Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1895-06-13


He shiyered, but violently controlled
himself.
yes, I know that; but-you are not
afraidP
mo, / am afraid Of nothlng-neither
life nor death-now. And l would have
died, II might have chosen-died gladly
to have been for this one year--this one
happy year-my Roderick's wife, and
his child's mother"
There was such rapture in her face
that whatever dread her words might
have aroused in him sunk down. 1t was
one Of those supreme moments when two
who are wholly united, as these were, feel
that no real parting is possible, that
whatever happens" las people say, they
are one through all eternity.
'Hushl' Roderick said at last, in a
broken voice. "God knows best. Let us
leave it all"
And then taking her indoors, he de.
clared that the first of January was nc
time for moonlight rambles, and that he
should abolish them altogether till the
summer nights came.
Which seemed q long way off now; for
not unusual in the NORTH
"As the days heightened,
So the cold strengthened,
and long frost and snow shut up Silence
entirely within her own peaceful home.
A dull time to most people; but nothing
ever seemed to make her dull. Not even
when some weeks after Bella's departure,
her husband was restless and troubled,
evidently expecting some news which
never came. One formal letter Of thanks,
announcing her safe arrival, n month
after date, but explaining nothing further,
was all Mrs. Alexander Thomson
vouchsafed to her brother and sister. She
never mentioned her mother at all.
Evidently Blackhall is tabooed," said
he, with bitter laugh. "Never mind,
my darling Let us give it up, and not
veX ourselves about the inevitable"
And by that she knew how, until this
moment, he had not given it up; had never
ceased to hope and crave for something
the one blessing which no man gets twice
in q lifetime. He may have as many
wives and children as fate allows; he
never can have two mothers.
But-and some mothers would do well
to remember this-when man has a wife
and his home, his interests and his work,
he does not mourn eternally; as Roderick
said, he accepts the inevitable" and
turns his mind to other things. Though
the young Jardines had a shut-up and
rather lonely life, it was anything but an
idle one. The MS. novel came back once
more-aas! historical novels always do
come back nowadays-but the solid" ar
ticle did not, until it had become trans
muted into a bundle Of those delightful
proof-sheets which raise into the seventh
heaven of happiness young authors, and
even old authors can hardly see, without
n certain thrill of pleasure, faint retlec-
ton of the time when, as now with Rod
erick,
"The world was all before them, which
to choose;
Reason their guard and Providence their
guide"
And both reason and Providence seemed
to have taken in charge this young au-
thor. Roderick had mo nonsense about
him." He did not start in literature with
a picturesque and imaginative view of
his own deservings, and how they were
to be appreciated; he worked heartily at
whatever came to his hand to do, and
consequently he did good work. 1t might
not have been the highest work, or the
utmost he was capable of doing-Silence
often thought so. She copied his MSS,
taught herself to criticise them fairly, ia
see all the faults she could, Sin order to
prevent the world from seeing Them" as
she one day said,
"You see, dear, if you had to be killed,
would much rather kill you myself than
let another person do it."
At which he laughed heartily and sub
mitted to all fault-fnding and subsequent
correction with the best grace in the
world "Who knows! Such a severe do
nestle critic ought to make me cele-
brated author in no time. think L will
begin another magnum Opus-nOt a novel,
though and by working at all leisure
moments may finish it before the year
is out"
Before the year is out" repeated ST.
lence, softly. eyes, yes; but will you not
begin it nowP
And she not only got him to begin it,
but she kept him steadily at it, copying
in the mornings what he wrote over
night, and arranging all that he had TO
tread up" according to his literary
friends orders, so as to give him the
least trouble possible. 1t was hard work,
but the mill-work happened to be slack
just then, and Mr.. Black was very kind
and friendly-touchingly 80. And thus,
from day to day, Roderick's time was
kept full, and his mind also.
ITO he continual