(Continued from page 8.)
CHAPTER IV.
Clara, as has been seen, fell into a thoughtful, sober state of mind, after the interview with her husband, in which she mentioned the fact of having five thousand dollars in stocks. Something in the manner of Alfred troubled her slightly. When he came home in the evening she experienced, in meeting him, the smallest degree of embarrassment; yet sufficient for him to perceive. Like an inflamed eye to which even the light is painful, his morbid feelings were susceptible of the most delicate impressions. A mutual reserve, unpleasant to both, was the consequence. Ellison imagined that his wife had, on reflection, become satisfied of his baseness in seeking to obtain her hand in marriage because of her possession of property, and the change in his manner which this feeling produced, naturally effected a change in her. From that time their intercourse became embarrassed, and both were unhappy.
A few days after Clara had informed her husband of the fact that she possessed five thousand dollars in stocks, she brought him the certificates which she held, and placing them in his hands, said,
“You must take care of these now.”
“What are they?” he asked, affecting an ignorance that did not exist, for the instant his eyes rested on the papers he understood what they were.
“Certificates of the stock about which I told you.”
Ellison handed them back quickly, and with a manner that could not but wound the feelings of his wife, saying at the same time,
“Oh, no, no! I don’t want them. Draw the interest yourself as you have been doing.”
“I have no further need of the money,” replied Clara, in a voice that had acquired a sudden huskiness. “Our interests are one you know, Alfred, and you take care of these matters now.”