160 
THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
riage could not efface her charms or diminish her co¬ 
quetry. She and Ralph went much into society, and as 
ever, Sally was the belle of every gathering where she was 
to be found. But she was far from being a happy wife. 
Ralph proved to be a hard drinker and when drunk was 
brutal in the extreme. And whether drunk or sober he 
was jealous and watched Sally’s every move when in so¬ 
ciety, and accused and upbraided her in unstinted terms 
in private. In vain Sally assured him that she never 
said a word that the whole world might not hear. 
“ But you looked a thousand of them ! ” he would de¬ 
clare ; “ confound it all, I know how you used to come it 
over me, and you're at it with every fellow you meet.” 
And poor Sally could not say that there was no truth in 
such a statement, for many a time when she was chatting 
innocently to some former lover about the weather or the 
last magazine, her eyes would be saying to him, “ You 
know I am unhappy and you are sorry for me; you 
would not have treated me so, would you ? You and I 
might have been happy together; no one understands me 
as you do.” 
The second year of Sally’s marriage a little girl was 
born, and the same year Sally’s father died and her 
mother came to live with her. Ira, who since Sally be¬ 
came a wife had held aloof from her, now fell into a habit 
of calling occasionally to see Mrs. Earle, with whom he 
was still a favorite, and Baby Irene took a great liking to 
him, which touched the great honest fellow’s heart and 
reconciled him to his loss. But when Irene was little 
more than a year old her father was accidentally killed in 
a drunken brawl. It so happened that Ira, passing at 
the time in his carriage, was asked to carry Ralph to his 
home. It was a terrible shock to poor Sally, and, as Ira 
laid on the sofa the bruised body of the dissolute hus¬ 
band, whom she had never loved, but who was yet the 
father of her child, she fainted ; but as she did so she 
reached her hands toward Ira for help, and when she 
opened her eyes again it was to Ira that they turned for 
sympathy. 
After the funeral Sally and her mother went back to 
their old cottage to live, for Judge Colfax and his wife 
had never approved of Sally, and soon made her feel that 
their house could no longer be her home. Sally wore the 
deepest of mourning and was more irresistible in her wid¬ 
owhood than she had been in girlhood; her voice took 
on a plaintive minor tone that was very touching and her 
face a sorrowful look, but not too sorrowful, and her 
beautiful eyes were always asking for sympathy. As for 
her old lovers, they were running over with sympathy 
that their hearts burned to bestow upon the lovely young 
widow, and they availed themselves of every opportunity 
to do so. And all agreed that her sad experiences and 
sudden affliction had only made her more charming than 
ever. 
Of course, Ira lost no opportunity of serving Sally, and 
by no means despaired of being her second, though there 
were times when her open encouragement of others drove 
him nearly frantic. One day an old lover of hers who had 
paid her as much attention as her still recent bereavement 
would properly allow, and had been led on by her coquet¬ 
tish wiles until he felt sure of her favor, remarked to Ira: 
“ There is a good deal more to Sally than there used 
to be.” 
“ Yes, there’s a child and a mother-in-law,” dryly as¬ 
sented the practical young farmer. 
“ Good heavens ! you don’t suppose a fellow who mar¬ 
ries her has got to take the three, do you ? ” 
“ I hope a fellow would not be brute enough to sepa¬ 
rate them,” returned Ira. 
But perhaps Ira’s goodness and generosity hindered 
rather than helped his cause, for often instead of taking 
Sally to ride in the phaeton, which she preferred, he 
would bring the carryall and take Mrs. Earle and little 
Irene with them; and somehow the presence of these 
two was not favorable to the indulgence of the coquet¬ 
tish wiles that were as the breath of life to Sally. 
Sally enjoyed a brief year of widowhood, and then her 
engagement to Albert Clemens was announced. Albert 
was handsome as ever and was prospering in business, 
and Sally thought it would be as agreeable to live with 
him as with anyone of her acquaintance. So they were 
married, and Albert took his wife to a good home, and 
with her took little Irene and Mrs. Earle. 
Ira bore up under this second disappointment with un¬ 
flagging courage and cheerfulness; it was only “ hope 
deferred ” with him, and though it made his “ heart 
sick” tor awhile, he consoled himself with the recollec¬ 
tion of Sally’s promise ! But he groaned when Albert 
brought home his widowed mother and old-maid sister 
as permanent members of the household, and he groaned 
again when a year later twins were given to Sally. 
“ Confound it! ” he grumbled, “ if things go on in this 
way, I shall have a bigger family to start with than most 
men leave off with. I shall have to build an addition to 
the old house.” 
And he actually went about it the very day after he 
heard of the advent of the twins ! The Benton house 
was already a large one, but it seemed to Ira that a fel-■ 
low who took a wife and two mothers-in-law and an old- 
maid sister and three children, and nobody knows how 
many more, would need considerable house-room, and he 
did not rest until he had built an addition which made 
the Benton homestead the largest and handsomest place 
in town. 
It made quite a stir among his townspeople, and, al¬ 
though his past devotion to Sally was well known, it was 
considered highly improbable that any sane man would 
build such a substantial addition to an already large 
house, unless he was about to marry. His friends began 
to chaff him about his preparations for a bride, and he 
admitted that he expected to marry, not quite at present, 
to be sure, but he was engaged and had been for some 
time. 
When this report found its way to Sally’s ears she was 
at first much surprised at the seeming dejection of one 
who had been such a persistent and ardent lover, but on 
meeting her mother’s eyes she burst into a merry peal 
of laughter, which seemed to her husband quite uncalled 
for, and which she did not explain. 
Soon after this the civil war broke out, and Albert, 
who was a whole-souled, patriotic fellow, sold out his 
partnership in the store for a sum, the interest of which 
