Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-09-08


solemn-Yoiced men summoned to my bed
side. Not two hours TO live"
What think you, my sisterhood of fash
Jon How if you, like me, lay helpless
beneath the stroke of the ayenger, with
10 time for what good people call "prepa-
ration mot even such preparation as
would destroy the petits secrets in the
dressing-table drawers, Or the compromis-
ing letters that bespeak fashionable
hirtation."
Not two hours to live"
lay there helpless as 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-a 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 worthlessness of
these past three years-all my coldness
and neglect-all the pain l had dealt so
recklessly-an the patience and tender
ness and forbearance with which | had
triAed Had he cared SO much-and did
he care-still?
could not speak, could not move, and
and yet my senses were strangely acute
and my will was battling against bodily
ieebleness. On, TO rise, for even two brief
moments-Oh, to secure that fatal packet
and see the free, fierce flames destroy its
eliminating contents. For who would be-
heve, who would credit me with nothing
worse than folly and vanity, and that
easy drifting into doing as "other women"
do, that is one Of a false society's most
fatal and alluring sophistries Who? Not
he, not the husband whose love | had
never valued, whose presence had never
voluntarily sought, whose gold l had
-luandered, whose honor | had trifed
with-oh, surely, surely, not he of all who
might learn my folly, when II, Frances
Deyerell, should be no more. If l had
known-i even as | had dressed for to-
nights ball-my last ball had known
how easy it would have been to destroy
these letters-.o have left the court of life
without "a stain on my character" as the
wise judges say to the acquitted prisoner
how easy. All, dear Heaven! as if life
was not full of such ironies-such easy
possibilities that one small Ilntoward cir
cumstance is yet all powerful to overthrow,
Ut turn into bitter tragedy.
Two hours How many precious mo-
ments have passed since | heard that de-
cree? Something already Of the allotted
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 ad-
joining dressing-room. Beside me, his
face hidden on the silken coverlet, his
strong frame convulsed by those suppressed
~obs knelt my husband-and there among
the lace-edged pillows lay; l, Frances
Deverell, who shall soon cease even to be
THAT important and egotistic PERSONAL
itv whose representative would fain claim
Tor itself the care and homage of the uni
verse-since in its arrogance and self
suficiency it lives and breathes with the
idea that the universe was created specially
70 supply its wants and minister TO its de-
sres
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
me with bitter shame and unavailing re-
morse. Childhood, youth, womanhood
each had its record, and each showed to
me the same list of wasted opportunities,
foolish vanities, ignoble pleasures, mis-
spent hours. 1.-TWO hours more to live w
Already they had lessened their little span
of moments. Already the chill shadow
approached my scarcely breathing form.
humbed, cold, still, lay there in the lux
urious, softly-lighted room, and with sick
and awful despair waited-waited for my
doom.
As heard those deep sobs, thought to
myself, "To morrow he will know my
falseness-to-morrow he will not sleep"
and impelled by some awakening force of
viii, my eyes turned to that spot which
guarded my secret-whieh held those fatal
letters-the letters of my lover.
oh, why had | treasured them-why had
not destroyed them while life and health
and opportunity were mine. thought of
nothing else save of hiding my sin from
the eyes of the man | had wronged, and
the longing and the desire grew intolerable
within me, like struggling demons mock
ing my helplessness, and shrieking ever
snd always in my ear, To-morrow-to-
.norrowl The man who
has lived and believed in you shall know
who you areP'
"Shail know who you arew Think of
ii, my sisters, since for you it is | write
this warning. Picture TO yourselves the
one dread hour that surely comes to rich
and poor alike-and while you think, re-
member that in all your nakedness your
cheats and shams and hypocrisies will be
known at last-known not to man alone,
but to that great and majestic and all-wise
being whom your puny will has Knocked,
and your faulty human reason has ar
raigned, and your weak and evil human
nature has offended and insulted with
every year of its wasted life.
And while those demon voices Knocked
and ieered, and while in anguish and de-
spair 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-she racking sobs no longer burst
from the breast of the hneehng man-his
face WIS hidden on the coverlet and l
opened my languid, heavy eyes and saw
standing beside me a tall and beautiful
figure with face of God-like pity and eyes
whose very look was love and tenderness
most Infinite i looked and looked, and
With every wondering glance the deepen
ing sense OF peace and rest stole over my
anguiehed soul.
Then the radiant Being bent gently
over me and felt touch, soft and cool as
dewy rose leaves, on my brow, and my
eyes closed with the weariness of approach
ing sleep-yet, being closed, saw vividly
and distinctly as ever-indeed more clear
ly and wildly than any bodily vision.
They saw the whole room and the shad-
oss Of dark forms fitting to and fro, YET
kept back and apart pow from the circle
of radiant light that tspread around the
beautiful form by my side. They saw that
form, majestic with the majesty and king
illness 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.
How pitifully-how sorrowfully theil