Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-12-02
CHATTER LII.

ven. Love is hbSufeliy IuiEhts fOMfL
| in Life. but it is not tho only mighty IN
fuence in life. as some people seem to
think not the only emotion Of the hu-
man heart that is the motive power "a
many drama full to the brim OF psthos, OF
Of 10Y, and pain, and aiterWard OF sweet
F remembrance. Had / never known
Malcolm and Margaret Ruthyen ! should
never have become the man have
grown 70 he since. Those DAYS OF Dr-
chard Farm we're the making OF me. The
higher side OF my nature widened and
developed, the lower. self-iovlng half OF
me dWindled. / began to think Of my
work differently. Neither reputation az
q writer nor yet gain in pocket appeared
any more ns IN object worth striving Tor,
except unfortunately. / wanted my
work t. Ice smitten through and through
with deeper truth, so as to touch and
hold the hearts Of men.
( hal never before enjoyed the close
comp anionship OF a really culture d
woman. Pretty women, clever women,
good women, women who were not
gooI-all these | bad encountered in the
past. aud fallen more or less under the
charm OF this one or that. But ! had
never known of what tender, many
sided beauty tho mind Of woman is
cauable-a woman chastcned Of sorrow,
taught OF Heaven. supreme in the power
Of a ready and perfect sympathy.
Margaret Ruthven was all these things
and more, and yet so utterly without
self.consciousness that one could often
trace in her a gentle surprise at the
weight of her own words The way In
which the beautiful, sightless face OF her
husband turned TO her, followed her
with blind instinct Of her whereabouts,
the smile that dawned round bis mouth,
liz ting M bis whole being, as It were,
ut the sound Of her footstcps-the ways
in which she was the eyes to him, hands
to him, feet to him
ii All remains with me, fingers about
me ike tho memory Of sweet music -
like some grand psalm, known by heart,
of which the last line should run " Love
stronger than death.
And / always think Of Margaret Ruth
yer as "among the lavender, as il the
mingled sweetness and unpretentious-
ness Of the flower made her truest em-
blem. Even now, years after that visit
To the quiet Midland nook beside th'
river, if ! come suddenly upon a grove
Of blue gray spear-hke blossoms rising
from blue green leaves, think Of Or
chard Farm, the fine, still rain falling IN
the warn summers night, and bringing
ont the perfume Of the flowers beneath
its seutle dews or the stately form Of
Margaret standing at the gateway. by
the great lavender bush, with the gray
blue blossoms at her belt.
10 vas not an easy task to make those
two-husbanl and wife speak Of tham-
selves. OF nature, in every aspect Of
art Of books-those best companions--
on al such topics both were fluent Mrs.
Ruihyen would read aloud by the hour.
The great minds that have given their
great store of thoughts to men kept com
pauy with rs day by day. But OF the
Individual lives and experience OF my
host and hostess ! learned little unsll,
indeed, the last evening Of my holiday.
s sadness was over us all On me, per-
haps, it lay the deepest, They always
had each other had only companied
with them q little while in their fair land
Of Beulsh. I must 90 ont into the tur-
MOL and strife once more. To add TO
the depression, OF which We we're evil
IDENTITY all the victims, Malcolm Ruthven
was in suffering been hardly able
to bear a touch Of light upon his eyes ell
dav had 50 suffered that even the sound
- L. 10
would have been too much.
Take my wife ont for an hours walk
down 10y the river She soTOws over
me too much when | am like this more
than is good for her. Cheer her up for
me. there's a good fellow"
BY which speech it viii be seen that
our intimacy had ripened at fine pace
during the three weeks of my holiday,
and that we understood each other very
thoroughly.
An hour later we set off-pale, tired,
anxious Margaret, and her LOGGER.
Her husbands words had struck me
not little:
when I am like this. -"
He was, then, often like that often
in pain, in WEAKNESS ; forced to abide in
the darkness that could alone heal
With these thoughts in my heart | paced
slowly along in silence by the side Of the
woman whose simple gray bonnet framed
her white, patient face, as the calyx
frames the flower and them hardly
know how, bat all at once-as the result,
/ imagine, OF some impUlsiye hot words
CT sympathy on my part, We seemed tn
be AL at once plunged lin medias res, -
and the story OF two lives was I'M
folded before me as a book might open.
"Wben l first knew him years ago he
was such a beautiful, bright creature
1.-the and active, fall of life and hope and
fervor. Itseemed 10 him 80 easy and so
certain to do great things in the world.
He was Just called TO the bar. Singu-
larry without near relatives; but the
very hsppiest, sunniest, brightest-heart.
ed creature you can well think OF. We
soon became great friends, and he
used TO chatter to me OF all his hopes,
his castle building. his noble, chiynlrous
ideas-somewhst Utopisn | fear me-of
how be should DO ever the defender OF
the weak, the wronged, the oppressed.
! WAS so much the elder that 1t seemed
natural and quite possible TO be-friends,
and nothing more"
So far Margaret got in her history
when | broke in:
And then-hefell in love with You ? A"
She shook her head.
"No, that expression won't fit Is
too rash. too unadvised, too sudden. Say
'he grew 10 love me, that suits the case
better. he did not mean 1t; 1 am
sure - then after pause, neither
did l..
He could not help it" Ispoke with
q conviction that defed contradiction.
So she let me have NY wav.
faint flush like the delicate pink that
lines the sea.shell rose to her cheeks,
seeming to smooth out the lines OF care
and thought and to give her back the
gift OF youth for the moment
l suppose not neither could /; but
for all that, when he told me-when he
asked me to DO his wife, / said il could
not De.