ENNt ppm. _ and it became the principal amusement 2 By AUGUSTA LARNED CHAPTER III. In a few days the whole Bissell family was revolving around the young doctor. He had a fine tenor voice, and in the in- terval of waiting for patients the neigh- bors could hear Anne accompanying him on the old cracked piano. The chances of his working up a practice in Little- field were taken to heart by every mem- ber of the household. Even the Holmeses manifested a kind of batrachian interest in the affair. The doctor whimsically lamented the ill luck that had brought him to a town apparently as fatally healthy as Kettletas. Mrs. Bissell en— couraged him to wait till the season of coughs and colds and influenza set in, in the fall. Even Miss Carver believed he must succeed. N 0 one with the doctor’s :face and air and powers of amusing when he laid himself out could fail to become popular in Littlefield. She had a pro- found distrust of popularity, never hav- ing been able to win the precious boon, but the glamor cast by the young doctor was not to be altogether resisted, even by so perspicacious and cool headed a person as Miss Carver. Mean time, while waiting for patients, the doctor had nothing to do bu; read in his pretty office, where Anne daily made anew arrangement of flowers—a great bowl of water lilies or nasturtiums or sweet peas all one color, for Anne had a light, artistic hand—or to stroll about in his slippers in the garden, where Gran’ther Bissell pottered among his tomato vines and flower beds, or to try horses. you, A All sorts of horses were brought by dealers to the door for the, doctor to try, of the neighbors to see the doctor speed- ing them up and down the shady street. The Bissell household came out to in- spect each new aspirant for the doctor’s favor. It was Mrs. Bissell’s opinion that the doctor would need a long winded . horse and a good goer for the flourishing practice she anticipated for him through Drayton Spurrs and Deadman’s Hollow and many outlying places, where there ; were believers in the little pill theoryl who would yet rise up and call himi blessed. The scattering calls the doctor re; ceived in those first weeks made the; whole house palpitate with sympathetic i excitement. If the sharp, snappy little I . door bell rang at meal time they alli started and looked at the young man at i the head of the table. A slow. collect- ' ive smile expanded on the compdsite. countenance of the Holmes family! Even old Gran’ther Bissell, deaf as he ‘ was, heard it in the kitchen, and Mrs. I Bissell glowed as she busied herself dish- 3 ing up the vegetables Bridget was to carry into the dining room, and, if pos- sible. Anne was rosier than her wont. There was no end of joking at the table about the good eight hours of sleep the doctor enjoyed nightly. . "E sha‘u‘t feel at all satisfied,” said Anne. beaming on him across the board, “until our bell wire is broken three or four times a week by country boys rid- ing wild colts bareback to summon the doctor in hot haste for some old woman with the toothache." “If you expect me to do the repairing it may cost more than I get in fees." “Oh, I guess we can afford a few re- pairs,” retorted Anne, “for the glory of the thing. We expect our doctor to have the biggest practice of anybody in town." "Our doctor!" Miss Carver repeated the words with her mouth pursed up in a pucker of disapproval that afternoon, as she sat with her friend, the Widow Harkaway. cooling off after her walk, with her bonnet strings untie‘d. “You’d think to hear them talk they had pre- empted him and were dividing him up into quarter sections for their own ex- clusive use." ’ There were moments when Miss Car- ver had “slumped” through in her origi- . nal grim determination to suspect the doctor of possessing showy but untrust- worthy qualities. She was like one of those “sugar” days in early spring that thaw at noon and freeze overnight-— just now it was frosty weather. The Widow Harkaway was often in so sensitive a state of mind about the go- ings on of her neighbors, and the wick- ‘ed of the world in general, that she felt forced to sit with her eyes shut. Now her eyes were sealed, and the lids quiv- ered with reprobation. ”I did think of calling him in for my lumbago,” she began in a disparaging tone of voice, “but I have to conclude from what I have heard that he is a very reprehensible person. It has leaked out through Mary French that he is engaged to one of her schoolmates at Smith col- lege, has been engaged a year or more, and. now he has crep’ in here at Little fiehd‘ and kep’ it all hushed up and gone to flirting hammer and tongs with Anne Bissell." “Engaged!” whistled Miss Carver through the gap made by the loss of one of her incisors, which the dentiSt’s art had not yet repaired. “Well, I never! And he’s been sailing along under false colors, hiding it away as if it was some- thing to be ashamed of. I guess Anne ”will feel as if she had took hold of a live WEEKLY - NORWALK - GAZETTE. electric .wire when she hears this news.” “You’ll feel it your duty to let'her know, Susan,” and the Widow Hark- away opened her little cat’s eyes and fixed them on her friend. “What would you do if you were in my place, Ruth?” “Oh, I sha’u’t interfere, Susan,” rc- sponded Mrs. Harkaway in her deep gut- tural; “I would not deprive you of the pleasure." “You seem to imply that I am a gos- sipy person. Ruth, and the Lord knows if there's anything I hate it’s gossip.” “I don‘t imply anything,” returned Mrs. Harkaway sturdily. “I always go on facts." - The two friends often had little tiffs owing to the douches of free speech the widow would insist on pouring out on Miss Carver’s head for her soul’s good. Now she went out with a little red spot burning high up on either cheek. Anne Bissell was in the little parlor, which, though cheaply and plainly fur- nished, had that harmony of color and artistic touch Anne imparted to every- thing with which she had to do. Her girlish brightness and bloom seemed to‘ pervade the place and transform it into turned Mrs. Bissell. a low toned background for her beauty. 5 She was busy sewing on a pale blue gown . of some thin woolen stuff, puffing the - big sleeves, and putting in white lace at the throat. Miss Carver in her scant autumnal russet slipped in to the rocking chair and wiped the perspiration from her thin face. Anne’s abundant loveli- ness wounded her as usual, and gave her the feeling that she would like to stick a pin into that pink and white complacency and call forth a little cry of pain. “I s’pose you know Mary French, don’t you, Anne?” she began, making the rockers of her chair creak. “No, I can’t say I do. We used to play together when we went to ”school, but she doesn’t remember me now. She wouldn’t call on people in our position.” “I hate to hear folks talk as if they were getting soured by being poor. Poor folks can go among the best people in Littlé‘field if they are of the right stamp. Iam poor, and I am not ashamed to own it; but never a door is shut on me.” "Oh, we could not pretend to your su- perior qualifications for Littlefield socie- ty,” and Anne gave her pretty head a slight toss. The hussy! - shake her. She hardened her heart. “Well, Anne, I understand that Mary French knows something rather startling about your doctor,” laying malignant emphasis on the “your." “He is engaged to one of her schoolmates at Smith col- lege, and has been for a year.” She waited to see the bomb explode, but Anne lifted her face from the sleeve she was puffing serene as a summer day. “Oh, that’s an old story,” said she, smil. ing sweetly on Miss Carver. “The en: gagement was broken more than six months ago. The young lady insisted on the doctor’s joining her church. As he declined she broke with him.” “It looks very bad to be making and breaking engagements,” remarked Miss Carver with asperity. “Off with the old love and on with the new.” “Yes, it does look bad,” remarked the placid Anne, “to those who have never been engaged, and are never likely to be, and do not know the difficulties of the situation." Miss Carver sat back in her chair, 5 Miss Carver wanted to . ‘ now? breathing hard, and- just then Mrs. Bis- , sell came into the room, sat down and _ smoothed her apron. Anne called the “black rust” in her little mother‘s forehead, and she heaved a sigh. There was what ’ “Gran’ther is sick, Anne; something 5 like a chill, and I’ve put him to bed and tucked him in warm, and now I’m wait- ing for the doctor. The roof leaks close to gran’thcr’s bed. and it has begun to rain and is so damp. I don’t know but I shall move gran’ther down into my room. I had Fraser’s assistant here day before yesterday to mend the roof. He said he was a stranger in town, and he has made a miserable job of it. I be- lieve it leaks worse than over, and I wonder Fraser would employ? such a hand. I do wish the doctor would come." Miss Carver had passed rather a try- ing day, and she went to bed early and slept lightly, waking every now and then from a baddream. Late in the evening she heard Dr. Tibbet’s light step going up to his patient in the attic and his pleasant, reassuring voice saying to Mrs. Bissell in the hall: “Now, don’t you worry. The old man has'got a little cold and a touch of fever,'but we shall bring him round in a day or two.”" Itwas astonishing to Miss Carver that Mrs. Bissell, with all the load she had to carry, should worry about that old man for whom she cooked and washed and mended when his own well to do daugh- ters had practically cast him off. In the middle of the night she heard the front door bell ring out in the silent house with startling reverberation. She was hesitating about getting up to call Mrs. Bissell when Anne came tripping out of her room in her striped flannel dressing gown, her hair a mass of flufiy curls. Miss Carver heard her tap at the doctor’s door. “The night patients have begun to pour in,” she whispered through the panel, “and I’m so glad.” The doctor got up and dressed hur- riedly, and then drove away in a wagon that was waiting for him at the door over the soft, wet road; Miss Carver did not hear him come in, but she found him fresh and bright in the morning at the breakfast table discussing Mrs. Bis- sell’s rolls and coffee. Mrs. Bissell was herself seated behind the tray. “Doctor,” she asked, “was your pa. tient very ill last night?” “N 0, nothing serious; only a light touch of croup. If the mother had known how to use a little sweet oil it would have saved the trouble of sending for me. But those Irish mothers soon go off their heads when there is anything the matter With the baby. The father’s name is Doyle and they live in Cork.” “Doyle,” repeated Mrs. Bissell, “that must be the man who mended my roof the other day, or rather didn’t mend it. It lets in the water worse than ever.” “I dare say it’s the same man,” re- turned the doctor. “He told me he was a roofer,‘and I think he said a plumber.” | I’ve been about money that to my knowl- “Aud a miserably poor workman,” re- “Fraser will have to send anothervman to mend that roof before I pay him a cent. But, by the way, doctor, I hope you got your fee.” “Yes, he paid promptly on the spot. [was rather surprised, because the place looked poor and dirty, and I thought. Doyle’s breath smelled as if he had been drinking." CHAPTER IV. Gran’ther Bissell was again pottering about the garden, and the doctor and Anne were trying over a new song in the parlor, where Anne had put down her dusting brush to play the ac‘compa- niment. Neither of them minded the broken key nor the horrible dissonance it made when they got into the full musical flow. Presently Mrs. Bissell came down from the attic chamber where the old man slept. She clung to the baluster to steady herself and keep from falling, and tottered into the little parlor as pale as ashes. The doctor turned round and caught her by the arm just in time to save her from full- ing. He put her gently on the sofa. “What is the matter, Mrs. Bissell?” he asked: “are you ill?” ' Anne rushed to her mother’s side, and put her arm under her head. “No,” gasped Mrs. Bissell, “it isn’t a faint or anything that I have eaten that has disagreed. Anne, my child, I’ve been robbed of my interest money, all my hard earnings and savings of a year, to meet the payment on the mortgage,” and a hard sob broke through the words that seemed to rend her throat. " with - \‘~' r . 4 . , _ The doctor turned around and caught her just in time to save her from falling. There was a slight rustle at the other end of the room, and Anne looked around and saw Miss Carver standing in the door with her street things on. “ What did I tell you, Miss Bissell?” she put in, quite uninvited. “Didn’t I warn you it was unsafe to keep any large sum of money in the house? Didn’t I plead with you as a friend to go and open an account, and deposit your money in the bank?” “Yes; you did,” returned Mrs. Bissell feebly through her fast dropping tears, “but what’s the use of bringing it up I distrusted banks after so many savings institutions had broken. I thought it better to keep the money by me.” “Don't mind the old cat,” whispered Anne, with her rosy lips close to her mother’s car, and her strong, young arms about the little woman’s waist. “Tell us where the money was when it was stolen; perhaps we "shall find it is all a mistake.” Mrs. Bissell brushed away a few salt drops with the corner of her checkered apron. “You know, Anne, how careful I‘ve always been to lock up money. It was in the middle drawer of the bureau up in gran’ther’s room, left hand corner, shoved behind a pile of clothes and my winter bonnet. It was in a little shell casket that belonged to mother. I al- ways kep’ that drawer locked, but I must have gone there in a hurry and forgot to turn the key. It was a week ago yesterday, I think, when I went up to make change to pay the butcher’s bill, and there was angel cake baking in the oven and I was in a great taking for fear it would burn. It must have been at that time, but I don’t know, for my head isn’t just straight and I can’t think.” “That’s the way you keep your money,” sneered Miss Carver, but no— body minded her. “You’ll get it back, mother,” said Anne very positively, patting the thin, whithered cheek. "Do you think it could have been Bridget?” she added in a reluctant whisper. “I am sure of it, Anne,” and Mrs. Bis— sell straightened up and looked about her with confidence. “Nobody else knew I kept my money there. Nobody else goes into that room except gran’ther. Of course it was Bridget, and it accounts for her strange actions this last ten days. She has slammed the stove covers and banged the kitchen utensils when I have asked ha to do a chore, and yesterday she broke the soup tureen. I thought mebbe she was in love, but I see now she had this thing on her conscience.” “But she came with such a good rec- ommendation from her last place," pleaded Anne. “Them that tempts is as bad as them that takes,” edged in Miss Carver. “It’s wicked to leave money round where it will entice an ignorant girl like Brid- get.” Anne, who was still kneeling by her mother’s side, turned round on the de- fensive. “Now, Miss Carver,” said she, “don’t go and spread this story all over town, for it might prevent us from catch- ing the thief.” “You are impertinent, Anne Bissell,” and Miss Carver, highly indignant, flung out of the front door. ' “There’s one thing about it,” said Mrs. Bissell, rousing up as a gleam of hope came into her mind. “I think those bills could be- traced and got back if a. body only knew how to set to work in the right way. There were eight tens and one twenty all marked with the letter B and a little cross with blue ink in one corner. I’ve been in the habit of mark- ing my big bills in that way for a good many years, and it showshow careful edge I never lost a penny before in all my housekeeping.” “I think that mark on the bills is an excellent clew,” said the doctor.. “I know a young detective in the city who can work up the case. ,I will set him on it if you say so. There isn’t anything of the kind those fellows cannot ferret out if you give them time. Of course the money wasn’t passed here, and you will have to look for it in Boston." “Bridget went over to Apfledale last Sunday,” said Mrs. Bissell, after musing, “to see her married sister who lives there, and she has been in a very bad temper ever since.” ~ “I tell you what,” said the. doctor, suddenly inspired; “we will get out a search wa'i‘rant for Bridget and her sister. You watch Bridget here at home, and I will run over to Appledale and have her sister’s house searched. We may find the money all there in a lump. If nothing comes of it we can go through Bridget’s things here when I come back, before she gets wind of what has hap- pened." Mrs. Bissell and Anne were deeply grateful to the doctor for his active in terest. They had never before known the joy of. having a man to lean on in an emergency. Bissell was practice-“v use less on such an occasion, and now he had been away teaming it for a week, and of course gran’ther was too old even to take it all in! Anne shouted at him until she was hoarse to try and make him understand, and then he went about shaking his head and talki‘g to himself for half a day. The doctor came home early in the evening from Appledale, rather damped by the result of his expedition. He had found an officer, and had succeeded in searching Bridget’s sister‘s house, but without avail. The act had brought a tide of indignation on his head, not only from Mrs. Rooney herself, but from the neighbors, who were ready to hoot him out of town. Bridget’s sister, it ap« peared, was a highly respectable person. and had also a power of tongue that seemed to blister where the words fell. The doctor was threatened with a shower of brickbats and a hot water douche if he remained another fifteen minutes in Appledale, and he was glad to boat a hasty retreat by the first train. Nothing daunted, however, he pushed the investigation into Bridget’s trunk that night by aid of one of the Littlefield constables, but nothing was found there but the poor girl’s belongings, and Brid- get went out of the house at midnight sobbing violently, and vehemently de- claring it was a wicked thing to take away a poor girl’s character when there was not a particle of proof against her. To be continued. AV vA V For the cure of the inflammation and congestion called a “cold in the heat ” there is more potency in Ely’s Cream Balm than in anything else that it_ is possible to prescribe. This preparation has for years past been making a bril- liant success as a remedy for cold in the head, catarrh and hay fever. Used in the initial stages of these complaints Cream Balm prevents any serious de- velopment of the symptoms, while al- most numberless cases are on record of radical cures of chronic catarrh, after all other modes of treatmenthave failed. AA. Every woman who suffers from Sick Headache, and who dislikes to take bitter doses, should try Carter’s Little Liver Pills. They are the easiest of all medicines to take. A pos1tive cure for the above distressing complaint; give prompt relief in dyspepsm and_1n- digestion ; prevent and cure constipa- tion and piles. As easy to take as sugar. Only only one pill a dose. 40 in a vial; Price 25c. If you try them you will not be without them. Dropped on sugar, children love to take J OllanSOXI‘S Anodyne Liniment for coughs and CO S. PATRONIZE THE OLD RELIABLE ADAMS ICXI’RESS COMPANY, Low Rates. Prompt Delivery. Branch Office, Norwalk, at Morris Benedict’s. Main Office at Depot. South Norwalk. L. HUNT. Agent. PENSIONS as are. GEN. WM. ll. NOBLE. No. 91 STRATFORD Ava, BRIDGEPORT. Has all blanks needed under New Law for Soldiers, Widows, Parents and Children. Call or send for question blanks at once. a. Gusowsxz,’ MERCHANT TAILOR, Is ready to show the Finest Stock of GLOTHS,OASSIMERES AND OVERGOATING And a great variety of Fancy Pants Patterns E. GUSO‘VSKI, - Corner Wall and Water Streets 3. B. WILSON, Carpenter and Builder. SAWING, Window Frames. 85c. Mouldings made to order. J obbmg promptly attended to. Shop—Cross st.; Residence. 92 Wall st. First floor at Belden avenue to lot at $9 per month. Houses and lots for sale on easy terms LAN Exes, EElllESS Do Your Own Dyeing, at. Home. They will dye eve thing. They are sold every- where. .Price 100. argackage. They have unequal for Strength, Brightness, Amount in Packages or for Fastuess of Color. or non-fading Qualities. They do not crock or smut; 40 colors. For sale by J. G. Gregor-13" & 00.; J. A. Riggs, 11 Main street; George ‘. Plaisted, Druggist. HENRY TILLY, CARRIAGE MAKER, SO U TH JVOR lVALIL',‘ CONN ——Manufact1u'er of— Family Carriages, Victarlas, Buggies, is. ALL KINDS OF REPAIRING. 3 cts. ' Nommrx, Conn. March 13, 1891. Millinery- § VERY LADY, of course, E wants a new Easter Bonnet, and nothing will be'more welcome than our Spring Opening, Satur- day. Monday and Tuesday, of Fine French Millinery. In this new department of our store will be ‘ found all the latest ideas in both Trimmed and Untrimmed Bon- nets, Hats and Toques, as well as an endless assortment of Children's School Hats. Our exhibit of Flowers, Feathers, Ribbons, Vel- vet-s, Laces, etc., for trimming will not be equalled by any house in town, while the prices charged will be especially low this month in order to introduce the depart- ment. Dress Trimmings. AVING reason to anticipate an unprecedented demand for Dress Trimmings the coming season we have made preparations accord- ly, and we are now displaying the most extensive stock we have ever, shown, including the finest assortment of patterns and colorings, many of the most desirable of WI ich cannot be found elsewhere or duplicated by ourselves. rl‘his day, Saturday, March 14. we make the first general opening for the season of this superb stock. Visitors will find that all our Trimmings are most carefully Selected with especial reference to the great stock of Dress F ixtures. and it is our purpose to make the Trimmings in eieiy way correspond thereto. Lace Curtains. O the outside world I you present your credentials as a woman of taste in the appear- ance of your Windows. They are the only vis- ible portions of the un- known interior. All the rest is on private exhi- bition to your friends ; but your window draperies are on public exhibition perpetually to} the passer by. They areas important as your personal appearance. Our special offering this week is a handsome Nottingham Lace Cur: taiu, which closely re- sembles a real Brusse's Lace Curtain, in beautiful styles for the drawing room—fern and flower designs, as shown in the out. They are the height of refinement in curtains. We have secured this lot- at less than the McKinley bill permits them to he landed, and on Saturday we will hurry them cfi‘ at $3.75 per pair. Don’t buy them if you don't really need them ; let some one else have the chance. W indow Shades- ' HERE are three subjects of Norwalk profanity on which a culprit may be convicted, but can always be recommended to the mercy of the recording-angel. They are. its horse cars, its telephones and its cheap window shades. You can travel nearer to exasperation on a poorly hung window shade than on any other expenditure of money. We make a specialty of Perfectly Appointed Shades and guarantee satisfaction in their constant use. , We carry at all times a full line of imported Scotch Holland and the famous Lonsdale‘ (domestic) Holland in all the desirable colors. Estimates and samples furnished whenever you desire them. B \ PUPUIEI _ Bus on S E. .o' our. Main and Wall Sls., Norwalk.
Norwalk Chronicler