Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-02

saved his life at the risk-indeed, almost
at the cost-of her own?"
'It was nothing" she answered, color
ing: 81 clung to you, that was all, more
by instinct than from any motive. think
had vague idea that you might float and
support me-"
'Miss Granger, the occasion is too seri-
GUS for polite ibs. know how YOU saved
my life. I do not know how to thank you
for il"
Then don't thank me at all, Mr.. Bing-
ham. Why should YOU thank me? 1 only
did what was bound to do. 1 would far
rather die than desert q companion in dis
tress Of any sort; we all must die, but it
would be dreadful to die ashamed. You
know what they say, that if you save per-
son from drowning you will do them an in
jury afterward. That's how they put 1t
here; in some parts the saying is the other
way about, but 1 am not likely ever TO do
you an injury, so it does not make me un-
happy. 1t was an awful experience; you
were seuseless, so you cannot know how
strange it felt lying upon the slippery rock,
and seeing those great white waves rush
upon US through the gloom, with nothing
but the night above and the sea around,
and death between the two. l have been
lonely for many years, but do not think
that ever quite understood what loneliness
really meant before. You see" she added,
by way of an afterthought. 81 thought that
you were dead, and there is not much COM
psny in a corpse"
"Well," " be said, zone thing is, it would
have been lonelier if we had gone"
''Do you think SOP" she answered, look
ing at him inquiringly. 81 don't quite see
how you make that out. If you believe in
what we have been taught as 1 think you
do, wherever it was you found yourself there
would be plenty of company, and if, like
me, you do not believe in anything, why,
then, you would have slept, and sleep asks
for nothing"
''Did you think of nothing when you lay
upon the rock waiting to be drowned, Miss
Granger?"
''NothingF' she answered; ''Only weak
people find revelation in the extremes of
fear. If revelation comes at all, surely it
must be born in the heart and not in the
senses. 1 believed in nothing and dreaded
nothing, except the agony of death. Why
should be afraid? Supposing that 1 am
mistaken, and there is nothing beyond, is
it my fault that 1 cannot believe? What
have done that 1 should be afraid? I
have never harmed anybody that know Of
and if 1 could believe 1 would. 1 wish 1
had died" she went on, passionately; ''it
would all be over now. / am tired of the
world, tired of work and of helplessness, and
all the little worries which wear one out.
am not wanted here, L have nothing to live
for and I wish that 1 had diedp'
"Some day you will think differently,
Miss Granger. There are many things that
woman like yourself can live for-at the
least, there is vour work.
She laughed drearily. my work! If
you only knew what it is like YOU would
not talk to me about it. Every day roll
L.. =.
seems to roll down again. But you have
never taught in village school. How can
you know? 1 work all day, and in the
evening perhaps you have to mend the
table cloths, or-what do you think?-write
nv fathers sermons. 1t sounds curious.
does it not, that 1 should write sermons?
But 1 do. 1 wrote the one he is going to
preach next Sunday. 1t makes very little
difference to him what it is so long as he
can read it, and, of course, 1 never say any,
thing which can offend anybody, and 1 do
not think that they listen much. Very few
people go to church in Brungelly."
"Don't you ever get any time to yourself,
then?"
"Oh, yes, sometimes do, and then I 90
out in nv canoe, or read, and am almost
happy. After all, Mr.. Bingham, it is very
wrong and ungrateful of me to speak like
this. Ihave more advantages than nine
tenths of the world, and L ought to make
the best of them. L don't know why have
been speaking as I have and to you, whom
I never saw till yesterday. 1 never did it
before to any living soul, 1 assure you. 1t
is Just like the story of the man who came
here last year with the divining rod. There
is 8 cottage down on the cliff-it belongs to
Mr.. Davies, who Ii 'es in the Castle. Well,
they have no drinking water near, and the
new tenant made great fuss about it. So
Mr.. Davies got men. and they g and dug
and spent no end of money, but could not
come to water. At last the tenant fetched
an old man from some parish long way
of, who said that he could find water with
divining rod. He was a curious old man
with crutch, and he came with his rod,
and hobbied about till at last the rod
fvitched Just at the tenants back door-at
least the diviner said it did. At anv rate,
they dug there, and in ten minutes struck
q spring of water, which bubbled up so
strongly that it rushed into the house and
flooded it. And what do you think? After
all, the water was brackish. You are the
man with the divining rod, Mr.. Bingham,
and you have made me talk great deal too
much, and, after all, you see it is not nice
talk. You must think me very disagree
able and wicked young woman. and 1 dare
say 1 am. But somehow il is a relief to
that you will see-in short, that you will
not misunderstood me-"
Miss Granger" he answered, there is
between us that which will always entitIe
us to mutual respect and conference.-the
link of life and death. Had it not been for
you I should not sit here to listen to YOUR
confidence to-day. You may tell me that
mere natural impulse prompted you to do
what you did. know better. 1t was your
will that tTiumphed over your natural i'm
pulse toward self-preservation. Well. 1
will say no more about, except this: If
ever q man was bound to woman by ties of
gratitude and respect, am bound to you.
You need not fear that l shall take advan-
tage of or misinterpret your confidence
Here he rose and stood before her, his dark,
handsome face bowed in proud humility.
'Miss Granger, l look upon it as an honor
done to me by one whom henceforth 1 must
reverence among all women. The life YOU
gave back to me, and the intelligence which
directs me, is in duty bound to you, and
shall not forget the debt"
She listened to his words, spoken in that
deep and earnest voice which afterwards
became so familiar to Her Majesty's Judges
and to Parliament listened with a new
sense of pleasure rising in her heart She
was this mans equal; what he could dare
she could dare; where be could climb, she
could follow-aye, and if need be, show the
path-and she felt that he acknowledged it.
In his sight she was something more than
handsome girl to be admired and deferred
70 for her beauty's sake. He had placed her
on another level-one, perhaps, that few
women would have wished to occupy. But
Beatrice was thankful to him. 1t was the
first taste of supremacy that she had ever
known.
It is something to stir the proud heart of
such woman as Beatrice, in that moment
when for the first time she feels herself a