Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-07-14
Gales aud Sketfhes.
FOUR WOMEN AND ONE NAN.

planning at such time seems to me mos'
unnatural"
but. Damon, it is so simple. Promise
that you will marry Esther as soon as
practicable after am gone, and l will moi
say another word about it.
.Oh. Polly. am sure you do not mean
to be cruel" Damon Leicester replied to
his girl wife, as she lay for one comfort
able moment in his arms, wan and ema
ciated from the dreadful disease from which
she has been diving for months" but it is
cruel nevertheless am not sure that
you cannot live. Just think how much
better YOU were yesterday and this morn.
ing. The doctor said. himself, that you
might rally"
THE doctor knows cannot live, Da
mon." the invalid answered calmly, ''he
knows. and you know, that | shall be here
only few days longer. But, Damon. YOU
can promise me condtionally. IT die
you will marry Esther
Damon Leicester laid his wife, gently
back upon the pillows. and walked to the
window and looked out He was a tall
manly looking man of thirty or thirty-five
with a refined and clear-cut face, which
told strange familiarity with grief fol
one so young.
IL don't see WHY you should be so OBJ
stinate about so small thing, when YOU
know my heart is set on it. | want Es.
Their to be a mother to my poor motherless
baby"
The childish voice was pitifully weak
and fit of coughing dangerously near.
The miserable husband turned away
| from the window and went to the side CT
the bed The will of this tinv creature
had never been thwarted to his knowledge
and he had good reason for the conviction
that as long as she could speak she would
not abandon the plan she had made for
his future. The heart of this man was
strangely tender. Firm and courageous
in all affairs of outside life, he was like a
straw in the wind where woman's suffer.
was not even secondary consideration to
him. He scarcely thought CT it.
II know what you will do" his wife
went on. speaking with great difficulty
You will marry Olive Carroll. You will
be glad to get rid of me. know you
never loved me, and verybody knows it
Bat If ever you do marry"
What dreadful threat would have come
next will never be known, for an awful
Strengthening spasm ensued. and when
this had passed, Damon Leicester took the
poor little emaciated form into his arms
and made the promise which was still fur
Their to blast his life.
IF you do not live, Polly, and Esther
will take me for her husband. will do as
You wish" he said, and strangely enough.
there was nothing in his voice nor his
manner to indicate that this promise was
the sacrifice of his last hope and his last
ambition. Not that this man had looked
forward to marrying the girl he loved
He had looked forward in the event of his
wife's death. to a life of peace and devo-
ton to his child and his profession With
this willful, imperious and emotional wife,
he had never known single hour of hap
piness. He had known before marriage
that happiness was out of the question.
But for fear of breaking his mothers
heart. this man had given up the girl he
loved to be husband to his own cousin,
whom he did not even respect. twas a
cruel wrench for both. and had not been
accomplished without great suffering.
Olive Carroll, worn out at last by the
shadow of separation which haunted her
day and night, and was never absent from
the face of the man for whose happiness
she would have made any sacrifice, finally
took the matter into her own hands, and
courageously broke the engagement.
Damon could never be happy with her
while his mother lived. she argued and
| he might find some comfort with the wife
she had chosen for him. So one evening
| she said to her lover:
81 have made up my mind. You are
very unhappy, and am very unhappy
We cannot be much more miserable apart
Damon, mill not marry YOU
Argument and entreaty were alike una.
vailing. Damon Leice ;ter was governed
| by the superior will of this woman. as he
had been ruled by his mother, and later
by his wife. This was the end of this love
history. Never after this night did he
once think of resurrection of this dead
and buried part of himself. 1t was his
miserable complaining and apparent indie
cision. he told himself, that had caused
Olive to do this thing. Not a reproachfu
word had the girl uttered, and IN all Their
interviews she had never seemed quite sc
tender, or quite so sweet. but he was con.
scious of subtle element of contemp,
which favored the whole conversation
as Glove will change the quality of some
dish to which we have been accustomed
He was undoubtedly correct. 1t was the
protest OF her soul against the wrong
done to her womanhood 1t was the voice
of her disappointment. though she kne "
not OF is utterance. 1t was the final sum
ming up of the causes-for not one OF
which she was accountable-that had lee
to this awful climax OF renunciation Sc
Damon Leicester married the girl hi:
mother had selected for him, and two
years later, Immediately after the birth o
her first child, she was attacked by pull
mona-y disease which from the first the
physicians were snre would prove fatal
And now. after all this suffering, this su
preme mental torture, this man wa.
doomed to even more acute misery. fol
Esther Desmond was the one woman il
the world whom. he disliked without s
cause. She was his wife's most intimate
friend. a capable, efficient, refined, &C
complished and fine looking woman o.
twenty five. But Leicester lad cordial,
disliked her from the commencement o
their acquaintance, and now he had prom.
Used to marry her. Esther had undoubted.
ly made the same promise, tor she haC
been his wife's most affectionate nurse
and had anticipated every wish, and wa.
acquainted with every thought As the