The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-01-07
..o.na him arenched in fine terrible sweats

found him drenched IN the uefTlulc eWo"'o
which so surely portend consumption
Hortense struggled against this new ana
tarribIe sorrow. 1t was the first time
that she had watched over one SO dear TO
her II was the first time that she had
,saan tbe effects of this insidious disease;
and hope and fear alternated in her
breast. until at length she hoped against
all hone. and the blow came down upon
her all the harder that she had not
schooled herself to feel its approach;
1t was hard to see him part WIN the
mute evidences of his briet happiness
Every window where he had sat with her,
every arbor where they had rested, every
tree Under whose shades they had WALK
ed or whose trunk he had carved with
her name, all received a farewell look. -,
Glow can 1 part with you, dearesti
he asked, after his painful journey round
the rooms and the garden.
eugene! do not name 1T" she shd'
won will break my heart"
'"Rut YOU must bear it, Hortense. l
cannot stay with you long. Thank
Heaven that leave You above want
Promise me, dear, that you will never
leave this home. Trust me-, Will -oe
with YOU in spirit, when the form Is laid
in the earth; watching, guarding II pos
sible, speaking to you" =, W.,
It was his last night on earth. Wnen
the morn broke, his eyes were closed In
the slumbers of death.
Hortense wandered for months about
her beautiful home like a pertnreed
shirt There was nothing that had been
teuched by Eugene that hadnot solemn
and a sacred value in her eyes. Inc
trees he had planted, the bowers ne had
formed all had a meaning to her that no
one else could understands and yet upon
each one of these, and upon her whole
heart and life, seemed written the
glory has departed" c,.
II is time to go back to the days OF MI
Yalentin, and see what become OF the
fond husband and courageous adventnrer.
At first, he was almost distracted with
the thought of parting with Hortensei
Int once the Rubicon passed, he became
more calm. A few years, he thought,
would fnd them together, never TO part;
and perhaps they would be all the hap
pier for the separation. ~. .
Full of hope, he went to the mines OF
Australia. Day by day be wrought
there, enduring hardships unheard of
before, but bearing them with the cour-
age and fortitude of hero. Ever be
fore him was the word Hortense. "
nerved his arm in the rough mines when
he struck his iron in the gold-girding
soil; it soothed him when he lay burn
ING with fever in rude shanty in the
mountains; his thought by day and his
dream by night was still his own Hor,
tense Not a word, however, reached
him from her; and often he shuddered at
the fearful probabilities that arose in his
mind Hortense might be sick, suffer
ing; might deem him dead, or unfait
no, that could never be-she would have
faith in him as in the sun. Come what
would, she would not be shaken in her
trust. But as he lay in the miserable
shed which held his sick bed, he would
have given worlds for one glance from her
eye, one pressure of her hand, to show
that he was not forgotten; and as he
watched the stars Overh cad, shining
through the crevices of the low roof, he
thought that if Hortense was dead, she
would appear to him in his need.
CONCLUSION ON MONDAY.