Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1869-02-19
me as a brother when / can be of
even the most trifiing assistance

even the most trifiing assistance"
~ promise before God" cl..-r
| p"And l. May he not deal lightly
with the one who first ignores the
compact. But is there no single
thing that i can do for you before 1
go?o -,
"None. One word might reveal
all. My trust Is In God-and Doctor
Malcolm. t..-.-..-s ....r
doctor Malcolm!r ~ he repeated al
most savagely. Doctor Malcolm !
By Heaven The shall tell me,n and
he clasped her in his strong arms,
kissed her warmly before she had
time to resist, and darted away, de-
termined to find the physician and
force the secret from him. zT-EGI-l
But he calculated without his host.
Doctor Macolm was not the kind of
man to divulge condolences, even
| if lightly made, and much less SO
when it was one of vital Importance,
and so the half-distracted lover flew
to the mother for information--and
met with like success. The poor af-
flicted woman wrung her hands and
wept bitterly, but had nothing 10
tell. The secret had been kept from
her as well as him. Not even she
had been taken into her daughters
confidence at fHofk bEE bEf383lt
| And so long weary weeks passed
away, with Maude Livingston con-
stantly growing more feeble. All of
beauty was fading from her face
The fair skin was becoming sallow
and wrinkled; the bright eyes were
losing their glorious azure; the lips
were drawing back .shrivelled and
shrunlen from thesnowy teeth, and
the very hair seemed to be burned
from the roots by some terrible fire
of the brain. All that terrible secret
was fast, very fast bearing her down
to the grave. f.l rHat5
But still she dragged herself, day
after day, to the home of the physi-
clan. Dragged, for the sprightly
walk had changed into the move
ments of an old woman, to whom
even "the grass-hopers had become a
burden.n = ..
And her lover was little better off.
He, too, grew thin and was almost
heart broken. Terrible as was the eff
fort, he kept from Maude, and if they
chanced to meet, he turned his eyes
away that he might not see what q
very wreck she had become. Every
lstrategy he had tried had failed. He
could neither entrap her nor the doc
tor into a divulgement. And thus
he was forced to bide the time when
she should call him again to her side
But what could that fatal, terrible
secret be? He thought tofeverything
possible except those that would re-
fleet on her. TO his honor be it said,
he never thought-never allowed any
one to speak of her except in terms of
the highest praise. To him she had
been, and would ever be, pure as an
angel, until she was in reality.
| Six weeks three months--a year
passed, and yet there was no change
except that she had wasted to a shad-
ow; that she no longer was seen
abroad; that her glorious vioce was
hushed in the choir, and that her
merry laugh had dwindled away to
the ghost of an echo. Yet still there
was no revelation, still none were the
wiser as to the cause of her illness.
"Great Heaven will this suspense
this almost mortal agony-never
end?n said the disconsolate lover, as
he returned home one. evening, after
having, by accident, caught sight of
the face he had loved so well, for the
first time in months-months which
had been agony, and yet during
which his love had suffered no abate-
ment.
as there no power to save her {?
Oh, that | could know the worst, and
at once! Certainly it could not be as
terrible as this uncei tainty. L must
know. / cannot live any longer
thus. She, my Maude, my darling,
will not see me, and have promised
not to molest her; but the doctor, the
doctor! I'll wiring the secret from
his very heart!'
But fortunately, perhaps, he was
saved from his rash determination by
the sudden arrival of n messenger
from Maude, and with flying feet he
fastened to her side.
"Maude, my darling, my darlingw
was all he could eXclaim, as he sank
! by the bed upon which she was lying,
whittier than even the snowy linen.
"tobert " and the shrunken arms
drew his head nearer to her, and her
! lips rested upon his forehead in a
holy kiss. -.. ...
Not such one as had passed when
the sweet words of the betrothal were
spoken, but such one as we shall re-
ceive from the spirit lips of angels,
when they welcome to the shining
shore.
Father, mother, sisters and the
physician were gathered around that
bed which all felt would soon be one
of death--not death from the secret
milestone that had so long crushed
her heart, hut from natural causes
! from one of the thousands ills that
poor human nature is subject to.
"Is there no hope ?" Maude asked
as soon as she could command her
| feelings.
"None," replied the physician, sad
ly, as he turned away to wipe his
eyes.
GAS God wills. But now l release
you from silence. You can tell ALL
| Tell him how much / loved him.
| Tell him how much / have suffered
! for his dear sake"
And the doctor did tell all. He told
that on the very night of their be-
| trothal she had been bitten by rab-
| i'll dog, and believing that she would
die from the terrible disease that
would follow, she had nerved herself
10 keep the secret-to free him from
his engagement, and had suffered
more than tongue can tell.
"And If you had lived, you would
still have kept silence ?" asked her
| lover.
"To the end. But all Is past now.
The sickness, fatal though IL may be,
has brought great happiness. Kiss
me, Robert, my darling, am dying;
dy---n
"Hush ~
With startling emphasis the physi-
ainn nf thn NtsArI 10 aaNr fhaf