St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-10-07
"Not two hours to live"

fashion? How if you, like me, lay help
less beneath the stroke of the avenger,
with no time for what good people call
"preparation''-not even such prepare
lion as would destroy the petits secrets
in the dressing table drawers. or the
compromising letters that bespeak
fashionable Irritation"
Not two hours to live"
/ lay there helpless as a chained log
and heard it-lay there amid the luxury
and beauty of my beautiful chamber =
helpless, inert. The only sound that in
any way reused me or appealed to my
numbed senses was a low, hoarse sob
mans sob in the silence of the room
a sound of sorrow and regret for one so
worthless as the woman he had called
wife.
That sob startled me. 1t seemed to
set in array all the folly and worthless
ness of these three past yearS-all my
GOODNESS and neglect-all the pain l
had dealt so reckleSsly--au the pa
thence and tenderness and forbearance
with which | had trifed. Had he cared
SO mueh-and did he care-still?
| could not speak, could not move,
anu IlA SGllSSS MCiO cllauSNig 0NuNO tthN
nv will was battling against bodily
feebleneSs. Oh, to rise. for even two
brief moments-Oh, to secure that
fatal packet, and see the free, fierce
flames destroy its crimiating contents.
For who would believe, who would
credit me with nothing more than
folly and vanity, and that easy drifting
into doing as ''Other women" do, that is
one of false sOciety'S most fatal and
alluring sophiStries? Who? Not he,
not the husband whose love | had
never valued, whose presence L had
never voluntarily sought whose gold
/ had SQuandered, whose honor l
had trifled with-Oh, surely. surely,
not he of all who might learn my folly,
when II, Frances Deverel, should
be no more. If l mad known-if even
as | had dressed for to-night'S ball
my last BALI had known-hOW easy it
would have been to destroy those fool
ism letters-to have left the court of
life without "a stain on my character"
as the wise judges say to the acquitted
prisoner--HOw eaSy-Ah. dear
heaven! as if life was not full of such
eilonieS-Such easy possibilities that
one small untoward circumstance is yet
all-powerful to overthrow, or turn into
bitter tragedy.
Two hours! How many precious mo-
mentS had passed since l heard that de-
cree? Something already of the al
lotted space had faded into the past,
leSsening, by sure degrees, the interval
between what was and what would be.
The doctors had gOne-the maid had
passed into the adjoining dresSing-room.
Beside me, his face hidden on the
Silken cOverlet, his strong frame con-
VulSed by those suppressed SObS, knelt
my huSband-and there among the lace
edged pillows / lay; l, Frances Dever-
ell, who shall soon cease even to bel
that important and egotistic person.
atty whose representative would fain
claim for itself the care and homage of
the universe-since in its arrogance
and Self-Sufficiency it lives and breathes
with the idea that the universe was
created specially to supply its wants
and minister to its desires.
They say that to the drowning man
all his life flashes back on the electric
current of memory. In some such
fashion all my life flashed back to ME
and overwhelmed NE with bitter shame
and unavailing renOrSe. Childhood,
youth, WOmanhOOd, each had its record,
and each showed to me the same list OF
wasted opportunities, foolish vanitieS,
ignOble pleasures, miSSpent hours
1.-TWO hours more to vew-Already
they had lessened their little span of
moments. Already the chill shadow ap-
preached my scarcely breathing form.
Bodily pain had passed. Numbed, cold,
still, lay there in the luxurious softly
lighted room, and with sick and awful
despair waited-walted for my doom.
AS heard those deep sobs, thought
to myself, Tomorrow he will know my
falSenesS-to-mOrrOw he will not Sleep"
and impelled by some awakening force
of will, my eyes turned to that spot
which guarded my Secret-Which held
those fatal letterS-the letters of my
lover.
Oh, why had l treasured them-why
had | not destroyed them while yet life
and health and opportunity were mine!
] thought of nothing else save of hiding
my sin from the man | had wronged and
the longing and desire grew intOlerable
within me, like struggling demons
knocking my helplesSneSS and Shrieking
ever and always in my ear. ''TO-mOr-
rOW-tO-mOTrOWi The man
who has lived and believed in you shall
know you as you are!"
''Shall know you as You arew Think
of it, my sisters, since for you it is
write this warning. Picture to your
selves the one dread hour that surely
comes to the rich and poor alike-and
while you think, remember that in all
your nakedneSS, your cheats and shamS
and hypOcrisies you will be known at
laSt-known not to man alone, but to
that great and majestic and allwiSe
Being, whom your puny will has
Knocked, and your faulty human reason
has arraigned, and your weak and evil
human nature offended and inSulted
with every year of its wasted life.
And while those demon voices Knocked
and jeered, and while in anguish and
despair beyond all power of expression,
my torn and aching heart painted and
pulsed with vain remOrse, a sudden
quiet fell upon the air and upon me.
The voices were stilled-the racking
sObS no longer burst from the breast of
the kneeling man-his face was hidden
on the cOverlet, and opened
my languid, heavy eyes. and saw stand
ing beside me tall and beautiful figure
with face of GOd-like pity, and eyes
whose very look was love and tender
ness most infinite. Hooked and looked,
and with every wondering glance the
deepening sense of peace and rest stole
over my anguiShed soul.
Then the radiant Being bent gently
over me, ard | felt a touch, soft and
cool as dewy rose leaves, on my brow,
and my eyes closed with the WEAKNESS
of approaching sleep-yet, being closed,
saw wildly and distinctly as ever-in-
deed more clearly and wildly than any
bodily vision.
They saw the whole room and the
shadows of dark forms fitting to and
fro, yet kept back and apart now from
the circle of radiant light that spread
around the beautiful form by my side.
They saw that form, majestic with the
majesty and kindlinesS of purity and
perfection, and with eyes where dwelt
the pitying love of that great Soul of
Love, whose empire is of all and over
all.