Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1900-06-30

~ '. tOOOs - q I'LL NO fFlONs
I cast a sly. insinuatIng look upon me
as concluded
"Ah! she had method in her mad.
hess, after all, my poor Alicer' she
eroaked, in those tones which, always
horrible to me, were doubly so now
Dy reason Of the sinister exultatiou
they manifested. .'I can forgive her
II she did not aim at Madam. 1t is ex-
cusable for q Jealous wife to attack
her husband when she sees him pay.
Ing court elsewhere"
There was no mistaking the meaning
, or her glance or the point Of her re.
mark. Both were tipped with venom
ana plainly directed at me. My SYM
patty CONCEALED into cold contempt.
Withdrew the reassuring hand had
placed on her shoulder.
You are magligant and worthless
woman!' 1 said with freezing dig
nifty, turning to leave her. you are
beneath the consideration OF even the
most kindly disposed. / came here to
comfort you as well as I might but
you have turned my regard for your
trouble into disgust for your char
acter viii leave you. Your daugh-
ter still lies in the hall. II you have
any natural humanity in you, l would
advise your paying some attention to
her removal; else it may fall to the lot
OF unfriendly servants to look after
it
With this 1 left her and re-entered
the house. never have seen her
since.
1t was a great comfort to me, and TO
Darracott also, to avail ourselves Of
good Mrs. Speneer's offer to become n
temporary resident at The Ivies. Ny
position, with Madam hors de combat
through Illness, and with possible con-
lecture and suspicious rife among the
servants, such as / should never have
dreamt of but for Mrs. Mayberry's
malicious speech, was somewhat awk-
ward and uncomfortable / felt great
ly relieved to have another and an
older woman at the head of the house
hold as matron of the establishment.
had distracted from Madam's fng-
ers the little packet which Alice had
given her, and held it for its owners
reception when she should be suf-
ncienuy recovered to bear the emo
ton which I knew the sight of IL must
arouse 1t was evidently a letter from
her son. folded into small compass
and tied about with narrow black
ribbon-a legacy which should have
been long ago delivered into her pos
session.
Notwithstanding the very great anx-
iety by which l was oppressed during
my dear lady's illness, ] think that
period was far the happiest Of my
life. In the first place, there is no
privilege so dear to n true woman as
that OF ministering to others, OF feel
ing herself OF vital consequence to the
welfare of someone dear to her.
Then, / was an object OF the most
watchful care OF two men, one of
whom was dear to me as a kind and
devoted friend while for the other I
was daily growing more and more
conscious of q deep and increasing
love.
Oh! those long, delicious hours spent
with Darracott by the bedside OF one
whom we both adoredl And the de-
lightful strolls up and down the ter
race when, our patient sleeping, Mrs.
Spencer insisted upon assuming our
post that we might gain the muc1-
needed refreshment of the outer airi
There was no chapter in the mans
life but was revealed to me during
that interval Freely, but with no
egotism, he made me acquainted with
all his past, until came to know him
as intimately as / believe every wo-
man should know the man she mar
ries. There were some pages not
quite so admirable as others; some
places with showed evil influences at
work In the writer's mind; some
scenes where passion and revolt
against an untoward fate threatened
TO circumvent the flrmness and up-
rightness of noble and honorable
soul; but these only endeared their
hArn nc a 20 Il
him, not for his virtues alone. but
for his weakness also. Il
He spoke to me freely of the pas-
sionate sufferings of his boyhood.
when, for no fault of his own, he
had been deprived OF the one blessing
which seemed TO him of all others
most to be desired. The loss OF his
mothers love was an injury to which
ne had never become rcconciled
1T was not merely the fact that
she had no affection to bestow upon
me that wounded and tortured me-"
he said, but the additional circum-
stance OF witnessing her lavish de-
monstratiVencss towards Gerald, And
when that day arrived upon which her
darling and idol committed against
me, beneath my very roof, the vilest
act OF treachery which one man can
commit against another, even then il
was for him and his sin that her heart
bled, although her sense of Justice in
clined TO espouse my injuries"
But she loves you now-she does.
she does" was my constantly reiter-
ated reJoinder; at which he would
smile incredulously and shake his
head.
One day, to this oft-repeated re-
Spouse of mine he returned a reply
that aroused fresh suspicious of Mrs.
Mayberry in my mind.
IF she loved me, really loved me
with genuine and not perfunctory az
fection," he said, would she have con-
stantly besought me in her letters
not to return, to remain away from
my home, to absent myself from her
society until she should be better able
| to bear the eompanlonship of one so
closely associated with her grief and
loss?"
Then 1t was that a light dawned up
en- me.
did you know that Mrs. Mayberry
wrote those letters?' / asked. "Might
it not be that she expressed senti-