The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1894-06-20

means enjoy your holiday. must be
OF. Goodbye" And he kissed her
She would have like to warned him
against taking the children into any
house where infection might Iurk, but
dared not She felt as If the very word
would betray her. Scarcely knowing
what she was doing, she moved like a
person in dream, packed her clothes,
took the pudding in u basket, saying
She wanted it for sick woman, kissed
the younger children and went out OF
the house. As she passed the turning
wnere the road branched to the station
her thoughts began again to follow,
step by step, the girl who had walked
along the green lanes that morning,
unsatisfied. She had a quick hnagina-
ton, and she pictured her dragging
dreariIy back 70 the death haunted
house with no better MESSAGE Of COM
fort than that that the minister was
absent. Suppose she spoke 20 any one
on her way home-it was only natural
for a girl 70 falkland learn the truth =?
Suppose-as she half Eancicd-the girl
herself suspected the filsehood? The
neighbors would rise and cry shame
upon her husband-her husband, who
would readily have laid down his life
for his God aud his people, and she
would have brought Il on him. Ii was
this conviction which now carried her
on her way. She could not have put
her intentions into words, but really
she grasped at the idea OF atonememt
which presented itself, fancying that if
she went TO tend the sick woman no
one could complain, and that her nurs-
ing might save the flickering life Then
in day or two she would really 60 on
to her sisters.
At the door of the first cottage she
reached stood the girl who had come
to her that morning. She might have
been expecting the doctor or watching
him depart. Although the cottage WAS
close to the road, already it seemed to
have put on an aspect Of tragic forlorn-
ness.
When Mrs. Wood spoke the girl
turned her face without showing any
surprise. 1t was the older woman who
trembIed
How Is she? ,"
Weaker" said the girl laconicllly.
The other turned pale.
'Has the doctor been here ,"
ssYes."
''I'm come To nurse her. | hope YOU
won't mind, because l know a good
deal about sickness, and You must have
too much on your hrnds Perhaps I
can do her some good. Al any rate,
III try" she added humbly "You
know who ] am ~
"Ies,n said the girl, half closing
her eyes, and glancing 1t her visitor
with what might have been indiffer-
ence or contempt. "You can come up
ii yoU'm minded tor
She led the way, climbing rickety
staircase which led directly into "a low
room with one small window set deep
/ lyunderan overhanging ragged thatch.
/ The room felt dreadfulIy sufiy. On a
/ truckle bed beneath a gray counter
. pane lay the sick woman-by her side,
I gdunt and livid, the husband sat lean
ing forward, his arms resting on his
| knees. A. the curate's wife came ner-
vously in he merely glanced at her
without speaking. The tragedy of his
/ loss or his own illness absorbed his fac
u!ties. She looked around upon the
untidy, repuIsive details, and the dis
{ gust they caused siekened her - that
she caught at chair, - ii the hold
! upon it would prevent her from run
ming away. Then the stronger impul-
sive swayed her again and carried her
10 the woman's side although she saw
/ il was useless to speak 10 her.
'Is there anything We should give
[ her?" she asked the husband He
/ pointed 70 bottle.
''There's some stuff the doctor left,
but her can't swallow" His own voice
was hoarse and raueous. To her it
sounded Ike the voice Of despair. Her
heart sank lower a She began To real
ize her helple>sness.
All through the time that followed
she fancied the dying woman's eyes,
with an awful look in them, were fixed
on her d,spliringly. G) where she
wolld in the room, they overlook her
and asked why she had dishonpTcd her
/ God and her husband. For time she
( fought them with the iron strength OF
her viii, but they were stronger. One
I by one they broke down in her defens-
e. and left her shuddering. Yet it
wa- night before she gave away alto
| gether. The girl had gone down stairs,
the man was sleeping, when she fell
upon her keens by the bed side and
cried ont piteously: "Oh, don't, don't
curse me amy more. He shall come
l tomorrow"
/ Was it fancy that the eyes which
held hers frightened? For moment
she thought 80, and yet 70 her own ears
tomorrow sounded like n mocilery.
Wild dreams of flying to fetch him
were in her brain when a speaking TO
/ the girl below, n step ON the creaking
stair, made her heart stand still, for
step and voice were her husbands. She
sprang to her feet and shrank back,
her thin hands nervously grasping each
other and "a she was in the shadow he
did not at first distinguish her. But a.
his eyes realized who it was he stopped
in sheer anazement.
Louisa -
She came out trembling and grasped
ed his arm ''Oh, John - she sobbed.
"What brought YOU? thought ycu
were at bennington.
you'll never forgive me- she said
disregarding. "They sent for you To
come this morning, and | was afraid to
tell You"
"Afraid ,"
because Of the infection and the
children. / said You were away, and
then-then grew 50 miserable, think
ing what they might say OF you ii they
found out that it was lie, that
couldn't rest. | fancied / might come