charley, if you will only
havo patience to wait! Everything may
como out right."
" Wait ! You have been telling mc to
wait for tho last two years, and things
are no nearer coining out right than they
ever were."
" I can't think why your father should
dislike my mother so. think mother
knows, but sho never will tell mc. Miss
Esther Wagg says that they were lovers
once, and had a quarrel that your father
can never forget. But one can't believe
all Miss Esther's gossip."
" I can't think it is anything more
than a notion he has got into his head.
He's a crotchety, set old fellow, but he's
got'a good big heart, Hose, if one can
only get nt it. If you were only my wife,
ho would be suro to como round and
think the world of you. If you would
only marry mo, Koso 1 At tho worst if
ho wouldn't conic around ho could only
disinherit me, and I have a pair of good
strong arms, and some passable brains to
fight my way our way through the
world.
The moonlight showed him her face,
and he fancied that there was a little
shadow of hesitation on it. But sho
shook her head firmly after a moment.
" Now, Koso, darling, don't tell mo
again to wait "
Tho rest of the sentence was never
spoken, for a heavy hand was laid on tho
young man's shoulder, and an angry voice
mimicked his tender tones.
" Rose, darling ? I'll teach you to
: darling' her, young man !"
And there was Dr. llulburt's faco, red
with anger, looking over Charley's shoul
der. Roso, at tho first glimpse of it,
turned and ran, like a little coward as
sho was.
" Ilaveu't I forbidden your Beeing that
young woman ? What do you mean by
sneaking around here with her, like a
thief in tho night '!" pursued the doctor,
furiously.
" It is not my fault that I do not
walk with her openly ; it is not my fault
that she is not my wife. It is only be
cause sho will not consent to be so,"
answered Charley stoutly.
" Won't consent to be your wife, oh ?
It doesn't seem to me that sho treats you
exactly like a rejected lover !" sneered the
doctor.
" She would marry me, if she were al
lowed to choose," answered Charley, try
ing hard to keep his temper. " Her
mother will not consent."
" Humph I not consent? that's pretty
well !" growled tho doctor. " So sho
thinks my son is not good enough for her
daughter V
" She does not object to uie. If you
would give your consent to our marriage,
she would give hers."
(( Ah, that's it 1 Well, my consent you'll
never have, young man, you may rely
upon that. And if ever I hear of your
being seen with that young woman again
I'll turn you out of doors, sir. Not a
penny of my money shall you ever havo,
sir. Remember that ! I urn not one to
make idle threats."
Charley was about to reply, but they
had reached tho house by this time, and
tho doctor went into the ofhee, and shut
the door behind him with a bang. So
there was nothing for poor Charley to do
but to take his way disconsolately up
stairs to bed.
Ia tho meantime, the doctor seized tho
poker and stirred up the dying fire in in
his grate savagely.
"Won't consent, eh? That's like Hose
Shepard I sho always was n proud piece.
Let me catch that boy with her daughter
again 1" And he walked rapidly up and
down the room, brandishing the poker,
and with a gcowl still on his face, looking
not unliko a midnight assassin, in spite
of the venerable aspeot which his gray
hairs gave him.
Hut he cooled down very goon,
sufficiently to carry tho poker back to its
place, ana begin a search lor dressing
gown and slippers, a search which proved
long, and served to turn his auger from
Charley to another.
" Of all tho miserublo housekeepers
that ever I had, this Barnes woman is
tho worst!" he grumbled, jerking himself
at last into the dilapidated, comfortless
looking dressing-gown, and slippers trod
den down at tho heel.
" Not a drop of warm water, or any
thing to cat in tho house, I'll warrant!"
And ho strode into tho dining-room,
which indeed was cold and void of cheer.
lie wont into tho pantry and munched
a hard very dark-colored doughnut sav
agely. " I'd turn her away to-morrow, sho and
her husband, too, only that tho next one
would bo suro to bo worso. They ore all
about of a piece. There is nothing
worso to havo in tho house than a house
keeper unless it's a wile. And I don't
know "
Doctor Ilulburt still stood in tho pan
try, solemnly deliberating, after tho last
morsel of doughnut had disappeared. It
was so long since he had a wife that ho
could not decido whether ono was worse
than a housekeeper or not. It was n
question that ho had bcc.n revolving in
his mind for years, without coming to
any dehuito conclusion.
" ' Better bear the ills we have, than fly
to others that wo know not of,' tho poet
says. But then, a man can't bear this
state of things long; ho might as well live
in a cavo in tho woods ! No order, no
comfort, none of tho decencies of living.
Some time or other I shall have to marry,
and I might as well make up my mind to
it at once. And there's tho widow Zilpha
Thomas. (Strange that boy can be such
a fool as to run after that littlo jado of a
lloso Carter !) The widow Thomas is a
good housekeeper, I havo no doubt;
housealways looks as neat as wax. Then
there's that wood lot of hers that joins
mine; not that I'm looking out for prop
erty with a wife, but that lot would conic
very handy ; and tho widow is a fmo
woman; a little quick tempered, I'm afraid.
I never did like those snapping black eyes;
that girl Rose Carter, is just her mother
over again, with her bluo eyes and her
wheedling ways confounded little jilt!
and that boy is fool enough to bo taken in
by her. I should like to seo anybody
take mo in ! No, I thank you ! oneo is
enough. I said to Miss Esther Wagg,
the other day, ' Tho widow Zilpha Thomas
is a fine woman ; a capital manager, isn't
she?'"
" ' Manager you may bo sure of that.
She managed poor Reuben Thomas iuto
his grave,' said Miss Esther.
" But then, it is of no consequence
what these spiteful old maids say. Most
likely she has an eye on the situation for
herself!"
And tho doctor drew himself up, in tho
proud assurance that when ho did take a
second helpmeet, he should leavo every
marriageable lady of his acquaintance in
consolable. " I'll drive round and seo tho widow
Thomas next week. I don't think it
likely that she could manago mo !"
And having made up his mind, Doctor
Ilulburt betook himself to his chamber.
But his face was not that of a man who
is quite satisfied with his decision ; nnd
he stood for a long time at tho window,
and looked down to tho foot of tho lull,
where tho Widow Carter's house was
was plainly visible in the moonlight.
" No, No ! once is enough for a man to
bo made a fool of! And that silly boy
shall never marry her daughter, if I can
help it !" ho said at last, turning away
with a decided shake of tho head. From
which signs an observer would havo sup
posed Miss Esther Wagg to bo right, and
the Widow Carter nn old sweetheart who
had " made a fool of him."
Rose Carter, with pale cheeks and
downcast eyes, sat demurely sewing bo
sido her mother tho next morning, when
her uncle, old Squire Carter, came in.
The pale checks had been observed but
not commented on by her mother, but
the Squiro was not so delicate.
" Bless uie ! what has become of tho
red cheeks ? Why, they arc as white us
snowballs ! Too much sewing and moping,
aud not enough air and exercise or has
its sweetheart deserted it, poor little
Rosy?"
Upon which Rose's checks grew scarlet
of course. But the squire was not satis
fied. " The child looks really ill, and some
thing must bo done," liesaid to Mrs. Car
ter, us he went away. " Sho hasn't look
ea like herself for mouths."
And tho squiro, haunted by Ruse's pulo
face, betook himself directly to Doctor
Hurlburt's office..
" I want you to go and see my noieo,
little Robc Carter, or prescribe something
for her. She says nothing ails her, but
she looks pale and moped. I suppose it
is uothing but want of exeroise ; if theso
girls would only do as their grandmothers
did ! But you know what will help her
it's nerves, I suppose," said the squire
who funcied that " nerves" wero at the
bottom of all feminine ailments.
" Ah yes ! I'll send her a prescription,"
said the doctor, heartily. And thinking
it tho heartiness of interest, and good na
ture, the squire went on his way reliev
ed. And Dr. Ilurlburt, feeliui: even less
aiiniuble than on the previous night, gat
down at his desk, and wrote a prescription
for Miss Rose Curter.
Just us he finished it his man Barnes
brought him a note. It was from the
man who took caro of the doctor's farm
on the outskirts of the town, near the
Widow Thomas's wood lot.
" The widow Thomas' niau Jake wants
to know if you will let the widow take
JHack Bess, to go down to Saugus to the
quarterly conference mooting to-night
She told hlra to say particular that she
didn't feel very well, and thought tho rido
would do her good, if you would be so kind
as to let her take lilivck Bess, which is so
gentle.
Sami:ki Hoihikins."
Tho doctor's face cleared as ho read.
" I.ittlo Sam Ilodgkins is waiting 1'or
tho answer, if you please, sir," said
Barnes.
And the Doctor wrote a few words hur
riedly, in answer to Samuel Ilodgkins,
not without grumbling at the man's stu
pidity in not lotting tho widow have tho
fiorso without applying to him. But no
mntter ! tho widow would not havo to
ask for Black Bess again. "With all
my worldly goods I thee endow," ho
meant to say to her very soon.
Barnes was entrusted, with tho two
notes one for Miss Rose Carter, and tho
other for little Sam Ilodgkins to carry to
lus lather. gj.
In the meantime, Charley had come Jo
a new rcsolvo. lie would see Mrs. Car
ter once more, and try to gain her con
sent to his marriage with Rose. With
out her consent, Rose would never be his
wife It was evidently a hopeless task
to try to overcome his fa thor's prejudices;
but he was determined that they should
not bo allowed to destroy his happiness,
und Rose's, too, for life. Mrs. Carter
liked him ; she would givo Rose to him
willingly, she had told him, if it were not
for his father's objections ; sho might bo
persuaded to, in spito of it.
And there was no time to lose, for in
two days ho was going away to a distant
city, to establish himself in business. Ho
had hoped to carry Roso with him, but
all his pleading had been of no avail to
induco her to marry him against her
mother's will. All his hope now lay in
influencing Mrs. Carter. So, early that
morning ho took his way to tho cottago
at tho foot of tho hill. Squire Carter
had just left, and Mrs. Carter's mind was
still filled with tho anxiety regarding
Rose's health which ho had aroused ; so
perhaps Charley could not havo found
a better time for trying to win her over
to his side.
But, though sho did hesitato fur a mo
ment, his pleading was iu vain.
" You know there is no one whom I
would rather have for a son than you,
Charley," she said. " But I know your
father. He is a stern man, a very stern
man, and he will never relent. lie
would never lorgivo you for marrying
against his will. I cannot consent to
your ruining all your prospects in life.
Vou and Rose are both very young; you
may change. Tho time might come
Charley when you would regret disobey
ing your father's wish. You aro his only
son, and so dear to him ; and beforo this,
you say, ho has never thwarted your
slightest wish. You ought not to disobey
hi in hastily. To bo sure, his prejudico
seems unreasonable "
" Unreasonable ! It is absurd !" inter
rupted Charley, hotly. " Why, he has
never so much as seen you, to my knowl
edge !"
Mrs. Carter's check flushed faintly.
" I lived here when I was a girl, you
kuow. I knew your father then. He
has some reasons for disliking mo which
I don't understand."
" It is only a prejudice, a notiou, I am
sure," said Charley. "And he has no
right to dictate to mo iu such a mat
ter." And ho was beginning his oagcrplead
ing over again, when Barnes appeared
with the note. There was no address
on tho outside, and Mrs. Carter opened
it, whilo Charley waited in a fovcr of
suspenso to know what his father could
have to say to Mrs. Carter.
Her faco was a picture of amazement
as she read, but pleasure shone through
it as sho handed tho note to Charley.
It was brief and to tho point.
"Let him havo her.
" KUWAIIU II. lluitLHURT."
" I always told Rose ho had a heart if
ono could only get nt it !" cried Charley
in a transport of deliht. " Now. vou
can muko no objection ; wo have your
promise! And 1 urn going uway tho day
uftcr to-morrow, you know, und I must
tuko my wilb with mo."
" I lie day alter to-morrow ! My dear
boy, you are besido yourself!" oxclaimed
j Mrs. Lurter.
j " You and Rose have said wuit to mo
for so long, that you cuu't havo tho heart
to say u longer, uow Hint mere is no
reason for waiting. I shall coux Rose
over to my Bide, and then you can't re
fuse." And he did coax them both over to his
j side, after countless arguments aud ob
j jections. It was arranged that there
should bo a very quiet wedding, to which
only a few intimate friends were to be
invited, the next evening. Thcu Charley
hurried home to express his gratitude
to his father, whom he begun to think he
had misjudged.
Whilo this sccno was transpiring at
tho cottago, Samuel Ilodgkins has re-
I ceivcd Doctor Hurlburt's auswer to his
i note, and beiny; somewhat surprised und
puzzled by it, had transmitted it directly
to the Widow Thomas; thus relieving
himself of all responsibility in the mat
ter. ! So the widow, who was adorning her
, best cap with new cherry ribbons, in un
' tieipution of the doctor's tuking her gentle
I hint and coming himself to drive her to
I the quarterly conference meeting, was
j culled from that pleasing occupation to
read tho following note, a mcro scrawl,
written evidently in hasto and irrita
tion :
" Let her tako a dessert-spoonful of ex
tract of valerian, night and morning for
her nerves, common sense in as largo doses
as sho can get it, nnd stop gadding about
evenings.
"Ktnv.xnn It. IIunt.ni'iiT."
The widow's black eyes snapped so
that the doctor, if he had been there to
see, would havo liked them less than ever
and tho roses that had deserted her cheeks
sho thought forever, reappeared in full
bloom. Sho had been angry often in her
life -the departed Reuben had not been
very easy to manage but never beforo
had sho felt anything like the wrath she
felt at that moment.
"The impertinent old scoundrel!
' Gadding about evenings' indeed ! ' Vul
crian for my nerves !" as if I were somo
fidgety old maid ! " Common sense in as
large doses as I can find." How daro he
write such a note ! Well, I have had a
lucky escape ! Stupid, cross-grained old
wretch ! a life of it I should havo had
with him !''
And tho widow put on the cherry
ribboned cap upide down, and fell to
dusting the portrait of her deceased
spouse with a vim. With all his faults
Reuben was not the worst man that ever
lived !
Charley was obliged to repress his
cratitudo for a whilo, for when ho reach
ed homo he found that his father had
gone to a neighboring town to attend a
medical convention, and would not re
turn until the following day.
When the doctor returned the next af
ternoon Charley was absent, busied with
preparations for the approaching wed
ding. Dr. Ilurlburt, finding a leisure
afternoon upon his hands mado an un
usually careful toilet, and drove out to
call upon tho Widow Thomas.
lie had fully mado up his mind that it
would be a lesser evil to have the Widow
Zilpha Thomas for a wife, than Mrs.
Barnes for a housekeeper, but he had not
tho air of a very eager wooer, and, in
truth ho was not without his misgivings;
ho saw in imagination the widow's black
eyes snapping defiantly at him, nnd won
dered if he should uot repent, if she
proved to bo of a quarrelsome temper.
And lie cast two or three glances back
at tho Widow Carter's cottage, and as he
did so lie certainly sighed. Tho widow
had been iu the window, und sho had
bowed to him bowed, and actually
smiled a littlo, though in a shy sad way.
Dr. Ilurlburt did not quite understand
it. Ho had met her but twice, to be
sure, sinco she had come back to the vil
lage, two years before, but at neither of
thoso times bad sho shown any disposi
tion to recognize him. His looks had
not invited a recognition either then or
now, but here she was us sweet us a May
morning! It was all her artfulness, of
course : Mio thought sho could cajolo
him into letting Charley marry her
daughter. Sho would sec! lie would
send that boy to Europe, to China if ucod
bo, to get him out of Rose Carter's way.
Still it is certain thut he sighed deeply
as he passed tho cottage, and the Widow
Thomas's black eyes snapped before
him all the more ominously iu contrast
with the Widow Carter's soft shy bluo
ones.
Was M iss Esther Wagg right, and was
it possible that there was still a spring of
sentiment in tho doctor's heart, which
fifty years and his crusty temper had not
been able wholly to dry ?
From afar oil' the widow Thomus saw
him coming, "riding along with thut
grand cureless air, us if ho owned the
wholo town," us sho declared, and pre
pared to do battle. Sho was in such a
quiver of indignation that her cap-ribbons
stood up straight, und the snapping eyes
of his imagination were as notliiii'' cum-
pared with these!
" How dare you como here, you insult
; ing, hypocritical villain ! you perfidious
J wretch! Leave this house, sir, and if
j you ever como here uguiu I'll sot Towser
I upon you as suro as you live !" sho cried.
To say that tho doctor wus uinazcd
would but feebly express his cmutiou.
Ho wus thoroughly alarmed, und lost no
time in escaping from the presence of tho
maniac (as he felt suro sho must be), to
his carriage.
'Insane from evil temper, ah, I knew
thoso eyes were not for nothing! But
why her anger should be directed uguinst
me I can't understand; though I suppose
her wrath falls upou any ono who hup
pens to be near when the fit seizes" her.
(), what an escupe 1 have had!"
And Dr. Ilurlburt took his homeward
way, resolved to bo contented with a
housekeeper, and thankful thut his lot
was no worso.
Barnes met him with an unusually
smiling countenance.
"Mr. Charley's been wuiting to see
you, sir ; ho wuited a while, but of course
ho couldn't wuit any longer, and it's six
o'clock this minute. He told mo to tell
you how thankful and happy he was, and
that he should feel awful bad if you did
not come to the wedding."
' Thoukful and happy !' Como to
the wedding!' What are you talking
about, you idiot ?" demanded the doctor.
" To his wedding with Miss Rose Car
tor. I thought of course you knew. It's
at half-past eight."
" The young rascal ! Does he dure to
do this f shouted the doctor, and rushed
out of tho house, and down to tho Wid
ow Carter's cottage. Mrs. Carter and
Charles met him in tho hall. His wrath
had had time to cool a littlo in his walk,
and if it had not he would have found it
hard to bo so demonstrative as usual un
der tho widow's calm clear eyes. But ho
expressed his disapproval quite strongly
enough to show them that there had
been Borne mistake.
Charley produced the note, and the
doctor saw through tho mystery at once
Mrs. Thomas's lunacy and all. That
stupid Barnes had changed tho notes.
Tho widow Thomas had been udvisod to,
stop gadding about of evenings, and Mrs-..
Carter had considered herself permitted
to " let him have" her daughter! How
ever angry ho might be, tho doctor saw
that it was too late to interfere.
"Well, young man, you havo choseu.
your way, und you must walk in it! She
is her mother over again, they say yon
had better marry her as soon as possible
or she'll jilt you, us her mother did me
Tho widow Carter looked at him with
something like a flash in her eyes.
" How can you say that, when you
know it was you who deserted me?" she
said.
"Didn't you write mc a letter within a
mouth of tho day that was to have been
our wedding-day, telling me, coolly, that
you had discovered that you preferred an
other?" demanded the doctor.
" Never ! I never wrote you such a
letter I" said tho widow. Charley began
to see that an explanation was coming, at
which a third party would not bo wanted
and took his departuro. If he did, then,
have a fiiint presentiment of what might
happen as a result of that explanation at
some future day, ho was not ut all pre
pared for what did occur that very night-
Whcn he and Roso moved away fion
beforo the minister who had made them,
husband and wife, his father and Mr.
Carter stood up before him, and tho cere
mony was repeated for their benefit.
They had decided, in that brief space of
time, that that was tho best reparation
possible for the mistake of almost a
lifetime.
And it proved so agreeable an ar
rangement that Dr. Ilurlburt is often
heard to say that, though he has always
prospered in his practice, ho never mado
so great a success as when ho wrote a pre
scription for Rose Carter.
Dill is h (,'ouf.
AS a gentleman from New York was
taking a glass of wine at tho St.
Louis, corner of Freeman and Hopkius
street, in Cincinnati, about throe weeks
ago, he observed at another table, seated
with others, a Gorman who seemed un
easy and anxious, as if there might havc
been Franco-l'russian disagreement be
tween his beer and himself. Presently
in ran a littlo girl, her faco radiant with
smiles exclaiming:
" Oh, father wo'vo got a littlo boy at
home !
" Dat is goot," said tho Dutchman, as.
tho anxiety disappeared from his coun
tenance; " fill up dcr glasses."
Not many minutes elapsed beforo in
rushed the littlo girl again with the an
nouncement :
" Oh, father wo'vo got two littlo boys
at home !"
The Dutchman looked a good deal as
tonished und not altogether gratified at
this littlo family redundancy, but risin"
at length to the magnitudo of tho occa
sion he said :
Veil, den, dat is also good. Fill up.
dcr glasses.'
In a few minutes again appeared the
radiant messenger, with tho astounding,
proclamation :
"Oh, father, we've got three liitle
boys at homo !
This was too much even for Teutonic
impassibility. There was no further calb
for glasses.
" Veil den," says ho, " I goes up derc
and I stops ter whole tain business !
A Question (iiime.
A BAND of . rustic worthies were
Boated around tho tavern fire, one
winter's evening, consisting of the black
smith, the barber, the constable, and tho
schoolmaster. After they had drank
and smoked to their heart's content, aud
exhausted all tho ordinary topics of con
versation, tho pedagogue proposed a new
kind of game, iu which each ono wus to
propose u qucstiou, aud whoever proposed
ono thut ho himself could not solve, was
to pay the reckoning for ull ; Dick Dolt,
whom every one thought a fool, was pick
ed out for tho first question.
" Neighbors," said Dick, drawling out
his words, and looking ineffably stupid,
" you have seen the way squirrels dig
holes ; can any oue of you toll why they
throw no dirt ?"
That was a poser ; and after a long co
gitation, even the schoolmaster was com
pelled to givo it up. It devolved on
Dick to explain.
" Tho reason is," said he, that they be- -gin
ut the bottom of tho hole."
" Stop stop !" cried the pedagogue,
surprised out of ull prudenco by so mon
strous an assertion ; " pray how docs the
squirrel get there ?"
" Ah," answered Dick, "that's a ques
tion of your own proposing. You're u
for the drinks, master."