The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1885-08-26
summoned

all the concern that decOrum exacted under
the circumstances had been testified by him;
he was constantly in the slck-roOm. But the
solemn confidence, the final understanding
the supreme valedictiOn that might be looked
for from two human beings who had passed
almost a lifetime together had never been
uttered.
Now it became clear to him that they were
not to be separated thus. The opportunity
for last word had com. and she clutche1
at il with almost frenZied eagerness. The
expression on her face he could not mlsread
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, Il have had
something to say to you for years past. Now
| must speak. or not at all
"YOu ought not to agitate yourself Bessie,
he said nervously; lit will do you harm"
Harm she reiterated with gesture of
contempt. you speak of harm 20 dying
woman. But do not interrupt me. My
time is short
John, am not afraid to die. have
never been what is called a religious woman.
was never so tender-hearted 10 the poor
and afflicted as / see now that l ought to
have been. But have done my duty. As
O 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 yOurself2'
She leaned forward, not looking exactly at
him, he could have borne that better, but
peering as If into futurity. seeing, 80 he
seemed to think. what lay behind the grave
and was yelled from his own and from all
mortals gaze. The meanneSs, the hOmeli-
ness of the woman vanished indeed thea.
Something more than personal feeling, the
Indignation born OF silently endured wrong,
flashed from her dying eyes and white,
almost spectral features. 1t was not the in
jured wife, the outraged woman so much
that spoke now to John Harden'S guilty
soul as the voice of conscience itself, of aw-
full justice, of awarding doom.
II have been hypOcrite to you all these
years j have never once opened. my lips TO
you on the subject of your conduct to me,
she went on in a supernatural voice But
do YOU suppose ! was blind or fool? Those
long. long winter evenings l dragged out as
best ! could alone, did not know how they
were spent by you? was not going TO Haunt
myself before the world as an inSulted wife,
to court the neighbor's pity for the Sights
put upon me by my husband. No; | sat
alone amid all this show so hateful 10 me,
with unspOken curses in my heart. What
right had you TO treat NE thus? Was l the
only one Of Us two TO grow old and wrlnkled?
If our marriage was not blessed with chill
dren, the misfortune was mine well as
yours. These things rest with the Almighty"
For a moment a moment only. her voice
swayed to real feeling "a she continued:
There was time when life was a hard
struggle to US, and you behaved kindly to
me. / would have laid down my life to make
you happy. And l was ever a true wife TO
you. John, you can not deny that. Do you
L Il.
how used to sit up till past midnight iron
ing your shirts and mending your clothes
And the first time you were summoned to
sit on jury was so proud to have you go.
l never told You that l sold my fathers
watch the very watch he left me, to buy
your black coat, and turn you out like gen.
tleman. And now
Yet one tremOr more as she got out the
rest of the sentence.
And now, had you treated me with con-
sideration due to a wife, had you cared for
me at all, / should be the first TO say to you
on my dying bed-'Do not fret, my dear;
marry some good woman; try and be happy
for my sake
Then she did indeed look at him, pene-
tratingly and with a startling fxedness that
seemed to search his very soul. Clenching
her hand as if between himself and her stood
her deadliest foe, she added:
'DO | not know what will happen as soon
as am put in my grave? In spite OF your
caution, see well enough who is waiting to
take my place. Marry thai ungrateful girl
we picked out of the gutter. Ring the Joy
bells year hence at the birth of a son and
heir. No good will come OF it. Conscience
will crush you, unclean heart, perjured
tongue. You will tremble when Death
stands near You, reckoning as he now beck
Ons me- and tremble in vain"
- White as the dying woman, the husband
leaned forward with word OF exculpation,
an entreaty for pardon on his trembling
lips. But it was TOO lBte. The force of ebb-
ing life had already spent itself. Mrs. Har-
den fell back unconscious on the pillow, and
as he caught her in his arms he saw that the
end had come. The faithful Anna hearing
his cry for help, fastened to the bedside of
her mistress.
So enticing the warmth OF that luxurious
fur-lined cloak, 30 soft and easy the arm
chair in which her patron had settled her,
that Constance Emery felt ready to browse.
But her brain was too busy with the future
TO indulge in sleep. She must would keep
awake in order TO think out the future as il
opened itself to her enlarging gaze Perhaps
the girl was not deserving OF wholesale con-
domination after ALL NUlgarity may indeed
be piece Of ill-fOrtune, as much as a wry
nose or misshapen foot; only to the rarely
endowed ones is II possible to burst the
chains of custom, bringing up and heredity.
In the midst of fOOlishly bewildering
dreams of silks and trinkets. carriages and
lacqueys, bOudoirs and fashionable recep-
tiOns, she was aroused by the abruptest in
trusion. Rising to her feet, for she knew
well who the intruder must be, she
was fain to clasp his hand to wills
per an endearing word. TO greet him
fonaly as she had done surreptitiously
scores of times before. But at a glance to-
ward her patron, her heart stood still. Clever
she was not, feminine tact she possessed in
a moderate degree, yet she realized in mo-
ment without knowing the cause, the nature
OF the transformation that had come over
him. She stood aghast not venturing a step
forward, lacking courage even so much as to
utter his mama.
He came close up TO the table by which
she stood, holding in his hand small strip
of paper barred with pink.
Constance" he said in that brief hard,
unanswerable voice she knew so well, though
now used for the first time TO her-"Con-
stance, can not marry you. l shall never
marry again. Here is compensation for a
broken promise
He turned up the lamp in order that she
might see what he had given her. There il
was plain enough, nothing could be palmer,
aflta. 81 l. :