The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1880-08-01


woman TO her room and placed her in bed,
bordering upon lunacy.
Then the early training Of Ethel came in
play. She instantly assumed direction OF
| affairs, and dispatched the old gardener for n
physician. One came, but not the one ex-
pected. In the place OF an old man young
man appeared, and upon seeing his patient,
his face blanched to snowy whiteness.
"Mathilde Beaumontl Oh Cod" he
gasped.
"Doctor," interrupted Ethel, drawing
him into another room. " You are excited,
unnamed, and will only do harm. But II
read your face Alright, you know more of
this matter than--n
"Know' May Heaven forgive me,
know too much. single glance at that
face, once supromely beautiful, is as the
condemnation of an endless hell. speak,
believing you to know ALL"
81 do. Go on, and quickly"
I" was present at the duel"
" And saw her kill her husband"
Husband ~
Even So They were married in secret"
He bowed his head and groaned audibly.
II was ptiful to look upon a strong man so
crushed and SO broken by grief and the
heart of Ethel went out in pity toward him.
Drink" she said, handing him goblet of
wiue.
He drank to the bottom, wiped away the
tears that had gathered in his eyes, partially
rceaincd his selt-command, and said:
." She must he saved, If possible. First that
and them
lie did not finish the sentence, hut passing
back to the bedside of the sufferer, banished
the man in the physician for the time, held
heart and feeling in subsection to an iron
will, and by powerful narcotics compelled
81 l,nrt In ,,iuit la ell NJ nd
That done, he motioned to Ethel, and, out
of hearing of the old nurse, she listened with
absorbing interest to him, as he told of the
past
Mathilde Beaumont was idolized by father
and brother, until her passionate, almost
idolatrous love for Roger Preston became
known. Then they turned bitterly against
her. The insult that caused the duel was
premeditated was the greatest that can be
given to an honorable man. I was summoned
| as surgeon. | saw the shot fired that
"Kiled her husband, =" interrupted Ethel,
| carried away by her feelings.
There you-she--are mistaken and in
view of the wreck 1t has made her. May
heaven pardon the deception"
"Then he lives p
eyes, and If human means can compass
the end, both shall yet he happy. TO that
| end confess my shame to you, young lady
| to that end, ] will sacrifice my honor before
the world, if necessary"
"Oh tell me all, and may heaven bless
you," and the eyes of Ethel kindled as the
sky at the rising of the sun.
"The ball from the pistol of her, the
wronged one-for what right has human
hatred to bar the way of n holy love ? and
| who now learn for the first time, was his
wife, failed TO reach the vital spot, though
| all at first believed so. She was carried in
dead swoon from the ground, he, bordering
| upon death, removed to be cared for, and as
soon as possible started upon a long journey,
| influenced thereto by the belief that Gas his
pistol had also been exploded) he was muir
dercr. But when he sufficiently recovered
to think and act coherently, he would have
returned, had not a paper reached him con-
| tanning a notice OF her death.
| "Her brother 7" questioned Ethel, indig-
nantIy
| 1T may have been-I cannot say"
| And now, doctor ~
"First to restore her to something like
health, and then to restore the loving ones
| to each other
The pathos of his voice caused her to look
up quickly. She saw his eyes were filled
| with tears, and her own responded rs she
said:
And will help you.'
More than ever before he looked at the
| glowing face, and with words of earnest
| thankfulness he took her hand. pressed it
warmly to his lips, and between them was
established such a perfect bond of trust and
| sympathy as months could not have perfected
under other circumstances.
| Long days, nights, and weeks of watchful-
| ness and anxiety followed. DIR. Mason, bend
ing his entire energies to saving the young
welded, but widowed wife, and Ethel,
| secondng his efforts as a loving sister would
have done. But hope was baffled. Mathilde
| lay rs one in a trance, though with fevered
blood and fevered brain. She took no notice
of anything passing around. But at last
| there came a change, and even as the sun
was breaking through the dark storm clouds
of the preceding night, gliding with golden
glory everything within the room, and weav-
ing halo round the head of the sick woman.
"Oh," she raptuously whispered, al have
had such a long, sweet sleep, and such a
glorious dream. | thought | was in heaven;
around me were gods, holy angels, and fore
| most among them was my love, my life, my
| husbandl'
| Again, as had often been the case, the eyes
of the physician and the fair young nurse
met, and from soul to soul was telephoned
| thought and understood without the need OF
language. He stepped to the door, ushered
in Robert Preston, who, with face beaming
with mighty hope, love, and anticipation,
knelt by the bedside, and, bending down
whispered
Mathilde, my darling, my wife, do you
not know me2'
"IIusband This is indeed heaven" and
winding her arms around his neck she lay
sobbing with untold happiness upon his
breast.
The eyes of the physician were filled with
placed her arm within his own, and gently
led her from the room and said, in broken
voice:
:" Miss May, Ethel, such n reunion, one as
from the grave, is too sacred for any eyes but
heavenly ones to gaze upon. But, my dar.
ling" and he slipped his arm around and
drew her to him as he continued: "May
not hope something of the like happiness will
be mine 2"
There was no answer in the cold words by
which the lips interpret love-no need o.
any. The bond of sympathy first established
had grown brighter and stronger day and
night-tl,e purest gold of the heart been re-
vealed. With face burning crimson as the
roses in the garden, with smile as radiant as
the morning sun, with little hand trembling
as the perfumed vines at the window, the
answer was given, and as he clasped hel
in his arms earth took for each a freshness
and brightness unknown before, and human
ity a new loneliness and sacredness.
A few years later and you would not have
recognized the house or grounds, so changed
were they-so gladdened. The old gardener
complained no longer of want of appreca
, ton. Little feet ran among the roses, and
, little voices rang out clear as the mocking
: bird and sweet as the nightingale. There
, had been no separation of those so strangely
united. DR.. Mason and his young, charm
ing wife lived where fate had first inter
woven the threads of their lives, and Ma
/ thlde was again almost matchlessly beauti
f full, with no trace of past SORROW upon he
face, none lurking in her heart, with moth
ing save the threads of silver shining in he
4 hair to tell of having wandered through tn
shadows of the grave TO find an earthl,
, heaven.-N. y. Mercury.
: King Arthur's Castle.