The Penn's Grove record., 1897-07-23
: tbo day, and lion, if possible,

for some nleulClht NAV rfN"o-
Paris-an opiate not yet in use in this
country. And / pointed TO a seat,
saving: Susan, | am past sixty years
old, crippled, as you see, seldom leay-
ing my home except for foreign travel
no gossip. If you think you can
trust me with Mrs. Rnynor's secret
trouble, | may he able to cure her.
The woman looked startled for a
moment, and then, bursting into
tears, 0aid:
ooh, sir, it's awful trouble, aud we
don't waut it known about here!'
.Ill not betray you," Isaid gently.
"You see, sir, she is not a widow,
after thinking herself II for four
wears! He, Mr.. Raynor, sir, for she's
never bid her name, is a bal man, a
man who nearly killed her with his
drinking and gambling and bad COM
pany. He spent all the money her
father left her, lie crippled her boy
with a blow OF his drunken fists. and
then he left her poor and sick, and the
bow all crushed. She worked day and
night for the child, little Harold, and
he grew to niue years old, but always
crooked and puay. Then Mr.. Raynor
found us ont, and he would have taken
the child, he would, the fiend, because
| she loved it. SO we stole Harold away
in the night and sent him to Germany
with n friend. Pm telling my story
all wrong, sir. We heard Mr.. Raynor
was dead-heard it from his own
brother. too. who believed it, and Miss
Edua-Mrs. Raynor, L mean thought
herself free, when she let Mr.. Du-
chesne come to see her, and-ah, well,
doctor. he was q trle man gentle,
kind and loving, and 50 good to
Harold. She thought she was a
widow, and her heart vas sore, so sore
you can never guess, for she was one
TO take trouble hard-and what harm,
if they loved each other? They would
have been married if Mr.. Raynor had
not come back, pleased as Punch to
find ne could make a little more
misery for his wife"
"But he is not living now?"
eyes, he is, sir; the more's the
pity! Mr.. Duchesne is in Germany
with Harold, aud my poor dear is
working her precious life away to pay
for the baths for the boy, and to keep
Mr.. Raynor away. She pays him so
much a month to leave her in peace"
''And this delicate woman supports
a husband and child?" l said.
"Yes, sir, and lives upon the e
est of everything for the sake of being
alone! It's awful, doctor, to think of
those loving hearts, one in Germany,
one fretting here, and a bad man be-
tween them. They won't even write
to each other, but we hear from Harold
how kind Mr.. Duchesne is TO him.
1t is like him to try to comfort her by
being so good to her crippled boyl"
1T is a sad story" l said. ''And l
was too hasty i'll thinking / might
help Mrs. Raynor if | knew it. We
have no medicines, Susan, for such
misery as this"
But yet l was glad to have heard
the story. l sent books to the cot
tage, aud | went over frequently, try
ing to win the heavy-hearted woman
away from her own troubled thoughts,
and amazed at her rare patience and
courage. | had done but little iii my
efforts to restore her health, when
Susan came hastily to summon me n
heavy August day.
'Come, please" she urged. HES
there, hurt!'
"Who?" / asked.
"Mr. Raynor! He came cursing
and swearing, because his money was
not sent last moSsth, and this morning
he went over to Crawford and got
drunk. He was coming hohre-sgaih,,
when he stumbled somehow and fell
under a hay cart. He's badly hurt. l
think the wheels went over his breast,
l suppose, bad as he is, we'll have to
nurse him"
And bad as he was, tyrant, tor
mentor and traitor, the new patient
thus thrown upon my hands was
nursed as tenderly as if lie had been
both loving and beloved. Out OF her
heavy dependency, throwing self
aside, Mrs. Raynor developed her
charitable, forgiving nature in the
weeks Of illness that followed her
husbands injuries, fatal from the first.
l believe she would have kept him in
life il by any self-sacriiice it had been
possible, but she could only make
smoother the passage to the grave.
| had thought her own tenure of
life but frail, but in her devotion she
grew stronger. She gained sleep by
actual physical exhaustion, and calm
ness by the consciousness Of duty
performed. Susan, by my advice,
provided food that was nourishing in
small quantities, aid as the injured
nan PASSED toward the portals OF
eternity, we kept his wife from throw
ing her own life away by our united
efforts.
l would like, for humanity's sake,
to write that the reprobate reformed,
or even showed common gratitude
for the care laYished upon. him, bat he
died a. he had lived, &pking into
stupor for days before the end came,
and never, Susan assured me, bestow-
ing one word OF thanks upon his
| gentle, tender nurse.
1t vas a small funeral cortege that
left Fern Cottage to take the remains
OF John Raynor to his New York
home. / insisted upon escorting the
widow, aud left her with an aunt, who
was sympathizing and kind, but eyi-
IDENTIFY spoke from her heart when she
said to me:
THANK the Lord, he is dead this
timei'
l scarcely expected Fern Cottage to
he occupied soon again, but Mrs. Ray.
nor returned in a few weeks, working
again busily, for her boy, she told me,
content to bear some further separa,
ton, as he was gaining greatly by the
German treatment. But the desolatt
yearning was gone from the large,
dark eyes, aud health came back slowly
in the winter months, when my advict
was followed, and Susan guarded my