The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1891-05-01

operation which would restore her sight
or leave her hopeless forever.
Meanwhile, the stFctest care had been
enJoined TO keep the patient bright and
hopeful. to surround her with cheerful
Influences and auguries OF promise.
Nature must be induced to cooperate
with silence to effect cure. Any sud-
den or overwhelming emotion, any vio-
lent change of conditions, either mental
or physical, was to be specially guarded
against. That was the reason why she had
not been taken to the hospital to be mar
red after the accident. Royal had feared
contact with his own pain for her. For
the same reason they had, with one con-
sent, made light of the accident; for it
had been necessary to tell her Of 1t
| guarded1y, because of a word or two she
had overheard, and also TO account for
the fact of ROYALS enforced delay.
1t had not seemed worth while TO post
pone the marriage Immediate posses
sion of the money had been matter of
grave importance, and both parties were
fully aware that it could be marriage
only in form until the great question for
Phyllis should be decided. After the
accident. indeed, John Royal had been
more than ever insistent that the ar
engagements should stand. They had
yielded TO him and had kept Phyllis
bright and interested about her plans,
and so prevented her from thinking too
much or growing anxious.
| ho6 E,,l
child, and knew the paramount impor-
lance Of absence of pronounced emotion;
but what woman's self control would be
equal to The strain wnic1 knowledge Of
her lovers death must put on hers?
Then, too, she had been sustained IN her
efforts by consciousness that happiness
for John, as well as for herself, was in
volved IN her preservation of eduanimity.
And what viii not woman do and en-
dure to make herself worthy in the eyes
i Of the man who loves her: If this in
centiTe and restraint should be removed,
who could tell what disastrous conse-
! quences might ensue?
4 Mrs. Hart well nigh wrung her hands
IN her sympathetic appreciation of the
difficulty of the situation. To be SO near
the goal and then have hope baked of
fruition! And now when the loss of the
money would make the recovery of
sight more than ever a priceless boon!
/ WHAT could blind woman without
money be save a dependant all her days?
And what fate was that TO contem-
plate from the standpoint of two-and-
twenty! If only John Royal could have
accomplished his purpose? If only the
broken frame could have obeyed the he
role will! Mrs. Harris tears fell fast
OF human impotence.
Royals words surprised her:
WAS she much attached to her cous
mp" He put the question IN a low voice.
For attachment ID the sense of lovers
Mrs. Hart could not answer, but thought
it improbable that that sort of ardor
1 could now be factor IN the engage
ment. The pair had been separated for
six years, and during that time it was
reasonable to suppose that the youthful
emotion which had drawn them together
should have evaporated. That there ex-
listed, however, strong love between the
cousins their conduct toward each other
had proved. John Royal had been a
quiet man, she had always heard, alb
Sorbed IN his profession and ambitious Of
distinction therein: not a man of much
worldly wisdom, nor much addicted to
society. Phyllis had doubtless nursed
her romance as much through force of
circumstances as aught else; she had
been brought up IN the knowledge and
belief that her cousin would be her
matrimonial destiny. and during her
most impossible years she had been held
apart from forming any other attach
ment by the blight which had slowly and
insidiously crept over her.
lit was that which prevented Miss
Royal from summoning John home be-
FORE" Mrs. Hart explained. ''She was
SO anxious that Phyllis sight should be
restored before he should see her, and
the disease was obliged to run its course.
Anne liked to arrange the procession for
her people down to the most minute de-
tails. She kept full knowledge of the
child's condition from him, and l be-
heve it was only just before her last i'll
ASN11, "-O1i OAO Possibility VI NO4O "1o az
hand, that she took him into true con-
fdence. And, as Ill luck would have it,
that letter did not reach John for months
after it was written"
why did she make that Ubiquitous
WHIP" demanded Royal, who felt that
here he also had cause of complaint.
! God knows! think, however, that
it was made just before John sailed for
Europe, and while the engagement was
fresh with them all. and the young peo-
/ pie very much in love- Perhaps her idea
was to keep John true by making his
cousins future dependent on his con-
stancy. When a copy of the viii was
sent him, after his aunt's death, and
some Indignation was expressed, John
wrote Us that he had been aware of its
contents for years. None of the other
friends was. They might have coa1ed
some reason and justice into Anne Royal
If they had been. Like a great many
women, she never talked about wills;
she seemed TO have a feeling that to
make or even mention such thing
would be to prop the door open for
| death"