Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 4, Number 44, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 2 May 1874 — Page 1
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Thai he Vnrhetf' ttmta
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4.—No. 44.
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THE MAIL
A PAFER
FOR THE
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PBOPITS.
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All other*, cleave only to Jb#r,
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Ana over h«-r Iwrfr a wrown.
Clw oV.'r ivert* •"»rmg Attdo-iv/n ft"---* th- -ugo The wi' n.i-'.ti.' uM•« WUhonV. »"-?•••-h,f»
With only the river tor resit
A Life in the Balance.
B* CHA&UM M0RK1B,
Ajothor of the "Dtamond 8Mf« Button."
CHAPTER X.
LOVJg'8 TOW© TOBXAM.
Dr. Wilmor wai frightened by lfee efffect of his ha»ty «nd lll-adrisea action. MisaRoynoIds soemed lens palnod by the nataro of tho ccTTimanicationthan hart by hi* being 1t- !earer. For tho moment, he felt as it he would rather have cat his hand off than have caused her irach deep-reproachfW glance which she bent upon Mm sank to his Inmost nature, and burned there as though she had struck a flaming arrow to Ms souL
For a minato she stood inotionles^ her whole life in her eyes, and thev fixed in satl accusal uj hia &ce, that burned with the emoiuns within him. She then sank wearily into her chair, «id silently turned her to the fire, that clowed In bright kery of the shadow which her sorrow threw upon the whole room. No tears cam* to her eyes, though her whole riatnre ined weeping over some test ideal, some
Jj-.v.rl
VCAt'e.iu»t,
whoselustrt
had vaulalwKl in the t^ing light of ad*
tl ise her emotions to
hinu and it Int mind that wo are pre^'ut. Too proud to let him see her eyes brim with the tears that sought to flow, yet too deeply moved to keep back the gush of feeling from her fece, she sat «a if utterly lost in tho gloom which had come upon her youna iife—as if fbtweitln *»to presence. And still the flw flat and sparkled, and shot its keen arrows of Ught into erory eorher of the room.
So the broad current of life moves on in glee, heedless) that upon many sonls shadows come darkling, fbr life at largo is a bright and happy thing, and sorrow it an epiiode in its swift career. Hope titans down stream, and laughter is the sparkle of its waves, kindled by the sunlight ot happiness. Alas! for those whom time strands upon the isl* rth! it sorrow that tl ft above the current wIwau lives look l» ward in regret and forward in dread, memory and hope "ke darkened by the clouds of grief
S pain that abroad their skies. We ma -less fete that comfort is the stream of ..i«—pain bntits ride enrrents—that no grief is so dark that it cannot be lit by tin *r of no cloadso dense hnt nK\t the swill in time break life had so fer flown through .n iy^of the ^adow. tho a/h ht soul was too strong to yield Ion. uth« oasault of grief. It had njw, however, eome upon her In an overwheln% torrent, 1 her whole nature sank 1 eath its ct. *t»
The cause Of all this emotion lay crushed --neath h~r h^nd upon the table. It seem dasmn -riareof thick p»pw--a $Ht have so deeply touched iiuma'u ::~ut.
Dr. Wilmer tnmed his eyes resot *ly fhj s" ••TJo«atr rawgod in a d«*»ter 'feei'-'li
t, 1
•^Iss Reynolds,' he said, In a sorious tone, 'what I have done :vn you such twin. 1 am utterH' Isrnors af. Believe me, would not my life have lilted ah fc gave him.
he 11 T. 11 le a foolish promise de.^ into bands, bat refu#^ to «&mi It myself ss I had neither the rig nor the desire to learn its contents.' lifted her eyes from the firs, and looked cam ytok»,i:^ M.^-Hsseart^ in« ftlanc«L whbu. oioet imu tones of a falsehood could not have been fcklVtu sr» jelieve yea,' die simply tald. «K.novi.-'.?,as I did, don"V h« 'I r*tW -^v It, »if the secret i..»l a afleoted !i IC itm to see ft,* rtkeaziswered, t«|, eft to Mm as she spok*.
He tor 1 W- less tr ^T^thatwhiehbewtKild tela have
U»l rf lack fidkmor
She ctleatly placed the pq^ar pov\-it of h« t: T-.tr fece marWuj «a ttPMsi a ad his power of analysts. He sa if sweet had (Win betw— Uf«-n tr that «^me»rt which it t« I iidf cOxtto
j«v
"!t 1
ill in jmiBAwuiitiw
t'fc*- fe«*Srtr
'Wf
aad dw nai the
iinpnlse e*fcowardice that had moved his, aad sdaway in dbttust at 1 moral weaki *t am ofahaawat^wauiufnower to combat lai prejudice came strong «P°n mm, anl fix a sinate alienee lay deei
Itartwa#,^ at length tL prefer not to know it. It is no matter which I have any right to inquire into, and I will not take advantage of you* impulse of generosity to learn aught which yon dwtire to ooneettL That ft is any. thing wh!f* reflects discredit upon you-— if I "trill not beHava ft
She again bent upon Mm that earnest glance that seemed to search the very depths of his soul. He knew that sfa id read hi* hidden motivo, ae^tf his effort to prevent his ('ureeftom reflecting his mind.
w«.
s^!
before!
apon.
Jk«t lh» bridtt «w» a «D»1V?g' l^vs»ott4« ahd
1
oudfiitr—
ll,. w4vi batth# lintron her fir '—, He* wm b»H th« rww in her I
And I woaMtiiyro had been a glsittfmr ov«r ray iff**, and At Utati mm w» o' klwit
It was no common nature with which he had to deal, 1 if which his opon and disposition wa« at a dimdvantsge in such a pte»---nue. Tte !un«r workings of •t soul hv revealed as in a to her deep arching
vvas,
ulcw
Alt otlwi^*twlcl-y For out of iliojrtUat '. 1 saw i# me wart A -wlUHsv. I gtrt, with hCTha^f
while hti Intunlon feil-
otl to read the finer impulses that moved her. Miss Gordon knows the secret,' she answered. 'It is, therefore, no longer a secret. Why would yon not rather learn it fl a me than have it told to Y^u, with sneering additions, by some of your lady patients?' •You do her injustice,' he replied. 'I am convinced that she has not told it. Take my word for it, she shall not. I have some influence with her, and will use it to prevent even tho hints in which she has heretofore indulged. I will not deny
od, locking up at him with a smile bitter as grief on her lips. No, he aiiswerwa "lankly• Of course I imagine that pride baa something to do with it.' He suddenly oeased, as it reenrred to him that Jealous rivalry had more to do with it. •Pride, yes,' she replied—'that abominable settlement caste which teaches such that they are the very salt of the earth, which must never be used to savor the mean clay of tho common herd. What is there in the blue blood of this great lady and her proud kin that lifts them above mankind in general, and thrones them on a pinnacle of self-gratu-olation which would be ludicrous were it not so serious? Is not my blood as pure, my mind as ripe, my soul as high, that of the best of this haughty nobility of birth? Yet I am to thembut a being of inferior mold, with whomto come in contact would be to defile their dainty hands. I would hate, the whole orew did I not despise them too much to honor them with a nobler feeling.
He listened in a surprise allied to terror as this bitter flood of words poured from her line, the overflow of a soul brimming with indignation.
Are you not unjust, Miss Reynolds? he asked, conscious that he himself was included in the class against which she launched her invective. »'to it quite fiur to permit the Ibllv of a single person to embitter you against a large portion of the community?'
11know
41
4
a to learn thai of
whi- he might ever regret the knowl-
whereof I speak,* she renlied.
•You have not had my life, Dr. Wilmer, and cannot know my life. Do you suppose that any one of these patridans couhl teach me to feel so bitterly You know not what it is to be Wst^ with a high-bred disdain—harder to tr than direct insult—tolerated fer my modi' of talent—forced to be silent or to trve yet with whole soul protesting every nottr agstmrt this involuntary servitode.'
ai*'. I'T"---
#*.w J1'--' In *«*$
111
4
have not met you except at my aunt's. There, I know, you are adeemed for yourself.'
By your oousin—yes. Sheisoneroae In a wudernesa of thorns. If I in tastes. endure 11 deserve it: and yet with wn-1 oration then, as^ being more llk» what the majority of themselves truly are beneath tneir thin crust of pol-
It is inse I am their eqnalor in Jllect, taste, and culture,
•v
vtw me so disuainfaily, aaif
It were a crime for owe wi ut agen-ea'-rv to aan^ to their Jnft^ uvei. Yet, wl have h«y to be prntd of? They
Hp- tlinTr ancestors tor a fmv t: haek, *40pplni the to* rsmiu string reachinn pterins They have of Mi# i. meri and virtnes, whlist u- u- w«kli -that brain virtue t*lii
hit.il »bw
nwp have
!)«eeomi» mity of
ytrtes ta to them utterly without
did not know the yyou -^h indlfmHy,' I to •!'f, «r fly kn ing
is
a tn impawrtomHl gusn of Hm ii iT
tl|»4'fS:l
mf she *i^ !. *rg- to make sj:«»w th happiest •s, d:iv-« of niy 3if-
n.
her I
to
•e I saw 8s'- hi. tnd
lean imybi -i. «, «d, n-, bittorneas ofsplnk Tfwre «aU In draught wWd I v. rr. fvSr-,W» Ito Slttoomuch tvauli''- tr*m *t
r-
j® I-., «Ug»ai»t »«x
O
0, was an
--,.1.
i»t±w*.tM*bas-- he'tns^- if" stra. -1« set .• phantom swaw. the S3 ssEroJSl bi«t to Wnitod* in sasatMml doaht than ta dark talnty.
kM»
tmi-h m»)
r~
li-kiS
m^ertliaE itarnc VlNdiiMSi,^ im »km«Mvirn .-»f h» fanrro^ni.i ^|s,h',' f. ffenoMo h«. of that ckw
AW m-" «a ih"
COndi^MI
!h®| 1- TSOWrt v.-. MAderstionof .1 iaws sv ty. Stoewas efnii on |sis»ttMilMt »ht-*r mIIm insnabsMras the ^ssa in which 1
In no firs
11*•
•hsfttmi
i, Mn:~— wl UU, 1 har. Tha warfcl hasn rofi
u/.'.t m-'i^-rr 7.t.frmTr*-mnr wrrr
"V spt#*f
.**'*! S^y*
tm4 WM'$ *•**-. X#¥r: n*'
l^pl '.'U-Wft"MU .*1.. he "w
7 iM .5 if
She has done all she wished* She has driven me from Salem,' she quietly answered.
4
No, no!' he cried.eatcitedly. 'It shall not come to this. You shau not yield so lightly. You have one iriend left, at least, and one w^io.is not without Ids- influence here.'
A grateful look came upon her fece as she listened to his offer ot service. •You have my thanks,' she replied.»'I would not hesitate to avail myself of your kindness did I feel that it was expedient. But you must soe that it would never answer to make you my business agent.'
And why not, pray?' ho exclaimed. •You could have none more devoted to your Interest—none more heedless of what those people may think.'
41am
a woman, Doctor Wilmor, and
am forced to be heedfal of how they fcslk' «They shall not talk to your discredit in my presence. I owe you a reparation in having oven listened for a moment to the defaming taUt against you—in having weakly consented to be the bearer of that package with which I so deeply wounded you. Would that I had thrown it into the fire rather than have made so rash a promise}' he continued, drawing his chair beside hers, and looking warmly into her eyes.
These bright orbs ware now dimmed with a moisture which they had uot yet shown. Her mind bad been agitatod br the bitter reproach which at first had reeled her against him-by the buret of indignant
rhetoric
^.^.-,.-™-r.
with which she had
society. She wSs a woman again
ntthe first word of kindliest. Beaeuon from her previous excitement, and the secret source of pain wldch lay to all allusion to this sutyeot, had their natural effect upon horin h«r chaagwl mood.
She turned from him to hide the tear* Which, despite herself, gushed from her ayes, bursting from thatfoontain ofetnotfso which Ilea somewhere in every woman's ssuL and which often, even while Hosed against calumny and suffering, mens to the touch of a kindly word. Natures which have. like here, long home the mental strain of assUt*nce to grief may thus be surprised by the voire of sympathy Into tears, whew least they think of yielding.
Doctor WIliner's aoul ^wss deeply tpn^h^ His was (me of those warm natures that ean tiear to aea no woman
man. whom h« ngod to proUm against alit&e of the world, vet had inadvertantly driven into norn *, was more than ha could endure. lie forvot a hundred reasons against hseta, that In Ms eager momenta might i«ve ^-igbedith him retaiiwd butthe one» £hTW the woman to whom to ftit more warmly than to all the wofW berideTlay stri4en with grief be-
,•
t$faf
+^-0»'i
TERRB HAUTE, IND., SATURDAY EVENING MAY 2, 1874:
"SOT TOTTKRKD AND WOULD HAVK FA LIBS.
these unfortunate beings, destitute of any fixed place in her social relations, lifted by nature above their hereditary sphere, depressed by fortune below that to which tney are truly allied, and left to sufler in bitterness their sad position in the great, bustling round of life.
Yet he felfc too deeply the suffering which throbbed like an undertone in every word she spoke, to attempt that cold logio which rose in his mind. It was no time now to define the relations of society, when her burst of passionate confidence had warmed his soid into intimate sympathy with hers. She was to him wonderfully beautiful, as she sat. with flushed cheek, gleaming eye, and all her features animate with the deep sensibility of her inner nature. For such a being as this to be made the sport of circumstance, to have to bend her grand soul in obedience to the petty dictates of men and women too mean to recognise her rare nobility! He could jiot endure the thought, and the love which had grown up untended. in his soul was ready to blossom Into speech as he sat listening and admiring. 'Yours must have been indeed a sad life,' he said, in a low tone. 'It paius me to learn that you have allowed the petty meanness of the purse-proud to so deeply wound you. As for Miss Gordon, I would counsel you to dismiss .all thoughts of her from your mind* She has harmed yon all she oaau I,promise you she shall go no further.'
Iudioed,Ifullretainedthat
ression
4
Sit to had dealt the blow.
He took tor hand, gently but ftradyt hesmutht tor to be aw^s thai «.-r '!. '^-selves Italic* dtoouietj aa tor saddened fe*» wtth fPfto Shamir* feeling. The slow-growing urrm of this man had at ^tast buret the Mranda -f nwUnint, which ha* so fiur
I It In iesMh, and re t*t passion man •Letthe worid
with all the
you,' to
«. a a. ».
'I know I am weak, preof foults, but in my loVe
for you will be strong against all nature and all mankind. I care nothing for your past. It is your future I crave, and that will help to make.'
She listened still, without a word, without a sign only the hands that lay quietly in his, only the lips, on which a happy smile seemed struggling through the lines of grief, told thatshe had heard his appc«L and that she was not indifferent to his love.
Will you not answer?' he asked, pleadingly. 'One word, ono look, to tell rue that I love not in vain
She withdrew her hands from his grasp, andl rose, with dignity, from her chair. ...
I can make no answer to-night,' she said, striving to hide the soft answer that toned into joy. despite her efforts, tho serious expression of her fece. 'You have been very kind to me. For" this
roa have my gratitude. If you indeed me—' 1 do, fondly, deeply!' he interrupted.
!ove
Then your love will stand the test which I shall set it. I must have time to consider. Do not reply, I beg ytu. You arc strong. I am wmk. If I should answer now you might have reason to regret it. You are yourself to-day,but have allowed impulse to oontrol.'lo-morrow you will feel differently.'
4
Not for a thousand to-morrewa!* he cried. I ask bat a week But three days! I cannot answer now,' she replied.
Toll me, at least, that I am not quite Indifferent to vou Give me some token to bear through the three long days of doubt,'
She looked up to him with a fece in which the warm light of happiness broke in sunshine from all her features.
Vou shall not force an answer front mo now* she said, Una and eyes answering with bright smiles. 'You are my probationer, and mart bide my time.'
Sot one word tor a poor, petitioning lover?' he asked, clasping her hands, and garing deep into her eyea with a look of glad assurance.
4
Not ons word,'she replied.' One token, at least, I must have, to boar mo through my probation.' 'What token would you have?* she ssksd, with a warm atnile. •ThisI' he replied, pressing his Hps upon tors in a paaslonafe kiss, in which burned all the fire of his love.
taAFIKRXt
TrnMBefrowTii
The next day rose upon the worldln cloud, with a Siting chill in its air but to Doctor Wilmer It throbbed with a pulae of lire. He had spent the hours of sleep In dreams of happiness ha woke to a morn that broke in Elysium, so fer ss his mind was concerned. Doubt I It had vanished before her parting smile as mists fly from the new-risen sun. He SJmTw rMd WUt1« dWnM, having that coufldenco In his own powers which gives assurance where others woahlaee danger. He understood her as but fearing Sbst he might change In his cooler moments. Change! He could never change. His love would be hs steadfast as the ana, deep-bssedas the eternal hills.
Ami how did he know this? He was flur, yet, from being in his cooler momenta? li/tmtm had not toeo^edfrom the cloud into which It had been driven Emotion was still in the aaeandank and bade feir to bold sway during the three days of his probation. Miss Reynolds was mistaken In supposing that she tod him enough to arrive at a
r~ Jt 5- ., 1
«|pi
,«* *i-»rf ,'sk/j «n4 mvtfsftS *mi *..« I** Tf*X t» W **L «U» ?%M frf*-
JCAlHCl
murmured, in low, but Intense tones: 'I will bo your world and will shield you from wrong with a love which no shaft of malice dare pass. Dear Clara.' ho continued, bending over her, and tenderly clasping both ner hands in his, 'would that I had words to express the love wliicb I lear you—a love so warm that it should dry every tear from your eyes, and till all your future with
She made no effort-to withdraw her hands from his grasp, buW looked into his face with tear-briinmed eyes, while her lips still quivered as with repressed
ger
rief. There was a pleading question in look that touched him deeply a doubt, as he interpreted it, that brought all his soul to the surfaoe In answer.
I love you, Clara Reyolds,' he cried, in passionate accents, 'love you with the first, the truest love of my life, and crave but one boon from you, that you yield to me for life this hand, which for one blissful moment you have suffered me to possess. Doubt me not,' he continued, as ner fooe its enigmatical ex-
sap ?rTa-V
t*a wskumi**«*£t », ^,-gw
tepm
«£S.
*i* v*
•£*-ajKfflsfr -€-%aH i« "ft im*-«
cool decision!. He tod been too deeply stirred by the outrush of his pent-up feelings to quickly return to tha calm of reeaon. The three long days stood like mountainbarriers in his path, which he would have burned through with the fire of ni passion, bnt that her lightest wish had with Mm now the force of queen's mandate.-
His patient's, that day, were cheered by the doctors presence more than by bis preeeriptionsi. He diffused about him an atmosphere of gladness that acted like a charm upon the sick a healing confidence and enthusiasm mora efficacious than medicines They said that some unftyseen fortune must have beenbequeathed to the Doctor, ffo, too, felt that he had achieved the fortune of lite life: bnt it was a oonnnwst not an inheritance, and he haif won a kingdom of more worth to him than the tabled El Dorado—the empire of a true woman's heart. Hasty man! tow knew he but that the old proverb might be realised in his case The cup was yet but en its way to his lips.
And in hfs friend's pro^OccfUpatfOti of mind it was no difficult matter for tho townsman to lead the conversation, unobserved, to the wished-for point. Before he knew It, the Doctor had put into words the thought that all day long had been beaming upon his features. Ho made no plain confession. This man was too fer removed from liim in spirit, too alien to him mentally, for hfm to have ever willingly taken nim into his oonfldence, even -without the latent dislike which became, at times, active in his mind against the unmitigated mercantile than that which their plain letter would yield. Involuntary Intonations will frequently give sentences a signification which tho speaker dreamed not of conveying. Josephs, though somewliat lacking imagination,had cultivated a native l6Vb for intrigue, that taagtot him how, by the most innocent-appear-ing questions, to render necessary the answers which involve confessions.
Had Doctor Wilmer for a moment guessed the purpose of his companion, he, even if imputing it to friendly curiosity, would have met it with that cool pride which he naturally felt toward all unwarranted prying into his private affairs, and would have closed the portals of bis mind with haughty disdain against this intriguing question. But he was abovo suspicion, and beyond caution, and allowen the green leaves of his thought to drop ono by one before the keen mental vision of his companion, until tho ono secret of his life stood in bare confession, liko a rose-bush from which tho veiling leaves have boen torn, revealing the rea wonder of tho flower In their midst.
On leaving the office, the fece of the merchant lost the smiling placidity in which it had so long been clad. The lip bit till the blood seemed ready to burst through: the look of dark resolution on the fece betokened a mind fer less at oase than it had striven to appear. He had learned something that moved him to a sentiment deeper than asger. Orald It be jealousy, revenge, that brooded under tho incommunicable fece?
Mim Reynolds had a visitor that evening, a very different pereon, and animated purpose, than had moved her so deeply the night before. Yet, deeply as she tod been stirred by emotion and excitement on that eventful evening of tor life, a deeper excitement, an emotion overpowering, rent her soul throughout this long interview. She learned that which, at one fell blow, cast all her delusive hopes of happiness in ruin to tho earth. That she loved Doctor Wilmer he was not wrong in believing had loved him long before kis slower mind reached a like warm cttmax had suffered keenly the thought that his hand should deal tor a cruel blow had gladdened In secret at hi* sympathy Had. with a sublime self-abnegation, forced herself not to take advantage of his impulsive offer, not to accept that in which resson might negative Piston. She dreadod, wss sure atmoat, Itot. hla afiectkm, cooled by time, would shrink from the weight of that secret of which to tod already shown such evident fear. Yet she could not tmt hope. He seemed so warm, pore, devdted, a nature so truly noble in its native essence, however overlaid with a ftdse mask of worldly prejudice, that she allowed torself to hair believe that be would rise above all the weaknesses of his class, and take her tor herself akxae, disdaining every shadow that Ml upon tor from without. Yet, in one hour ber visitor hurled tor Idol from the high altar which she had erected for it in her soul,
m*m
4
When Mr. Josephs dropped
t'~\ into Ills office that aftoTiioon, to talk business, he found his professional friend in anything but a business frame of mind. No effort could bring his attention down to the
Ee
rossic level of oil. What if bad invested his money in petroleum, was that any reason that he should invest his mind in it, also? Suppose Mr. Josephs had put his own
soul out at interest, and expected his intellect to bring in its full percentage of value in hard gold. For sill that, there was something else in the universe worth thinking of, and for the time he cared not a fig whether or not they should ever pump up again the money which he had sunk in the slippery tube of an oil well.
The shrewd speculator was not long in discovering that there was something unusual on his friend's mind, something that had fer more of sunshine than of
Slien
loom in it. He even, in some way not observahle, guessed Its natnre. In feet he must have nad somo suspicion of it before, for nothing had been said leading to such a conclusion. And although tho Doctor failed to observe this, his -visitor appeared ill at ease with the result ot his silent Investigation. It was evidently not palatable to his mind. Not that he contented himself with guessing. He was too thorough a busmens man to leave open any avenue for error to creep In. lie mast be sure of his footing before he took a single step of action. *v
appointment,
Ge
int
..I." W.' _7
*48-*.
iti jama**-* -v- *k/ilfcMv
-r ji .• '•:-.£•- -\-y ••••. -*r- —..••••• i.
5
Price
Five Cents.
and left it prostrate at her feet, shattered into the basest day. Meanwhile to her lover the davs crept on with leaden feet. It was a blessing that he did not poison some of his patients In these long days of waiting, so foil was to of everything beside symptoms and physical diagnosis.
The evening that ended hla probation came at last, and, glad that he oould tell her that reflection nad but deMened the the stream which She feared it would dry, to sought on winged feet, the cottage that held his lifev divinity, alas! only to have the full cup of joy flashed front his lips by the cool voice of Mrs. May. who quietly told him 1
whv. dldnt you know that Miss Reynolds had left me? The foot Is, she has lost all ber business tn Salem, and started this morning, by the early train, for Philadelphia.'
CHAPTER Xn. A t*rasa ARXtzvtts.
Doctor Wilmer urea half-. .racU*i. Reason, theuglit, aught rosemuung cool reflection, was banished from his mind, and a mase of bewildering fencies filled their place in his brain. The night through be vainly praysd that sleep would relieve him from tho despair that pressed so heavily upon his soul. He nad allowed himself to become assured of success had pictured her await big his arrival with lovo's rich affirmation upon her lips and to be thus cruclly disappointed was too much for him to bear, ills love may have been half enthusiasm—may have been a sentiment too weak to bear the searching probe of tirno—a feeling funned Into flamo by sympathy ana opportunity. However that wore, it was, while It lasted, his heart's intensest feeling and the reaction from hope to despair was of that maddening nature that turns men's brains*
We speak but of passionate, impulsive natures—of that class of minds in which the emotional dominates tho reasoning faculties, whofle ardent souls vibrate in a much wider arc than that through which more temperate natures swing, and who may, impelled by the fierce hand of passion, leap past the bounds of reason and within the limits of insanity. Not that the Doctor was near such a culmination of his highly wrought feelings. Yet he was in tnat mo«d
111
which men do wild
and desperate things, committing follies and erlmos in seeming contradiction to their characters.
Unable to conjecture the cause of the sudden flight, imputing it to a thousand reasons, nens of which bore any resemblance to the truth, he formed numerous determinations—to discard, to pursue, to forget, to forever love, the false and flying lady, and ended by taking the rail for Philadelphia the next day.
We need not follow him fn his determined pursuit. It was fruitless, and had not even the good effect of oooling his hot blood, and sending him back to Salem in a calmer mood. The Are within him had burned too fiercely to bo easily quenched. Not that he was without alleviation to his pain. Hope is a foellng hard to destroy. However it may disappear under the clouds of
dis
it will shine out again
when the rush of the storm lias passed, gilding with its silvery beam the onward path of life.
She nad not discarded him. Her last look had been full of assuranoe to his sonl. Her flight may have had some other cause, something perhaps, connected with that deep mystery that hung so darkly over her life. If so, she might be mourning now her absence from his side, devising somo means of relieving him from tho distress in which ber departure must have plunged him. He strove hard to believe this, waited impatiently for some word from her yet pain, grief, and passion were far stronger than hope In his soul.
But we must return to Miss Reynolds. Her visitor had come and gone, leaving ruin in his path—ruin to her peace of mind, death to her visions of happiness.
Mr. Josephs (for it wss he) had long shown a friendly disposition to the music teacher. Whatever his private sentiments may have been, he nad treated her on every occasion with a courtesy, a polite and careful attention, that had (breed her to feel grateflilly toward him. He was not a fevorito in the femilies of the town with which she was connected, and she had often heard him spoken of in disparaging terms. This, however, with her secret rebellion against their treatment of herself, rather raised than lowered him in her estimation and, though retaining toward him her ordinary Ascreet distance of demeanor, she bad eome to respect him, and to repose confidence in his judgement and integrity. If ho had any private views of his own concerning her. he had taken care to let no hint of this character escape him. He was of that astute disposition that sets its quarry afer off, Mid approaches with the deliberate but sure tread of the practiced hunter, closing every avenue of escape as he proceeds. If any such feeling animated him in his demeanor toward Miw Reynolds, it was as yet concealed in his own brain. He had undoubtedly gained an influence over her, whether designedly or not it were impossible to say. In this visit he seemed moved by a sentiment of friendship, and anxious to guard her a danger that might imperil her whole future life. Ah! did he dream how bitter his words made all life to her? ghe knew not bow the name of Doctor Wilmer Intruded Itself Into their quiet conversation. Was it anything In her manner that induced her visitor to indulge in a mild hint of a possible admiration of the Doctor for herself? Oould she have led the conversation to the
which ft soon reached, of a posslwarm feeling of herself toward the Doctor? She knew
not,
r'etly
yet feared that
tor interest in the subject feiust have displayed itself on her fece, must have lent an undesigned m««nhigto her words, else how amid her visitors©
have reached a subject to which would not for the world have knowingly conducted him? 'Miss Reynolds,' he said, in hisoool, mosaic tone, 'I presume you are not aoquainted with Doctor Wilmer otherwise than through your occasional intercourse with him here «Why do you ask, air? You were present at our first meeting,' she replied. •Such I supposed to be the esse. Bat It Is very probable that you may have heard twm other aoureea eome details of hla past life.'
®«iss