Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1884-05-17

tie couple | was following, for when
l found myself in the open air, and
the red mist cleared from before my
eyes, the man was helping his COM
panion into carriage. was near
enough to have touched them with
my outstretched hand (; l was so near
that l distinctly heard him say to
her:
Courage, my own darling. Try
and bear up until we reach our
hotel"
Then the malady that has been the
curse of my life came again upon me,
and I fell to the pavement rs the car
riage rolled away. was soon recog-
nized and taken TO my home, where
my mother watched beside ne during
three days of illness and delirium.
At the end of this time | recovered,
and went about my usual duties, re-
solving not to punish Eva Or her
lover. but leave her to her conscience
and her God. 1t may have been a
strange resolution, but it seemed to
me best. One week later | was sitting
in my Office when she entered-Eva,
pale, weary-looking and wasted as by
illness, came to me with a cry of:
Harrison my love! l have come
back to you!"
And she would have sunk at my
feet to lay her golden head on my
shoulder, as she had been wont to do
in the days of our happiness; but I
sprang from my chair, and thrust her
from me, bidding her begone from
my sight before | forgot her sex and
her weakness. remember how Wild
ly she appealed to me, crying out
that | was mad, and begging me
to listen TO her; but | drove
her with threats from my presence,
and | never looked on her fair face
since that night. Was itany wonder,
reader, that the sight of its pictured
semblance tonight awakened the old,
bitter pain in my heart. My dear
old mother bent her head and kissed
me, but did not try to comfort me.
She, too, had loved Eva with all her
heart.
4 ring at the office-bell aroused me
from my sorrowful reverie, and my
boy entered to say that IL gentleman
wanted to see he in haste. en-
ce,led the picture in The desk, and
prepared to receive him, l.y mother
having left the room. The gentle
man was stranger, and appeared tc
be suffering extreme anxiety.
"My young wife is very i'll. Please
come at once, doctor. We are stop
ping at the St. James,"
The hotel mentioned was quite
convenient to my office, and l &C
conlpanied him Immediately.
:'Show DR.. Amos to my room," HI
said to a waiter, who met us at th,
entrance, adding, in an undertone Il
ne: Il shall join you there in te,
minutes. Oh. DR.. l pray God 70,
may be able to gave my poor"
] did not catch the name he men
toned, his voice was so choked will
emotion, but l answered: 81 will d.
everything in my power" and fol
lowed my guide to an elegant suit Q
apartments on the second floor. En-
tering the sick room, | found tn
nurse asleep by the bedside, and il
such heavy slumber, too, tina
neither my footsteps nor my voic
awakened her. The room was quit
dark, and was close to the bed be
fore 1 could distinguish the feature
of my patient. Merciful heaven
was | mad? Had the sorrowfu
thoughts in which l had INDUCED to
night indeed turned my brain
Before me, beautiful as IA poets idea
of the angels, with the seal of deatI
already stamped upon her waxen face
the tiny hands cropping nervously owe
the silken coverings Of the bed, tn
golden curls tossed in wild disorde
over the pillows, and the violet eye
FAST dimmlng with the mists of death
was my Eva, my erring wife. 0, M
God how suffered then. Her guilt
my own shame-all, all were forgot
ten, and, flinging myself on my knee
beside her, l cried passionately:
80, Eva! Eva! Eva! may God for
give you, as in this hour l forgive"
She was perfectly conscious,
knew, and yet she turned her eye
upon me with an expression Of nit.