Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1852-12-16
DAILY EVENING STAR.
= III e w IF E..
BIZ AGNES PIERSoL.

ture OF rich but antique pattern. The pale
moonlight streaming through the eurtainea
window, and struggling with the subdued
hight OF a candle placed In corner, disclosed
the figure of a sick man extended on bed,
wrapped in an unquiet slumber. BY his side
sat careworn though still beautiful woman
gazing anxiously on his face, and breathlessly
awaiting the crisis of the feYer-for it was now
the ninth day since that strong man had been
Frustrated by the hand of disease, and during
all that time he had rayed in an ineessant de-
lirium. He had at length dropped into an I'M
quiet slumber, broken at first by starts and
means, but during the last hour he had been
less restless, and he now lay as still as scup-
tured statue. His wife well knew that ere
morning the crisis would be past, and she
waited, with all a woman's affection, breath
lessly for the event. Aye! though few women
have been wrOnged as Emily Walpole had
been wronged, she still cherished her hus-
bands image, for he was, despite his errors,
the lover of her youth.
Few girls had been more admired than
Emily Severn. But it was not only the beauty
of her features and the elegance of her form
which drew around her train of worship
pers: her mind was one of no ordinary cast.
and the sweetness of her temper lent an iueff-
able charm to all she did No one was so
eagerly sought for at ball or picnic as
Emily Severn, and at her parental fireside
she was the universal fayorite It was long
before she loved. She Was not to be misled
by glitter or show. She could only bestow
her affections where she thought thew were de-
served, and it was not until she met Edward
Walpoie that she learned to surrender her
heart
Edward Walpole, when he became the hus-
band OF Emily Severn, was apparently all that
a woman could wish He was warm-hearted.
of a noble soul, kind, gentle, and ever ready to
waive his own selfish qualification at the call of
duty. But, alas. he had one weakness, lie did
not act from principle. His generous deeds we're
the offspring of q warm heart rather than of q
regulated intellect. As yet he had never been
piacedln circumstances which severely tried his
principles. But, about year after his mar
rlage, ne fell heir to the large property of
maiden auat and at once his whole style of
life was altered. His accession of wealth
brought him iAto contact with society in which
hitherto he had never mingled, where the
polish of Fictitious .oteness often hides the
most depraved morals. Above all by ADAM
doning his profession, he condemned himself
to comparative idleness He now began to be
to pass away the time. The harpies who infest
society, and with the appearance of gentlemen
have the hearts of fiends, now marked him for
their prey; and his open and generous nature
made him their victim in a comparative short
space Of time. We shall not trace his down.
ward progress. 1t is always melancholy
task to mark the lapse from virtue of a noble
and generous character, and how much more
SO when the heart OF wife is to be broken by
the dereiiction from rectitude.
Emily saw the gradual alteration of her
husband, and though she mourned the cause.
no word of reproach escaped her lips, but by
every gentle means she strove to bring back
her husband to the paths of virtue But a
fatality seemed to have seized him. He was
in whirlpool from which lie could not ex,ri-
cate himself. He still loved his wife, and
more than once, when her looks cut him to
the heart, he made an effort to break loose
from his associates; but they always found
means to bring him back ere long Thus a
year passed. Ills fortune began to give way,
for he had learnt to gamble. As his losses
became more frequent his thirst for cards be.
came greater, until at length he grew sulen
and desperate. He was now changed man.
tie no longer felt compunction at tie wrongs
inflicted on his sweet wife, but if her sad looks
touched his heart at all they only stung him into
undeserved reproaehes. He was become harsh
and violent Yet his poor wife endured all
in silence. No recrimination passed her lips.
But in the solitude Of her chamber she shed
many bitter tear, and often, at the hour of
midnight, when her husband was far in
some riotous company, her prayers were heard
ascending for him.
Two years had now elapsed, and the last
one had been year OF bitter sorrow to Emily.
AT length her husband came home one night
an almost ruined man. He had been stripped
at the gambling table. of every cent of his
property over which he had any control. and
he was now in state almost approaching to
madness. Before morning he was in high
fever. For days he raved incessently of bis
ruin, cursing the wretches by whom he had
been plundered. Nine days had passed and
now the crisis was at hand.
The clock struck twelve. As sound after
sound rung out on the stiffness and died awav