The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1885-11-20

She just slipped the wine, and put
back the glass, smiling gratefully. He
returned to the sideboard, swallowed
the remainder of the wine, then sat
down in his old place by the fire.
just then the door was tapped light
| ly and an elderly, homely wcman-ser-
! want made her appearance.
eff you please, SIR" she said, with
| out looking at the girl, mistress is
herself again, and asks for YOU
Such summons unwelcome
although it might be, was imperative:
With a lingering look at the vision OF
life, youth and jollity left behind, Mr..
Harden followed his hushed conduct
| tor into the chamber of death.
H.
1t was strikingly luxurious room,
hung with rich arras of crimson silk,
and carpets to match, in which the
feet sank nolselessly. On each side of
| the venetian looking glass were hand
some French candelabras supported by
little Loves in tinted porcelain. On
the dressing table glittered silver-top-
| ped scent-bottles and a woman's small
| watch set with diamonds. The fire
had been allowed to burn low, and
| only one small lamp lit up the silent
room and it's solitary occupant
worn, whitehaired woman whose life
was nearing It's close.
It was easy to see that, like her hus-
band Mrs. Harden had not been born
to such luxury as this;her physiognomy
as well as his own indicated q homely
origin. Her thin hands still showed
evidence of laborious toll. The heavy
silk curtains of warm red, and downy
quilt covered with satin, were in
strange contrast with the look of the
mistress. Twenty years of opulence
had never familiarized her with it. To
the last, she looked, as indeed she felt,
a stranger in her own home.
."Go away, Anna" she said gently
to the, faithful peasant woman who
had grown old in her service. "Leave
us alone"
The husband realized at glance
what had happened. She had re-
membered something, been reminded
of something she wanted to say to
him at the last, and as will often hap
pen in the case of the dying a brief re-
turn of consciousness was accom-
panied by a momentary recovery of
physical lstrength-last, bright, evanes
cent flicker of the flame of life.
The servant withdrew, and Mrs.
Harden now beckoned the shrinking,
conscience-stricken man to her bed
side.
They had hitherto been no leave
taking between him and the faithful
partner of we'll nigh forty years.
From the beginning of her illness,
greatly to his relief, she had avoided
anything approaching to close, con-
fdential, talk, any allusiOn to the
past or the future as they more i'm
mediately concerned themselves. He
had taken care that eYerythingmoney
could do was done for her. ALondon
physician had been summoned in
Consultation; all the concern that deco
rum exacted under the circumstances
had been testified by him; he was con-
stantly in the sick-room. But the
solemn confidence, the final under
standing, the supreme valediction that
might be looked for from two human
beings who had passed almost life
time together, had never been uttered.
Now it became clear to him that they
were not to be separated thus. The
opportunity for a last word had come,
and she clutched it with almost frenZied
eargerness. The expression on her
face he could not misread-she was
determined to say what she had to
say. She felt confident that death
would afford her this grace-consent
to hold aloof little while.
"John," she began, gathering fire and
force with every word, all the pent-up
Indignation of years poured forth at
the last, ~ have had something to say
4O co., CT
speak or not at ALL.
"You ought not to agitate yourself,
Bessie" he said nervously; "It will do
you harm"
"Harm!" she reiterated with a. ges-
ture of contempt. "You speak OF harm
to dying woman! But do not inter-
rupt me. My time is short"
"John, I am not afraid to die. I
have never been what is called a re-
ligious woman. Twas never so tender
hearted to the poor and afflicted as
see now that l ought to have been.
But have done my duty. AS a wife,
as a woman, have acted uprightly.
When the same moment comes to you,
when the door stands open before you,
as it does to me, between life and death,
and you know you must go the dark
way, can you say even so much for
YOURSELF"
She leaned forwad, not looking ex-
actly at him, he could have borne
that better, but peering as if into
faturity, seeing, so he seemed to think,
what lay behind the grave and was
yelled from his own and from all NOR
tails gaze. The meanness, the homli-
ness of the woman vanished indeed
then.
Something more than personal feel
ing, the Indignation born of silently
endured wrong, almost flashed from
her dying eyes and white, almost
spectral features. 1t was not the in
jured wife, the outraged woman SO
much thai spoke now to John Har-
denis guilty soul, as the voice ofcon-
science itself, OF awful justice, ofaward-
ing doom.
l have been a hypocrite to you all
these years. have never once opened
my lips to you on the subject of your
conduct to me-" she went on in a
supernaturally strong, clear voice.