Year: 1874




long months but their mutual troubl


brought back some of the old tende


feeling which he had thought dead fol


ever.


She did not return the caress, she dit


not even look at him, but sudden RUS
of tears overfowed her eyes as she ben


ner face to her child's and kissed tn


lips now growing cold in death.


Little Nellie died in her fathers arms


With agony unutterable he saw the wax


en- lids close over the sweet blue eyes


and felt the little form grow cold anC


stitf.as he held it. Remorseful Thoughts


haunted him continually, and the vision


OF Mrs Clyde that rose before his mind


eye gave him no pleasure, with the pale


sad countenance Of his wife before him


His mind was whirlpool of varied feel
| ings and emotions. He thought of hi,


early married days, and the bright hope.


with which he and Mary set out in life


of their late estrangement and his mac


passion for a woman who was the wife o


another. and it seemed to him though he
was in terrible nightmare
| He was in that state of mind when cir.
cumstances could have power to sway
him either for good or evil Had he met
Mrs. Clyde at that time, and come under
the influence of her destinations, he
might have been irrevocably lost, but in
these first hours of sorrow he did not
seek her presence. On the contrary he
felt strangely drawn toward his wife.
She seemed so sorrowtul and broken
hearted, that he longed to say some
thing to comfort her, even though it
might be no more than the sympathy
that brother might offer a sister.


Mary was so quiet and reserved that
he had no means of judging her feelings
toward himself, and sometimes he hall
thought that the old affection had died
in her heart even as he believed it dead
in his own


The remains of little Nellie were placed
in the grave her clothes were folded and
laid away, her voice was hushed in the
house, and the light of her presence had
left it forever. When it was all over,
reaction came upon Mary. She sank
down utterly helpless, fever set in, and
the doctor who came to see her shook
his head gloomily


Its a chance if she ever gets well,
he said, there is some trouble here that
dates further back than the death of
her child. Mind and body are utterly
exhausted, and she has been dying by
inches for months past. Nothing but
the most devoted care can save her now


Herman heard and understood For
the first time he realized how woman
could prove a martyr to her feelings
He took his place in the sick room,
scarcely leaving it to eat or sleep.


"What does it matter if give my life
for hers" he said to himself l might as
well die as live | will atone for my past
neglect in this way.


He watched by her bedside night and
day, and listening 10 her delirious raw
ings, he learned how devoted and un-
changeable was the love which he had
cast aside for an unholy passion.


In her delirium she talked almost in
cessantly, and it added ten-fold to his
late infatuation, and yet had maintained
such strict silence upon the subject
Sometimes she would speak of their early
days as though living them over, and
would call him by fond, endearing names, !
and tell him how happy she should try
to make him, and what lovers they would |
be all their lives; and often he could |
not refrain from weeping as he listened. |
w atchIng and listening thus by his wifes |
bedside, he began to realize the pitfall on
whose brink he had been standing, and
suddered that he had come so near fall |
ing into its depths One day Mrs Clydes
dainty card was sent into his wife's sick
room with a penciled request to see him,
t only TOR moment. For little space
ne hesitated, but Mary's voice, whisper
ng just then of the past in words of
owing kindness, decided him. He wrote
on the back of the card, ~ can not leave
ny sick wife even for moment, and
sent it to the lady who was awaiting him
n the drawing room. She went away
but by no means in despair
of regaining her influence over him.


The weary days passed by and at last
Mary began to recover. When she re-
gained her consciousness, her first bought
vas for Herman. She seemed to forget
Ill the estrangement and sorrow of the
past months, and as she looked into his
weary, care-furrowed face she said,
Darling, you have watched too much
am afraid you will be sick"


His eyes were dimmed with tears as he
oent down and kissed her. Never mind
me-" he said 'if only YOU can get we'll


1t was incomprehensible to Herman
now the old feelings crept back into his
leart. When the change begun he could
not tell, but every word from those pale
ips had become as precious to him as
pearls. Every day the feeling strength
med, and he wondered how he could
ever have been so blind as to imagine
hat he had ceased to love his wife He
1etted and carressed her as he would
IN infant, and her recovery was material
Y FASTENED by his affectionate attentions
w hen she was strong enough to bear it.
he made a full confession, and asked her
% forgive him and take him back into
ler confidence.


ut was as much my fault as yours,
vas her answer; Il would have tried
harder to keep your love, but l did not
know how. If you had realized my feel
ngs when | seemed so cool and sarcastic
you would have known better how to ap-
oreciate me. There has never been a
moment of my married life that have
1ot loved you with all my heart


A new experience had come to Her
nan and Mary. Their hearts had been
ried in the bitter school of aff1iction,
md they realized now that love is a ten
ler plant that needs nourishing with the
most Jealous care lest it languish or
vither away,


When Herman was at liberty once
more to attend to business, and the de
nands of society, Mrs Clyde sought him
again and again, and tried her sweetest
in vain. He could now
ook upon his late infatuation in its true
light, and she had no power to charm
him to her side again because of the tai
sman of love in his own home. Never
in the early days of girlhood had Mary
tried harder so render herself agreeable
than now. Though the freshness of
youth had departed, she was still fine
and her effort to be cheerful
and please her husband lent charm to
her manner that made her really fas-
oinating woman.


She entered eagerly into whatever in
her husband She read the
highest toned literature and the news of