The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-05-17
LOVES C0NTAGI0N.
The CruCibIe Brings Forth the Refined
Gold.

was the daughter of a Memphis physician
and his only child. In my seventh year ! lost
my mother, but the poiguaney OF my childish
grief was In some measure ai!cviated when six
months later my father brought me a little
playmate of my own age. She was his ward,
and we grew from childhood TO girlhOOd be-
meath the same roof; and for my part I can say
that l loved Natalie Chester as a sister. How
beautiful she was in the first flush Of her peer
less wOmanhOod
" wonder will he be her latest conquest2p
/ asked myself when for the first time Linden
Stafford and she stood face to face He was
my fathers young assistant, and perhaps the
only man she ever met who, pIu8Pligd in the
armOr Of a cold Indifference, seemed insensi5ie
to her charms. And / know this indifference
piqued a vanity that the fattery Of tongues had
famed into a passion.
" Does it not occur TO you, Myrtle she said
to me one afternoon, that our young doctor
Is man of singuIarly Phlegmatic tempera-
ment?"
"He has never made love to you, Natalie
answered, dryly. "Yet it ought to be a novel
sensation to meet man who does not fall in
love and worship you"
Her checks flushed slightly, but she retorted
with a laugh: Would it not be a more novel
sensation still to constrain him into idolatry?
They say that natures the least dem0nstrative
are capable Of the strongest feelings, and that
the spark once applied to the latent fire you
are treated TO a cOnlagTation."
She spoke lightly, but the glance that flashed
from the dusky beauty Of her eyes convinced
me that if all the devices of q fascinating
woman did not fail her she would bring Lin
don Stafford TO her feet. /, who watched Mr..
Stafford keenly, saw that he was struggling
with passion that he felt would only bring
him unhappineSs.
But the hour had come when strong mems
souls would be tried in the eTucible of a great
attiiction, and Linden Stafford, standing face to
| face with uncompromlsing necessity, dare no
| longer fritter away existence in dream Of
| love. The terrible seourge of yellow fever had
4 swept over Memphis, and within a week it pre-
| sented all the appearance of a city of the dead
/ In their abjeet terror the people fed they cared
not whittier, and fear for the time being crushed
| all nobler instincts of humanity from hearts
| where craven self5hnes5 predOmiHated.
| My fathers first thought was for Natalie's
| safety and mine, and tO-this end he telegraphed
! to Miss Chester's other guardian, who was then
| a resident in a Northern State. In due time
| that gentleman arrived to carry his beautiful
ward and me far from the reach Of impending
/ danger, but no remOnstrance, no entreaty,
could induce me to desert what I conceived to
! be my post of duty Shall ever forget that
night when Natalie left us. Before bidding
! her good-by l had hurried upstairs for parcel
/ she had forgotten, and on returning in minute
| OF so to find DR.. Stafford in the room, paused
outside the door.
Intended to say farewell" she said, as,
with downcast eyes, she held out her hand
" You must think me very cowsrdly to fee
from danger while Myrtle insists on remain
ing"
Miss Craig's place is by her fathers side"
he answered "but it would be worse than
madness in your friends to allow you to incur
| risks that could bring no possible good to-any
one. And, then, you are too young and beautiful
to die"
! and Sc +bis MARITIME, sbor15 no r,re-,a- v,bat
would you say to me. Mr.. Stafford"
" would say flrewell-onIy farewell" he
replied, cvasiveIy, as nc released her hand.
Her eyes looked into his and a cry escaped
him as he caught her IN his arms and if
mans love ever went out to a woman it was in
! that lingering kiss he pressed upon her lips.
turned away and, with trembling limbs
| and sinking heart, stole quietly upstairs. For
had learned to love this man even with hope
| lessness that intensified a passion which had
| changed the current Of my life into a channel
| whose source was bitterness and sorrow. / am
| not going to linger over the days that followed
! when, rs an hospital nurse, tried TO forget my
| folly. Within two weeks the summons came
to the only one that loved me, and l was left
! an orphan. Dr. Stafford was also stricken
down, and / nuTsed him through his illness to
recovery, and when the scourge at length had
passed away I found myself alone and almost
friendless in the world.
One day LindOn Stafford while still pale and
emacated, came to me and asked me to be his
| wife. / knew too well he did not love me. /
| knew his every thought was with the beautiful
| Natalie in her northern home; but, o, my God
| l could not let him leave me, and in the blind
| fatalism of WOman's love 1 cheated myself
| into the belief that in time I would win his
| heart. And so we were married, and the bridal
kiss he gave me, in its GOODNESS, chilled my lips
and heart. But did not marry him toindulge
in vain regrets and Lindon Stafford was too
loyal gentleman, too sensitive to truth and
| honor, to be other than the kindesJ husband.
The first year of my welded life was drawing
to a close, when one morning | received a let
ter from Natalie. She was coming South with
her guardian for the Winter and would spend
a day or two with US she wrote. She remained
a week with us-fOr me week of mental tor
ture for, as l said, my husband fingered so
often by her side l feared the smoldering fire
of an unfOrgotten love had burned into flames
again within his breast.
1t was Christmas Eve, and Natalie kissed me
in bidding me good-by. Oh! the treason of q
wOmau's kiss to a woman | thought as I
watched her dark eyes turned to my husbands
face when he took his seat beside her in the
carriage to leave her at the depot. MOtJOnless
and mute, as if grief had turned me to stone, /
stood beside the window and looked out on the
dismal street. And as the minutes passed this
maddening thought occurred to me: Would my
husband the husband that l loved, desert me
now for the beautiful Natalie; would his 10y
atty and honor be forgotten in an unhOly pas
sion?
My hands and cheek and brow were deathIy
cold, and yet my brain was on fire. The OBJ
jects on the street had, to my vision, grown
blurred and indstinct, and 1 turned to tOtter
to a chair as Lindon noiselessly entered the
room. There was tender sadness in his eyes
as he looked upon my pale face, and with the
sobbng cry of cob, husband, husband" I sank
4
Myrtle, my wife, said he, when year
ago l stood before the altar and sWore to love
you until death there was perjury upon my
tongue. Even then an image that was not
yours was enshrned within my heart, and the
haunting eyes of Natalie Chester seemed to
mock my firm resolve to be at least a faithful
husband. You may have known my secret,
poor patient wife, and yet reproach nor taunt
has never passed your lips. Well, I've met
Natalie Chester again, to learn my passion was
but frenzy that had burned itself to ashes
And now this Christmas Eve, sweet wife, when
every heartthrOb that beats against your own
is yours and only yours, l ask you to forgive
. me and forget the past, for 1 know such love
as yours could pardon even q greater wrong.
1 brushed the hair back from his splendid
brow, and almost as shyly as girl kissed his
lips. In my husband l had found lover at
last.