Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1897-10-08
l hate him! OH love hint l low
him, and he is ashamed of mel"

him, and he is ashamed of mel"
She was gleeful as child when Basil
praised her dress at tea time, having, at
my suggestion, worn a soft, white null.
with scarlet flashing in her jetty braids
at her throat and belt. She pouted q
little, because l would not allow but
one bright color, but was obedient.
But after that, watching them both,
l knew there could be no happiness in
the hasty marriage. The glamour was
gone from Basils eyes, and he was
ashamed of his wife. His love cooled,
and his perfect gentleness and tender
care never deceived her for one mo-
ment.
think II he had beaten her and then
caressed her she would have borne it
better than she bore his unvarying
kindness, after his love was gone.
"He does not love me! He has wearied
of my beauty, and had nothing else to
loye!"
That was ever the refrain of her pite.
GUS plants, and Basil vainly tried to
revive the dead love in his heart.
"She has but mel" he said to me once,
"If made mistake it was no fault OF
hers, poor darling She shall never
know have one regrct!"
And he might as well have tried to
hide bonfire under napkin. BY the
intuition Of love, Nell knew the change.
She had been year married, wearing
herself out with her own vehemence,
when her baby came to her. hoped
motherhood would soften her, would
tame her, for she was wild and beauti.
full as leopard.
With the same fierce, unreasoning
passion that gave her life every i'm.
pulse, she loved her boy, sickly, feeble
child, that she would almost smother
with kisses and caress so violently
that he would whimper, us If being
hurt.
Every day she talked about the boys
future, the grand things to be done for
him, the education he was to have, that
Basil might "never be ashamed of him
as he is Of me-" Her whole hope lay in
the child'D life, and we knew the feeble
spark would never five to be bright
light.
AS the child dropped the mother
faded. She would be we'll soon, soon,
she told me every day, and every day
the little fellow lay more lightly upon
my arms; the little face grew more
pinched and wan.
One morning she drew me down upon
the pillow her head had never left since
her boy was born, and whispered:
Basil kissed me with his heart this
morning. He loved me in that kiss. All,
II could die now before he ceases to
love mel"
She sobbed, not with the old passion,
she was too weak for that, but feebly,
as If from a breaking heart.
"You do not wish to die and leave
your boy?" / said.
81 would not leave him! He would GO
with mel" she said, with quiet convic.
tion.
And we knew it would be so. There
was nothing to build health upon, the
doctor told us, and Ellen faded away.
not quickly, but surely.
But, lying upon her deathbed, day
after day, she was intensely happy, not
with the fitful flame of old, but with
calm, deep joy infinitely pathetic to
witness.
Basil loves mel"
That was the keynote to her happi-
ness. He had never failed in gentleness,
but, realizing that he must soon lose
her, his love came back to comfort her.
He could not have deceived her, weak
as she was. Only the true love she had
lost, the love that was her life, could
have answered the hunger of her heart.