The herald., 1896-12-26
HER DEAFNESS.


on lior
sho drew tic blind back. The spring
sunshine flooded the little suburban street
In which she lived. Quiet and peaceful It
looked, SO much so that a passing milk
man, wonderful to relate, refrained from
disturbing IT with his yclls and clatter-
ut least Christina did not hear him.
Slowly she proceeded to dress, and still
present with her was a sense Of apprchcn-
sion and anxiety. Sho did not feel very
well either, and there was a faint buzzing
at the back Of her head Her movements
she fancied were singularly noisclcss that
morning, or else she was very much alb
stracted She did not even remember to
have heard the plash Of the water as it fell
from tho jug into the basin. She wondered
for a second or two with IN idle half
formed wonder, and then passed down in
softly falling felt slippers to her little sit
ting room. There was IL conspiracy Of
silence abroad, it seemed, for even tho
stairs of the Ill built house forgot once tc
crcak.
Christina rang the hell for breakfast,
and rang twice, for she did not catch the
first faint tinkle. The servant who brought
in the tray looked cross, and Christina no
ticod that she did not respond to her Good
morning"
With faint sigh over the capricious-
ness of servants, Christina poured herself
out somo tea There was queer feeling
upon her, such a feeling as might woll be
experienced by one under spell or suffer-
ing from that impairment of consciousness
which attends tho bewildered and ever ut
the very back of her head there went on o
busy, ceaseless buzZing what a depressed
fool l am, " she thought to herself and
laughed aloud. And her laugh seemed to
her to sound as II 1t came from hor brain.
Really" reflected Christina again, II
never remen ber to have felt so odd III my
life before. will play little to set my
nerves in order"
She moved toward tho pretty little piano
that stood in the corner Of the room, but
stopped with her hand on the lid seized
by sudden and unaccountable fear.
With quick, resolute movement she
flung the lid back and struck full chord
with both hands on tho key board. There
was no sound, and although she struck
again and again the dreadful silence of the
room remained unbroken.
Then Christina recognized that she had
become stone deaf and sat down with
scared face to try and realize what it meant
for her.
It meant good deal-in fact, so much
that she considered seriously whether un-
dor the altered conditions 1t would be
worth while to continue living.
Music had been to her the central fact of
life around which everything else in her
world revolved. Now the center had been
torn away, chaos was come again.
Never to hear music more! Harmony,
melody, rhythm, the exquisite cadence Of
the human voice, the witchery of the Or
chestra, the divine eolemnity of the organ,
even the sounds of nature-the whisper Of
the wind, the waves beating on tho shore
oil to be henceforward but a fantastic
mookery. She could not hear to think of
it. Her very soul seemed to be sti1ed.
Then came glimmer Of hope. Tho sen-
tence might not be final. Sho would con-
suit specialist at once. BY chance she
had heard Of such one. Gathering to-
gether her small stock of ready money she
dressed hastily and set forth.
Tho streets as sho passed through them
were a nightmare. Carts, carriages, cabs
passed without a sound; horrible noise
lessness had fallen upon the noisy thor
oughfares The failure of ono slight link
in the mechanism of sense had in mo-
u
Some one in the omnibus spoke to Chris
tina, and she flushed painfully and touch
ed her ear.
She got very little consolation from the
expert who examined her in exchange for
the two guineas sho paid him. He gave
her to understand that there was some af-
foction Of the auditory nerve. The trouble
might perhaps be localized as result OF
an operation. Whether the operation would
be successful was uncertain, but it was
bound to be dangerous and expensive.
Christina possessed the profound horror
of physical pain which so often and not
quite worthily distinguishes the artistic
temperament. She shrank from having
this doubtful experiment practiced upon
herself and left the gloomy house in Har-
Icy street as despairing a damsel as could
be found at that particular moment in
the county of London, which is saying
much.
During the next few days of hopeless
misery Christina suffered Incredibly. The
piano seemed to mock her. 1he few
friends who called tortured her almost to
distraction by shaking their heads and
writing condolences on scraps of paper or
by using the deaf and dumb alphabet to
convey bald platitudes concerning resigna-
ton.
In TIE extremity Of her despair poor
Christina determined to isolate her life
from all tho ties that had grown up
around it, She felt that she would be
more comfortable in country cottage than
in London.
There at least she need not be Knocked
and distressed by having hcr calamity
bruaght homo to her at every turn.
1t was not difficult for her to so order
her affairs as to attain the solitude sho de-
sired. A small annuity sufiiced for tho
life sho intended to lead, and death had
freed her from all obligations of relation.
ship But there was one tie which it hurt
her to break. This was nothing less than
n marriage engagement of years stand
ing with a young engineer who was at
that time seeking In South Africa the
means to make matrlmoDy feasible. For
hcrself Christina felt that, stricken as she
was, marriage was impossible. In fare
we'll letter to her engineer she explained
her views on this point ard bado him for
get her as soon as he conveniently could
David Fraser received that letter while
stretched out with fever in miserable
mining camp 1t very nearly completed
tho work which tho fever had well begun,
but that WIS II c..elso lni.1 Li.u not sug-
gestcd itself TO Christina.
Having SO far met, as she thought, the
exigencics of ths situation, Christina
moved herself and her belongings to
small cottage In Devonshirr, lying mile
or two out of Plymouth, and prepared, il