The Portland daily press., 1875-07-31

luONC IL, WuatOfSi Nc lAO Soot3 VI we SHAH
both 60 madp'
ssHeayen knows your words are too true"
said Aylnler sadly, "and now, dearest, return
to your boudoir. In little while all will be
tested.'
He conducted her back and took leave of
her with a solemn tenderness which spoke
far more than his words how much was now
at stake. After his departure Georgiana be-
came rapt in musings. She considered the
character of Aylmer, and did it completer
justice than at any previous moment. Her
heart exulted, while it trembed. at his hon
orable love so pure and lofty that it would
accept nothing less than perfection nor mis-
erably make itself contented with an earthlier
nature than it had dreamed of. She fell how
much more precious was such sentiment
than that meaner kind which would have
borne with the imperfecton for her sake, and
have been guilty of treason to holy love by
degrading its perfectEdeal to the level of the
actual; and with her whole spirit she PRAYED
that, fer single moment, she might satisfy
his highest and deepest conception. Longer
than one moment she well knew it could not
be; for his spirit was ever on the march, ever
ascending, and each instant required some
thing that was beyond the scope of the in
slant before.
The sound of her husbands footsteps
aroused her. He bore a crystal goblet con-
tanning liquor colorless as water, but bright
enough to be the draught of Immortality.
Aylmer was pale, but it seemed rather the
consequence of highly wrought state of
mind and tension of spirit than of fear or
Goubt.
''The concoction of the draught has been
perfect" said he, in answer to Georgiana's
look. "Unless all my science has deceived
me, it cannot fail"
"Save on your account, my dearest Ayl-
mer," observed his wife, 81 might wish to
put off this birthmark of mortality by relin-
gushing mortality itself in preference to any
other mode. Life is but sad possession to
those who have attained precisely the degree
of moral advancement at which 1 stand.
Were weaker and binder, it might be hap
piness. Were stronger, it might be endured
hopefully. But, being what I find myself,
merhinks 1 am of all mortals the most fit to
de-"
''You are fit for heaven without tasting
death!" replied her husband. ''But why do
you speak of dying? The draught cannot
fail. Behold its effect upon this plant"
On the window seat there stood geranium
diseased with yellow blotches which had over
spread all its leaves. Aylmer poured a small
quantity of the liquid on the soil in which it
grew. In little time, when the roots of the
plant had taken up all the moisture, the I'M
slightly blotches began to be extinguished in
a living verdure.
''There needed no proof" said Georgiana,
quietly. 'Give me the goblet. I joyfully
stake all upon your word"
''Drink, then, thou lofty creaturew ex-
claimed Aylmer, wit h fervid admiration
''There is no faint of imperfection on thy
spirit. Thy sensible frame, too, shall soon be
all perfect"
She quaffed the liquid and returned the
goblet to his hand.
''It is grateful" said she, with a placid
smile. "Methinks it is like water from a
heavenly fountain; for it contains know not
what of unobtrusive fragrance and delicious
ness. 1t allays feversh thirst that had
parched me for many days. Now, dearest,
let me sleep. My earthly senses are closing
over my spirit like the leaves around the
heart Of rose at sunset"
She spoke the last words with gentle re-
luctance, as if it required almost more ener-
gy than she could command to pronounce
the faint and lingering syabes. Scarcely had
they loitered through her lips ere she was
lost in slumber. Aylmer sat by her side
watchdog her aspect with the emotions prop
er to man the whole value of whose exist
ence was involved in the process now TO be
tested. Mingled with this mood, however,
wasIthe philosophic investigation character
ristic of the man of science. Not the mi
nutest symptom escaped him. A heightened
flush OF cheek, slight irregularity of breath,
culver of the eyelid, hardly perceptible
tremor through the frame-such were the
details which, as the moments passed, he
wrote down in the folio volume. Intense
thought had set its stamp upon every pre-
vious page Of that volume; but the thoughts
OF years were all concentrated upon the last.
While thus employed, he failed not to gaze
often tho fatal hand and milf q
shudder. Yet once, by strange and unac-
countable impulse, he pressed it with his
lips. His spirit recoiled, however, in the very
act; and Georgiana, out of the midst of her
deep sleep, moved uneasiiy and murmured as
if in remonstrance. Again Aylmer resumed
his watch. Nor was it without avail. The
crimson hand, which at first had been strong
ly visible upon the marble paleness of Geor-
giana's cheek, now grew more family out
lined. She remained not less pale than ever !;
but the birthmark, with every breath that
came and went, lost somewhat'ot its former
distinctness. Its departure was more awful
still. Watch the stain of the rainbow fad
ing out of the sky; and you will know how
that mysterious symbol passed away.
by Heaven it is well gone"' said Aylmer
to himself, in almost irrepressibe ecstasy.
81 can scarcely trace it now. Success sue
cess! and now it is like the faintest rose col
or. The slightest flush of blood across her
cheek would overcome it. But she was so
pale"
He drew aside the window curtain and
suffered the light OF natural day to fall into
the room and rest upon her cheek. At the
same time he heard a gross, hoarse chuckle,
which he had long known as his servant
Aminadab's expression of delight.
"Ah, clod! alb, earthly mass!' cried Ayl-
mer, laughing in sort Of frenzy, "you have
served me we'll Matter and spirit-earth and
heaven have both done their part in this
Laugh, thing of the sense! You have earned
the right to laugh"
These EXPLANATIONS bloke Georgiana's
sleep. She slowly Enclosed her eyes and
gazed into the mirror which her husband had
arranged for that purpose. A faint smile
how barely percep!ible was now that crimson
hand which had once blazed forth with such
disastrous brilliancy as to scare away all their
happiness. But then her eyes sought Ayl-
mer's face with a trouble and anxiety that
he could by no means account for.
"My poor Aylmerp' murmured she,
"Poor? Nay, richest. happest, most ia
voredP' exclaimed he. "My peerless bride, it
is successful! You are perfect!
MY poor Aylmer," she repeated, with a
more than human tenderness, "you have
diiiCu ioitlIy, you lave uOue uODly. 10 uOC
repent that, with so high and pure feeling
you have rejected the best the earth could
offer. Aylmer, dearest Aylmer, am dying!'
Alas! it was too true The fatal hand had
grappled with the mystery of life, and was the
bond by which an angelic spirit kept itself in
union with mortal frame. As the last GRIM
son tint of the birthmark-that sole token of
human mperfecticn-faded from her cheek,
the parting breath Of the now perfect woman
passed into the atmosphere, and her soul,
lingering moment near her husband, took
its heayerward flight. Then hoarse, chuck
ling laugh was heard again Thus ever does
the gross fatality of earth exult in its invaria-
BILE triumph over the immortal essence which,
in this dim sphere of half development, de-
mands the completeness of higher state.
Yet. had Aylmer reached profoun1er wis
dom, he need not thus have flung away the
happiness which would have woven his NOR
tai life of the self same texture with the ce-
lestial. The momentary circumstance was
too strong for him; he failed to look beyond
the shadowy scope of time, and, living once
for all in eternity, to find the perfect future in
the present.-Little Classics.