Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 January 1880 — MR. AND MRS. BONDURANT. [ARTICLE]

MR. AND MRS. BONDURANT.

BY BONNE HUEBE.

“ l think jot will find a document under your plate that may interest you,” said Mrs. Bondurant, addressing her husband, as he took his scat at the breakfast table. The words were ottered with a look intended to express severe censure, with some pity and contempt, and rather more of the latter. The husband slowly turned over his plate, took up and read a grocer’s bill -$59 34. On the margin were the words, “Check expected immediately.” “ I would rather not send this man a check just now,” said Mr. Bondurant. “It is fruo I have a little more than that amount in the bank, but I shall need all I have and more also to-mor-row to pay tho costs of the suit I am conducting.” “This is about the answer I expected to receive,” said his wife, “and I must tell you that your paltry excuses will not answer for the purpose. That bill must be paid at once.” “It is scarcely worth while, Julia, to speak so emphatically in regard to this matter,” said the husband. “I-am doing a littlo business for those grocers, and although they do not owe mo anything now, I can, I suppose, get them to wait a few days and iu tho mem time let us have wiiat goods we need.” “They will do nothing of that sort,” said Mrs. Bondurant. “And if the bill is not paid before 3 o’clock to-day they will send it to my brother, Alfred, who will pay it and take an assignment of the claim.”

“Then let him do so,” said Mr. Bonduraut, quietly breaking a piece of hard cracker into his coffee and at the same time deliberately watching the softening process. “This is what they call liard-tack, I believe. It is better for sailors than for us poor landsmen. They have more time to spend soaking it, unless when the rough weather comes on, and then 1 suppose they dispense with the ceremony of eating until the storm has expended its fury.” “Your insinuations axe intended to exasperate me,” said Mrs. Bondurant, “but I warn you, sir, that you are treading on treacherous ground.” “If the ground, madam, on which I am treading is composed of your feelings I would not exp.ct to find it uncommonly delicate,” was the retort. “Are you willing, sir, to have my biotlier pay that grocer’s bill?” “I could have easily arranged it in su«h a way that it would not have gone into his hands, but as I infer from what yon say that the matter has been talked over between him and you and the grocer, and that he has agreed to take an assignment of the bill if I do not pay it before 3 o’clock to-day, I shall allow tho matter to bo disposed of in that way, and give myself no further concern in regard to it at present.” “Then it seems you are willing to have niy brother provide for your family? That is just what he told me it would come to when we were married, and in fact immediately after he first learned that you were visiting mo. My father and mother also gave me the same warning. They told me more thau fifty tilues that you would never be worth a dollar in the world, and they would have to support us.” “ And you are sorry you did not take their advice?”

“ Sometimes I nrn, if I must tell you the truth. You know I could have marriotl Eocky Bil'iugs, and I lmd other good offers. As for Eocky, he was almost dying for me. His social standing was not, it is true, quite equal to yours, and ho was not so good-looking, but he had moro business capacity than a hundred young lawyers like you. With him for a husband I would never have suffered the mortification of seeing a grocer’s bill paid by my brother.” “ Mr. Billings is still unmarried, I believe,” said the husband dryly. “What base insinuation are those words intended to convey? You are now my husband, and I have no wish to exchango yon for Mr. Billings or any one else. If I have made a bad bargain it is right that I should suffer the consequences of it, and I intend to do so as patiently ns I can.” “Whenever you wish to be released from the consequences, madam, and the bargain that has led to them, please let mo know,” said Mr. Bondurant; and, without a word more or any token of affection, he passed down the two flights of stairs that led to their hired apartment and was on his way to his office. But, before leaving the room in which lie had breakfasted, he jtlaeed on the table a $lO bill. There was an inside history which this table-talk may suggest but does not explain. Julia Henderson was tho daughter of a proud, ambitious family, who had a little means that they were fond of displaying to the greatest advantage. Their daughter Julia was a young lady of recognized beauty and moro than ordinary attractions, and they had hoped that her marriage to such a man as they would select and approve would be of some benefit to them as well as to her, and lift them up considerably on the scale of worldly prosperity. “Can it be possible, Julia, 1 hat you are receiving the attentions of ‘ that young lawyer?” Mr. Henderson bad said. “Well, no, father,” Julia answered; “not in any other way than that I find him a pleasant companion. He calls and takes me out occasionally, in which I hope you see nothing wrong.” “I don’t like the way he looks at you, Julia. Fie evidently admires you, and admiration sometimes changes to love so easily that it is scarcely possible to say when or in what way tho transition takes place. I understand he is a somowhat able lawyer, but is very poor and is no doubt likely to remain so in a profession that is crowded until there is no longer standing room left. Yon had better have a talk with your brother and hear his opinion in regard to this young lawyer before you allow him to call many times more.” A scornful and defiant look was the

only answer this suggestion raised, and the next moment the young lady had left the room. “Yon see how that girl takes and sets,” said Mr. Henderson to his wife, who had been a silent listener. “Yes, mj" dear,” said her mother, “and I am now satisfied that her feelings are more deeply interested in the young lawyer than any of us had supposed. Bat let Alfred talk with her, and he may be able to tarn her thoughts away from young Bonduiant and get her to encourage the attentions of Mr. Billings. He is rather a lew-bred young man, it is true, but he is making money rapidly, and his uncultivated manner need not alarm ns—a few weeks spent in society will make them all right.” “Perhaps so,” said Mr. Henderson, with a look that betrayed more skepticism than confidence.

“ I had no thought of seriously encouraging the attentions of Mr. Bondurant,” said Jnlia, the moment she began to feel the pressure of her brother’s determinations to prevent the acquaintance from proceeding any further. “ But now, if you please, Master Alfred, I shall do exactly as I think best in regard to this matter.” From that time onward the young lady found employment for tho whole of her life-will—and she had a good deal—in resisting the effort of her parents and brothers to compel her to dismiss the youug lawyer “If you marry him we shall be obliged to support you both, no doubt,” was her brother’s frequent and tantalizing suggestion. “ The young fellow is noi making a dollar more than he needs for his own board and clothes, and he has actually been obliged to give up smoking, because he could not afford cigars, and was too proud to be seen using a pipe.” The young people had been married four y?ars when the conversation occurred in regard to the grocer’s bill. Young Henderson had been making some money, a little of which ho had found opportunities occasionally to give to his sister, and in every instauco had reminded her that he was fulfilling liis predictions. In fact he, and her parents also, had been continually reproaching her for her folly in marrying the poor lawyer.

The unfortunate woman—for so Julia began to consider herself—had no children now living. One little girl, born about eighteen months after their marriage, had Jived nearly a year, and when its death and burial came the feelings of the parents -of the father especially—had been wounded almost beyond endurance by their being made to realize their inability to provide for the funeral expenses in a becoming manner. “I must take care of tho dead also, as well as the living,” was her brother’s unfeeling remark, made while the funeral preparations were in progress. The stern logic of long continued experience had finally exhausted the spirit of the poor wife, and she gradually came to believe that what she had so often been told was true, and that she had made a great mistake in marrying the poor lawyer. This persuasion, having become a settled conviction, soon found expression in complaints and reproaches which were not very patiently borne by tho man who was conscious of doing all in his power to make his wife comfortable, and never spending a cent for any personal indulgence. Besides, the amount earned would have enabled them to live in a style of moderate comfort, had not his wife’s family continually urged her into expenditures beyond what her husband could ass >rd.

Tho young lawyer had, however, at last got hold of a case which he felt certain of gaining, and which, when decided, would bring a few thousand dollars. He had taken the case at his own risk and coßt, and was to receive onehalf of the amount received, his client having expended his last dollar in the suit, and being unable to do anything more. In the meanlime that over-as-siduous and agonizing brother-in-law, who was ready to pay the grocer's bill and take an assignment of the claim, had an interest in defeating the suit and was actually furnishing money for that purpose. But these legal and business complications the discouraged and fault-find-ing wife did not know much about. She knew that the grocer’s bill and other bills wero unpaid, and that the brother had already paid several of those bills and was holding the claims against her husband. “Well, Julia,” said Mr. Bondurant, returning from his office on the evening of the day when he left without saying “Good-by;” “I hope you have been able to get up a plain dinner with the $lO I left on the table this morning.” “I have not used the $lO, nor any of it,” said his wife, handing the money back to hinh ‘ I have had a long and serious talk with brother Alfred to-day, and have come to a firm conclusion that under the circumstances it will be best for me to return to my father’s house and remain there until you are able to provide for me and yourself also. For the present you have as much as you can do to take care of yourself, and my brother has promised to see that I am comfortably provided for.” Mr. Bondurant regarded his wife for a few moments in bewildertd amazement. «Ho was carefully holding the $lO bill which he had accepted from her, but without knowing why she had handed it back to him. He now dropped tho bill on the table, and clasping his hands, as he was in the habit of doing sometimes when trying to get a clear view of some question that bothered him, he looked at his wife for a few moments in a solemn and earnest way, and then said: *

“If our dear child had lived I suppose you would not have left me.” “No, 1 presume not; she, no doubt, would have kept us together. I would not have taken her from you, and I know you would not have gone to live with mo at my father’s house. I have no thought, Alfred, of really leaving you, but shall be true to my marriage vows, and shall be ready to return to you as soon as you aro able to provide for me. But for the present we must part. My brother tells me that the claim you are prosecuting will end in nothing, and that ycu are not worth a dollar to-day, and it is not likely you ever will be.” “And if that is sc>, it would seem that you aro leaving me with tho expectation of returning no more.” “That must depend, Mr.Bondurant,” said the wife, steeling herself to a cold and firm look, “ bn the possible contingency of your being able, at some future time, to provide for me in a comfortable way, which, I am sorry to say, does not now appear very probable.” “Then good-by forever!” said the husband, rising and withdrawing frem the room, without taking any further notice of his wife; nor did he even look back. The marriage, as a legal relation, remained undisturbed. The husband and wife, when meeting occasionally on the street or elsewhere,' bestowed upon each other a bew of civil recognition, but without exchanging a word. In this way eight years had passed. At the end of five years Mrs. Bondman t’s family, including that devoted brother, had been both unable and unwilling to do anything more for her, and for the last three years she had been supporting herself by performing the duties of secretary for an insurance company. Why tb at situal ion had been given to her, just at a time when she

had no other means of suppert, and at* salary much larger than she had expected to receive, was a mystery about which she had her own private suspicions. It was a cold morning in mid-win tar, and the sidewalks were covered with ice. Mrs. Bondurant, on her way to her office, had just passed the manly form of one whom she had never ceased to admire—yes, love, for his image had always remained in her heart. Every photograph, piece of jewelry, or other memento that he had left with her had been looked at and handled again and again, and some of these articles she had often bathed with her tears.

On passing him this time she had received the usual look and bow, mid nothing more. The poor woman could not, however, refrain from casting a look back son an instant to catch a glimpse of his receding form, and while she was doing so the treacherous ice, as if intending some mischief, permitted her to fall suddenly and at fall length. “ Are you hart, my dear ? ” were the first words she heard, and her quick, spontaneous answer was: “Not much, I hope, darling husband ! ” And as he lifted her into the carriage he had hailed and took a seat by her side, with his arm around her, she added, “How glad I am that you were there to assist me.” “Yes, dear, that was a slippery path,” he said softly. “ Which I hope I may never piss over again 1 ” murmured tho wife, earnestly. “I gained that suit,”, said the husband, as the carriage was taking them to his home, which could now be hers also. “Yes, dear, I knew you gained it, and I was so glad 1 I have saved more than half my salary the last three years. Yon know, and so do I, that most of that salary has come form you.” The long embrace and fond kiss which each.received and returned was a mutual assurance that through their long separation their hearts had become united more firmly than ever. “It was all my—all my fault,” was what the repentant and now happy wife wanted and endeavored to say, but she was stopped every time. “No, no, my dear 1” her husband would answer “These self-reproaches, coming from you, arc painful to me. The past has done its work in its own way, and now let us remember the lessons it has taught us, and forget the sorrows through which those lessons have been learned!”