Middletown transcript., 1902-01-18
A Weird Kind OF Wooing.
BY EDGAR FAWcETE

''Ts want to see, you know, if it isn't
pleasanter this way than moping alone z
"Oh, then you can live where and how
you please said Myra.
"Can we blind folks ever do that p
i Myra smiled very dimly. mo; but il
is best that none of us should live alone.
We can always help one another. try
to help everybody here in my small
way"
81 know" said Discomfort. you're
very popular"
i sam /, really?" And the poor sill
ver-blue eyes widened, Frightening.
sThat's only because I feel such in
| tense sympathy and show it ali / posi-
bly, can I believe that if one has it
one should show it."
/ 'Is that a reproach to me?" asked
| Discomfort.
! No." dissented Myra; "but if you
won't be angry with me-"
81 couldn't be angry with you if my
life depended on it."
"Well, then, perhaps you might be
happier if you thought more about them
and went more among them and talked
with them oftener than you do. There
are notes in your voice at times, Mr."
She hesitated and blushed, for she had
been on the verge of calling him ''Mr.
i Discontent
'Elmerdale," he quietly supplied.
'HThere are notes in your voice, Mr..
Elmerdale," she pursued, thinking how
nice and musical a name it was, and
feeling somehow glad that it hadn't
turned out to be Briggs or Hodges or
even the ubiquitous Smith, "there are
notes in your voice which have so for
lorn a ringP
They spoke on together for more than
an hour that day and for many day
afterward. He had promised her that
he would reform his voice, and she soon
perceived that all the dependency had
gone from it. He deported himself, too,
with far more sociality toward the other
inmates of Alderley. When April be-
gan they would take sunny walks to-
gether along the terraces, his page be-
tween them, with one Of their hands in
each of his, guiding them. But Elmer
dale never seemed 80 pleasant during
these walks as when just they two were
alone together; and on certain rainy
morning, while they sat side by side,
he told her why. What he said filed
her heart with futterings painfully
sweet, aud perhaps because it was not
quite surprise, since she felt it coming,
she answered him with fair composure.
81 do care for you-very greatly. But
to be your wife? 1 am so very help
less |"
"That is nothing, MYra. You shall
have home of your own and servants
to guard you. It will all be so much
better than this life here at Alderley p
"But you," she faltered, "you are
equally helplessP' Her blind eyes filed
with tears; they could weep if they
could not see.
'Tt may not always be helplessness,"
he said. with you, mean"
''Ah, you're thinking of the famous
doctor whom you have asked me to
meet. No matter how famous or skill
full, he will only tell me the same story.
And this wondrous electrical process
which he has discovered, why has it
done you no good ?"
Elmerdale gave light laugh. "To
say it has worked some wondrons cures
is not to call it infallible."
That afternoon their converse proved
especially long. 1t ended in Myra giv-
ing him sacred promise. She would
submit to Doctor Abernethey's treat
ment, and if it restored her sight she
would marry ElmerdaIe.
That night she wept herself to sleep.
Never, through all her days of suffering,
had such blankness blotted her future.
She could not resist a strong new faith
in this Doctor Abernethey's powers.
And yet if these failed, then good-by,
an endless good-by 10 the companion
ship of her treasured friend, for this
new love between them would bring
turmoil in place of the former calm,
and parting would not merely be the |
wiser choice, it would be the choice |
inevitable. "a marriage between two
blind people !" she shudderingly thought.
s1f one of us could see, how different ] |
But the blind leading the blind What
mockery, what satire, what desolate
absurdityp
The authorities at Alderley had given
their consent, Elmerdale told her on
the following day. Doctor Abernethey
had been written to, and would doubtless
accept the offer made him.
"Ah," said Myra, "that means you
will pay him some large price"
NO." replied her informant; che is
very much in demand up at London,
Va SOuAoCt Out VIC nIO SIchb IftcuuS-
professional friends, you know-for I,
as l have told you, was an oculist my
self before my calamity befell me-"
The next day Myra learned that the
celebrity would arrive on the morrow.
If a "cure" was decided upon she would
have to spend three weeks in totally
dark chamber before the least ray of
light touched her eyes. This had in it
no hint Of hardship, for she would have
done so much more to regain her sight
But when morning came, and Elmerdale
brought her into the presence of the
newly arrived Doctor Abernethey, she 1
with distressful tremors.
''You are nervous, Miss Haughton,"
said the unfamiliar voice, quite gently.
Myra knetted both hands to keep down
4 wayward, hysteric sob. Twelve
30 much hope" she quavered. TITS
never left mel Mr.. Elmerdale knows;
be can tell You"
''Yes," F" she heard Elmerdale say; Miss
es