The record-union., 1897-10-17


Her first question was of Rowland
Myers and my only assurance that he
as still living OF course her desire 10
see him had to be denied, and with her
good sense she received the denial kind
ly Then with all the cordiality of an
old schoolmate and friend she told me
how it all happened that she was there.
/ She had been at the seminary when the
news of the battle was received and had
taken the reports of her lovers death as
young life. Uncle Guilford had come
over and taken her home, when my let
ter had been received. The feeling that
he was still living possessed her with
the thought that if she could be with
him he might recover. Her parents
could not listen for moment to the
/ idea of her going to Washington, and it
had taken some days before the young
girl could elude their vigilance and take
the cars for the Capital City, but she at
last succeeded. Now that she was
there the surgeon had shook his head
and declared that it would be fatal for
him to meet her in his critical condition.
Could she look upon him? Her young
heart was bursting, and she feared that
III6 SuIStOll bCIllcl w e1o OoA ~ ~
pare her for the announcement that he
was dying.
Yes, the dactor said that we could ar
range that The accommodations were
rude and the wards generally without
partitions, but Myers had been placed in
a separate room adjoining and in easy
proximity to the doctors and within
his instant reach. We watched for an
l i,,fo bo 60
asleep, and she was brought TO the
door. o, those tender, fearful black
eyes! She heard his labored breath.
She looked upon his pale and sunken
| face. Her self-control was wonderful,
but at an unguarded moment she broke
from our side and sprang to the cot We
made an effort to recall her, fearing she
would waken him and the surprise
would be too great, but with no excla-
nation, with perfect self-control, she
stood for a moment over him, then as
gently as the gentlest summer breeze
she stopped and kissed him, then with
her hands clasped above her head, her
eyes closed, and a silent prayer-only
for an instant-she turned from the cot
and withdrew.
o she was beautiful! beautiful! No
dream could have made her more so.
The fieeting months since they had met
had made her a little more stately. The
little drama that she had just enacted
gave her all the added color of exer-
ton and excitement. There was thai
| indefinable halo that hightens the
beauty that shines above a heart that
is absolutely lost in another. Her
schoolday tresses had fallen. over her
shoulders, and her well rounded form
was a picture of symmetry that was
perfection itself.
When we had reached the surgeon s
room her young heart for moment
gave way, but through her tears she
cried HE will live, doctori He shall
not dieI" Hers was a Christian house
hold and her beautiful faith was as per-
feet as that of an angel. She was given
a room with those sweet spirited saints,
the Catholic Sisters, and I knew she
was safe with them. She was not of
their faith, but the hot war period
played havoc with creeds.
I wrote a hurried note to her mother,
stating her arrival and that she was
so well cared for. To aggravate the sit
uation, and with apparently no cause,
Howland was much worse the next
morning. His delirium had returned.
The doctor acknowledged that the case
puzzled him. He had but little hope
from the first of pulling him through, V
but his weakness and waning vitality
the night before-gave the doctor no
suggestion for the returning fever and
delirium in the morning. / came to
his bedside, but to meet the old vacant
stare, and still 1 felt instinctively that
there must be a key to his returning
delirium. / soon found it in his labor
ed incoherent mutterings. He was too
weak and his voice too husky to catch
his words plainly but 1 could make out
the name blanche" plainly. and ]
thought 1 could discern the word
gone" Once I thought I heard him
say, 81 don't want to stay
Putting all together, I told the doctor
my impressions, which were that he
had been in just the right condition the
day before to receive Blanche's pres
ence as that of a disembodied spirit
and that in some form or other he
must be disabused of the impression.
Hitherto his tenacity to life had really
pass ed him through several critical per-
iods. Now he had suddenly lost all
desire to live. The doctor simply re-
garded my ideas as possible, shook his
head and said 1.-The end must be near
and that any hallucination was liable
to possess his brain at present He
gave a few general directions. and ac-
knowledging that it was hard on the
poor girl, still insisted that it would
simply prove fatal for them to meet
at present.
I could not blame the doctor. His
! practice was of that kind that COM
PEELED haste, and the two human lives
that hung upon the slender thread that
held Rowland Myers, could not impress
him as it did me, with all its lifelong
associations. Howland must be unde-
ceived. 1t could not be done in his
delirium, but watched with him, and
all ut once a lucid interval came. The
fever had burned itself out all too soon
in his attenuated frame. He opened
those great blue eyes with the old in
telligence, and I could see that he
wished to speak. He could not make
himself audible, and so I stopped down
to catch his whispers. HAL" he said,
you are keeping something from me,
but I know it all. 1t was kind of you to
say nothing about it when you thought
I couldn't stand it, but Blanche is dead.
She came and stood over me yesterday
the black-eyed angel. I didn't see
any wings, and she looked very natural,
but there was heaven all over her face.
She came to tell me, she said she would
if she died first, and she came just as
real as you stand there. She didn't
say a word, but she pointed her white
hands upward, and, If angels can kiss,
she kissed me-1ny lips are still warm
| with IL o Hall don't wa Mt To live