Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-10-13
try as she would, she could not be blind to
H. ohanno In her hnahand

try as she would, she could not be blind to
the change in her husband.
cit is because he feels that his love for
me hinders him from obeying God" she
said to herself. "Poor Georgel l know
something of the battle that is going on
his heart. 1t may be that he has suffered
for months as | have suffered to night.
The striking of clock in the next room
startled her. She counted the strokes. 1t
was midnight. Her husband should have
been home two hours ago. Something must
have happened to him or to Nora. She
laid her baby in its cradle and opened the
door, 1t was a cloudy summer night,
moonless and intensely dark Beyond the
little circle of light from the lamp she held
in her hand not even the outlines of the
most familiar objects were visible |; but
from some spot near at hands judged
from the outside of the hedge that sep
arated the garden from the street-she de.
tected the faint murmur of voices. The
house stood quite by itself in the outskirts
of the town. She was not timid, but it
was not pleasant to know that there were
strangers about the premises at such an
hour. She put the lamp back on the table
and closed the door, remaining outside.
She could not be mistaken. What she
heard was the sound of voices in toned
conversation. For long time she contin-
ued at her post listening with strained at
tention, but unable to distinguish word.
The suspense was becoming unbearable.
| Oh, if her husband would only return
At last the conversation ceased, and min
ute afterward the gate opened, and she
heard her husbands well-known step on
the walk. She spoke his name, and Nora
answered:
Here we are at last. Have you been
frightened about u.s."
81 have been anxious, she said, as she
threw open the door. "What has KEPT
you so long, George
1.-The Bishop had some business with
me, he answered, and we stopped at his
house. l am sorry you thought it neces-
sary to sit up for u.s."
| Something in his tone checked farther
inquiry. Nora left the roem, and the hus
band and wife retired in silence.
| A month passed without any allusion be-
ing made to the subject of the afternoons
conversation. Sheldon was away much of
the time, and when at home he appeared
moody and preoccupied. His wife felt that
she was standing on the crumbling edge of
precipice, without the power to retreat,
but there was no one to whom she could
look for help. 1t was now the first of
September, just year from the day they
entered the valley.
| GA year of sorrows," she said aloud, as
she looked from the window of her room
toward the spot from which they first
| caught sight of their new home.
"Do you think ?" 1t was the voice Of
her husband, who had entered upper
ceived. "You were more eager to come
than 1, and yet you are not happy here"
"No, l am not"
az, too, might say this has been year
of sorrow, but it is because 1 have vacil-
lated between duty and inclination. Since
1 have determined to obey God at any cost
have found peace"
I What was there in his words to make
her heart stand Still with vague terror :?
She looked at him appealingly, but he was
silent, waiting for her to speak.
"What do you mean ," she faltered at
length.
81 mean that have consented to take
another wife, and next week Nora and
are to go through the Endowment House.
| A mist came before the wife's eyes. She
tottered, and caught at the nearest object
to save herself from falling. Was it her
+; husband speaking, or was it the same
dreadful voice from above that she had so
often fancied she heard repeating:
I" If she refuse, it shall be lawful for him
| to take them without her consent, and she
shall be destroyed for her disobedience"
(Tobe concluded nert Saturday.