Kenosha tribune & telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1856-1859, 1857-01-22
but she was mine no longer.

/
tain if | loved him. | thought that
never could have loved him with all The
fulness of my nature. Alb, perhaps if
had [ could not have given him up 81
easily.
One more pang came to me. 1t was
selfish one. The next morning sa
down to my study window, and looked
forth into the garden. They were there
together, and could not help thinking
what a handsome couple they were
He was helping to tie up rose bush
and heard him say that its blossoms
were not brighter or blither than her
self. And this was the man who haC
asked me to be his wife only yester
night-the only lover ever had. | hac
given him upto Helen-they were boil
forgetting me. as this You, Agaths
Raebunl?" ] said, with twinge O
contempt for my selfpity, and then
took my pen, and, resolutely turning my
back upon sorrow, commenced to write
a new book
In six weeks Allan Graham married
them.
CHAPTER III.
To be together is for once free in sotud
gay in company We talk, believe, all day tail
to each other IS bat animated and audible think
ing All my confidence is bestowed him. all his conf
dence devoted to precisely suited in eharac
ter; perfect concord is the result. JANE EYRE.
was twenty-five years old, and ]
looked ten years older than that. Five
years had passed since my sisters mar
riage, and for the last twelve months
she had been in her old home again
Mark Rothesay's widow. Her poet hus
band was dead, and she, always sensa
tive, but transitory in her emotions
though she grieved for him, had speedi
ly regained her cheerfulness. They had
been very happy. She had exactly sat
isfied the needs of his nature with he1
brightness and her beauty.
| had never had another lover, and
Allan Graham wasmy only friend. / had
by this time won the fame he hadproph-
esied, and, far more than myself, he
gloried in it. Physically / had not
grown much stronger There were
hours when would have given worlds
for human love-but to have rested nv
throbbing brow for one instant on some
true heart which was my own. But ]
knew this was not for me, and resolute-
ly put them away.
OF late Allan Graham had come to see
us very oftcn-far ottener than before
Helen's return. She had matured into
a very accomplishedwoman He would
sit for hours and listen to her voice, as
she sung to the harp or piano, and l sit
ting beside him, would listen also, thrill
ed even to pain by the melody; and then,
when he saw the tears stealing down
my cheeks, he would say, "Comc, Hell
en-, put ANY, your music now, it is not
good for Agatha any longer" uttering
the command in a calm, kindly tone, as
if, somehow, she belonged to him.
He was forty now, and his dark hair
was fhickly streaked with silver, and
yet Helen, who used to annoy me by
calling my master the ugliest man in
the world, insisted that he had grown
very handsome.
| saw all this with a strange sense OF
heart-crushing pain, such as ! had never
experienced before. I had always
thought of Allan Graham as one who
would never marry. | had accustomed
myself to believe | should always be
hsi friend, his pupil, nearer to him than
all others. And now wall seemed
springmg up between lis.
1t was beautiful morning in summer.
Once more | sat down by the study
window and looked forth. could see
the churchyard in the distance where
my mother lay slumbering.
"Oh, how happy they were!" | muir
INJURED. "Their lives were short, but
sweet, for they loved each other, and
they sleep now in one grave. Oh, faith
er! oh, mother. why may not Your Grip
pied, helpless child come home to her
green rest beside you?'
y low, gleeful laugh came from the
garden. Allan Graham was helping my
sister tie up the very same rose bush
Mark Rothesay had helpt her to tie, five
years before, on the morning after their
betrothal Had she forgotten, that she
could laugh over its crimson blossoms
with another now? ] could not see his
face, but he was bending eagerly for
ward, and once her head touched hers.
In that moment my own souls secret
was revealed to me. | fell upon my
knees; then | threw myself PROSTATE on
the floor, and buriedmy face inmy hands.
A cry, wall of anguish, went up
from my breaking heart-"Oh, God. oh,
Heaven! must Helen have all?"
/ know not how long | lay .there-it
might have been hours-it might have
been moments. 4 voice reused me.
which conld almost have summoned me
from the sleep of death.
''NIy poor Agatha it said; "my little
darling"
oh, / knew then that he loved me. |
needed no more. Never before had
such tones fallen upon my ears, such ca
dences Of protecting, tender, absorbing
love! He lifted me in his arms. no
other had ever done this since my faith
cr died. He carriedme across theroom,
and sat down, still holding me. Then
he kissed met was the first kiss any
man, save that dead father, had ever
left on the poor sripple's lips. "You
are weak, my pupil" he said, gently; let
me be your strength. VIII You be my
wife, Agatha"
I raised my head from his shoulder.
| looked a. him.
"Would You take me my master?" I
faltered-"mo a cripple"
Listen to me, my pupil. | love you,
| have loved yen for years, I would not
ask your love, for | thought your vivid
fancy, your exciting nature, would new
er be satisfied with one like me-plain,
poor and no longer young. God only
knows what / suffered when / saw that
Mark Rothesay wished to marry YOU
thought withhis gifted sensitive ma
ture. You must love him. He married Hel-