River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1877-06-28

her beauty was to compensate for loss o
wife and child.
"Oh, Ralph Ralphl my darling, m,
| darling" she moaned, in her blind lov,
only blaming, at first, the beautiful sirer
who had brought this woe upon her. Blu
Margaret Wayland was no woman to z,
mad, or take anOther's life So, with tn,
/ first great horror overcome, she thought
soberly and long upon il. and laid all hel
plans. Calmly She met her husband tn,
next morning, and when Ralph WaylanC
| kissed his wife goodbye, she knew il wa:
/ for the last time-that till the day of hcl
death she would never again Z" look in hel
darling's eve, nor touch the faithless
lips" Calmly, then, she turned a smil
ing face towards Jeanne Cameron's fail
dimpled beauty. her blue morning robe
making the white skin still whittier 10y
contrast-thc G. - like peach bios
sOms-two or thr, tsyy curls dropping
down on the snowy neck, the little hands
lying idly in her .ap, and the blue eyes
innocently, raised 20 Margarets's
- For this doll-iSce he would desert
herr
That evening, when the train left
BrOokiicld on its way to New York, the
gray twilight looked in the coach window
upon the quiet, pale face of woman,
holding in her arms n sleeping child -
and that night, when Ralph Wayland
came home from the office, he found
Jeanie alone, and unable to say where
Margaret had gone. "She had come in, -
Jeanne said, " dressed for travelling, with
the whitest face she had ever seen, and
given her note for him; she did not dare
to ask her a question-sh looked too stern
and here was the note, would he read
1t, and see if-If-" and here Jeanic
Cameron fell senseless on the floor while
Ralph Wayland looked down with startled
eyes upon these words: WGy God for
gire y0V, Ralph Tnerer caR.
MARGARET"
Margaret Wayland found her work
and did it. 1t was not easy, but it kept
her and her babe Nell from starving,
and what more did she want! 1t was a
sin to die, so she must work to live. Her
heart was still bitter toward Ralph, and
her only comfort was little Nell's sweet
face: and when at last, she had to lay her
away forever, with the baby eyes shut,
never more to open, she felt as if her final
hope on earth was gone.
But while she mourned and longed for
death, the pillows of war swept over the
land, and Margaret found her way to the
dead and dying. One day, among the
wounded brought in after a terrible bat
tie, was the man whom she had once
called husband
lie will not live till tomorrow" the
surgeon said, after he had dressed the
wound and given him into Margaret's
charge. You need give him nothing
but little brandy now and then--it is
utterly useless" and Doctor Maxfield
walked away, little guessing the tumult
raging in the breast of his most faithful
nurse.
She sat down quietly, beside the
sleeper. The lamp showed her worn,
sad face, with deephollows in the cheeks,
and gray streaked haiE, She softly laid
ker chin on the curls that in five long
wears she had not touched. and wondered
with an apathy that surprised herself,
when Jeanne Cameron's white fingers had
last rested there Where was this wo-
man who had set a gulf of years between
her and her husband! yes, her husband,
for he was hers now-death was bringing
him back to her-her husband, the father
of her child! She forgot all the anguish
this mans pertidy had brought her and
only remembered the old DAYS, and the
tender words he had said To her away in
the New England hills far from the
drearv hospital And when the weary
ewes opened and looked at her with a
CLEAN of recognition in their sad depths,
She bent low over the white face, and
said. in the old girlish way:
Ralph, il is |, your little Maggie; don't
YOU know me DEAR"
AT last, at last! Thank God, I've
found YOU, my Margaret, my pearl and
the dying mar gazed at her with JOY
unspeakable.
Then, as Margaret laid her lips on his,
he murmured:
You forgive me darling, do you:'
The look of perfect love in her tear
filled eyes needed no words to interpret
it. And then he told her how the few
lines which he had found awaiting him,
five long years ago, had shown his
treachery, with a shock that left him no
thought save to find his wife and child
and beg her 10 forgive, and let him make
amends The spell which had enthralled
him was broken forever: the woman who
had enchanted him fed, he knew not
where.
All these years. sought you, Mar
garet, hoping and fearing. would not
believe you dead, yet knew not where to
find YOU. But now, thank God, that He
has brought you to me-
The feeble voice ceased. Margaret
put her hand in his again. The lamp
fiared and fiickered and expired. The
sufferers slept And when at last, the
morning light broke in, it showed dead
hand clasping a dead hand, while the sun
threw CLEAN of glory upon two faces,
Swallowed by the wing of the death-angel.