Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-01-11

by my side think should have struck him then and there"
 Thank God I was with you, Aaron," Jane whispered.
 Yes, thank God you are always with me. A good woman softens man una wares. When we were walking to- gether in the twilight, and you were talking in your quiet voice, I began to feel that he hadn't done me any great harm after all. And then I remem- bered Olives words about forgiveness, and sort of shame stirred in me. It's bad sign when ones heart is more ready to curse than to bless-a terrible bad sign, Janc."
 "True, Aaron," she said, gravely.
 And then, when I was left alone for the night, couldn't rest for thinking of my badness, and from that fell to calling back old times. I didn't go to bed; just paced up and down my room, till l seemed to see Michaels face eX- actly as it used to be. What a bright, fresh-colored lad he was! Always full of hopes and plans, and always ready to cheer me up when l was down hearted. And after that old vision o1 him, Jane, l saw him again as he is now-the poor, puny man who won't live out half his days. Instead of hat ing him, instead of wanting to hurt him, l was broken down at once with a great pity. It wasn't Olives life that he had blighted, no, nor mine; it was his own life that he had spoiled and laid waste"
 Jane looked up at her lover with tears in her eyes. They were so happy these two simple pc''E >ns-and they knew that no life can be complete if it has missed such happiness as their own.
 The pity grew and grew" Aaron continued, "till I could not stay in the house. I wanted to be out under the stars, and ask Heaven to forgive me for my blindness. When I am upset I all ways go into the open air. I never lost the habit even in London, though it was little I could see of the stars there. But here in the country, the wide sky is always waiting overhead to help a man, and so I slipped gently down stairs, and then my feet seemed to be drawn along to the courthouse. II got to the farmyard gate, and stood leaning on it, and thinking, thinking Then l smelt fire, and suddenly saw a cloud of smoke coming from one of the upper windows, and jumped over the gate, and ran and hammered hard on the front door. But some thing seemed to warn me that no time must be lost. l knew that there was ladder in one of the outbuildings, and 1 dragged it out, and planted it under that smoking window. You know how it all ended, Jane. climbed the ladder, and found the room filled with smoke and flames. I shouted, but. no answer came save a faint groan. And I sprang in, and found Michael stretched upon the floor. 5
 The girl was trembling as she clung to his arm. She had loved him dearly al- ways, but his deed of daring had given him n new dignity in her eyes. And he had been in danger, and she might have lost him.
 There is very little harm done to the house," she said, after a pause. q went in to-day and saw the room. The furniture is burnt and the walls are blackened, but the fire was soon put out. Michael had fallen asleep, it seems, leaving the window open and the candle burning on the dressing table. Mrs. Belthorpe says that he seemed strange and absent that night, and looked very i'll. Poor fellow; the doctor says he will get better, but
 But what?" Aaron asked.
 Mrs. Hooper thinks that he will not live many months. He has had ter rible shock, and he was a worn-out man before this disaster happened. ] Poor MichaelI'
 For three weeks Michael was nursed by his old friends, and great was their surprise that Mrs. Chase did not come from London. But Michael had begged them to make as light of his illness as possible when they wrote to his wife, and they soon saw that he did not de. sire her presence. She was not used to country ways, he explained, and was something of an invalid herself.
 He had brief interview with Aaron.