Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1870-10-20

foolish tale, trusting TO time 10 do that
| never dreaming that such mn idle ant
grou"dlc.s rnmor could reach or innu
, euca MsIcolm; but it did | receive,
: n very brief letter from him, inlnrmin!
: me that he should 20 to Itn y, aud cpul'
not tell when he should return. rhcr
was no mcnliou made OF the story Il,
, had heard OF my marriage, and | slIl
ihonght him true to me, aud accouniec
tor the nr,e,i,,a ~ and cp dncss of his let
ter by the thought Of his hurr!ed dcpur,
urc for Italy. That he could doub,
ne, never crossed my mind.
| Ailcr nearly three years absence, ht
returned; but he was accompanied by
q beautiful Italian girl, his wife! The
mistake was explained too late-,nd |,
o! was under II heavy clond ! had
come into decD water, aud the green
shore was out Of sight.
He came 10 the Hall to see me,
along with his wife, IInrcIc, but it was
Il lon., long time before gained sulIi-
ccnt mastery of mySe to see them.
She was very beautiful, and did not
wonder that l.er perfect lovlincss should
dazzle him, but the thought c0uld
haunt me, 90 she cannot maze him
happy! Her soul is not in harmony
with his she cannot make him happy /!
No one bat me ran ever 10 tha',"
This was conceicd enough, bnt felt
it to he true. Fate had given his earth.
" being to her, but had made his spirit
nal life miy2e; and | heli my heart
with firm reflection of, WHAT are the
few years of earthly life but short
wandering through the cloud aud shad
ow unto the bright, true life Can Lot
wait one hour?'
llurcilr came often TO see me, hut |
never went to i!cdgcombe could 10,
trust myself to enter again, W til my
brotca hopes under the roof where |
had been so happy, noe could | suffer
her affection to cling to mel VS. Il t
unS"li>h enough for that. and when she
would lean on my shoeldcr, and in her
sweet, broken English pray me to love
her, and tell her why did not return
her kisses, O. con d not tell her iha'
II grief WAS sanding ghost like between
us, to keep us forever apart.
After awhile, she grew pale and this,
and often. when with me, would cast
herself upon my bosom, ald weep aud
wall like ore distracted; and then,
when [ felt that sorrow had settled on
her as well as the, could ty and
soothe her. A fellow feeling had arisen
betNCcn MS from some unseen cause.
and | came to love her like myself, and
| prayed to God to take away the WOE
which seemed to be upon her, and with
Il solicitude which astonr>hed myself, |
StrOve to cheer and comfort her.
Malcolm never met; indeed, he was
absent from home neary all the time.
aud at last it came out that he aud lIu?
ciIe were not happy together; that he
was Slo)my, and she tractious and de-
spairing.
AL these details wrung my heart
with anguish, aud decided to take M,
lit lc Martin, and join my father in
Washington, but an ,iucdeut occurred
which for time delayed my plans
They had itlle daughter three
months old, and Lenny, the nurse. used
often to bring her TO the Hall. One day
she came running across the meadow,
with the poor thing hanging over her
arm, pale as death, aud apparently lfe-
less. | ran to meet her, aud received
the dead Gas though',) child in my
arms, with frantic cry to her to tell
me what WAS the matter; but | could
only gather from her r&ving that Hur-
ellie had given it poison, and was now
uOwnere to be found
Qnic as thought, | caught the infant
to The open window, aud while | chated
its hands. aud tossed it about in hope OF
arousiug it, was screaming orders for
IL physician to be sent for, aud for Mrs.
Duncan to come, and hundred other
things. Meantime, poor Leuuy was
rolling about the floor in II perfect freu
zy Of grief and terror.
/ slrove by every means in my power
to make little Alice hear me-l talked
to her. called her by her sweet name.
and ran about with her in the open air
and ,jnst us | was giving up all hope OF
her ever awakening, the little purple
cyelids bcgau to qniver, the hands were
convuIscd, aud an instant afterward the
terrible dose was dislodged. the blue
eyes wide open, and | knew she was
saved.
Meantime, what were they doing at
fled tecombe? Leaviur little Alice with
Lcnuy, ran over there What u crowh
Of agonzing thoughts passed through
my brain as | crossed the threshold for
the first time since Malcolm's marriage
Not se"iug any one, went to llur-
Giles chamber, hoping 10 find her, but
sc was 10 there. Ou the table was ii
po.e addgessed TO Malcolm, which im-