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Main > Fairy tale > All authors > Frank Baum > Fairy tale "Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville"

Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville

I think the grief of Thomas and Nora was scarcely

less than that of my own parents, and both men had suffered so severely

that they were willing to abandon the sea and devote their lives to

comforting their poor wives. Captain Wegg sold all his interests and his

wife's villa, and brought the money here, where he established a home

amid entirely different surroundings. He was devoted to my mother, I

have heard, and when she died, soon after my birth, the Captain seemed

to lose all further interest in life, and grew morose and unsociable

with all his fellow-creatures.

"That, young ladies, is the story of what Thomas and Nora call their

'great trouble'; and I think it is rightly named, because it destroyed

the happiness of two families. I was born long after the tragedy, but

its shadow has saddened even my own life."

When the boy had finished, his voice trembling with emotion as he

uttered the last words, his auditors were much affected by the sad tale.

Patsy was positively weeping, and the Major blew his nose vigorously and

advised his daughter to "dry up an' be sinsible." Beth's great eyes

stared compassionately at the young fellow, and even Louise for the

moment allowed her sympathy to outweigh the disappointment and chagrin

of seeing her carefully constructed theory of crime topple over like the

house of cards it was. There was now no avenger to be discovered,

because there had been nothing to avenge. The simple yet pathetic story

accounted for all the mystery that, in her imagination, enveloped the

life and death of Captain Wegg. But--stay!

"How did your father die?" she asked, softly.

"Through a heart trouble, from which he had suffered for years, and

which had obliged him to lead a very quiet life," was the reply. "That

was one of the things which, after my mother's death, helped to sour his

disposition. He could not return to the sea again, because he was told

that any sudden excitement was likely to carry him off; and, indeed,

that was exactly what happened.

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