Year: 1878

| SnaI-pO8 IN the village. ana an
anxious and hard worked but Mary
Anne tells me Mrs. Ogilvie has heard OF


Mrs. Blacks removal and is dreadfully
nervous about herself. "I hope she


will not frighten herself into it," adds


my wife.


eff she hadn't contracted it before
Vaecinated her, ! think she is pretty
! SAFE" I reply; ''but there is Just the


chance that she may have had the poison


in her previously"


Almost as / speak q message comes


from Mrs. Ogilvie, who "wishes to see


me professionally" NY heart sinks as


l seize my hat and follow the messenger;
and with too good reason. I find her
suffering from the first symptoms OF
smallpox; and in tWenty-four hours il
has declared itself unequivocally and
threatens to be bad case. try to keep
the nature Of her illness from her, but
in vain. She questions me closely, and
when she discovers the truth, gives way
| to burst of despair that is painful to
| witness. 81 shall be marked shall be
! hideousl !" she exclaims sobbing bitterly.
Poor Frank--he will hate me I"
| l vain try to comfort her, to convince
| her that in not one out of a hundred
cases does the disease leave dreadful
traces behind it; she refuses to be con-
sOled. And soon she is too i'll to be
reasoned with or indeed to know much
of her own state. She is an orphan and
has no near relatives for whom we can
send, so Mary Anne installs herself in the
sick-roOm as head nurse; and as / see her
bending loving over the poor, disfgured
face and ministering with tender hands
to the ceaseless wants of the invalid, my
wife is in my eyes beautiful exceedingly;
so does the shadow of a good deed cast
a glory around the most homely cOun-
tenance5


For some time Mrs. Ogilvie's life is in
great danger but her youth and good
constitution prevail against the grim
destroyer, and at length l am able to
pronounce all peril past.


But alas, alas all my hopes, all my
care, all my poor skill have been in vain
and the beauty which we have all ad-
mIred so much, and which has been so
precious to our poor patient, is g thing
of the past. She is marked slightly it is
true but the pure complexion is thick
and muddy, the once bright eyes are
heavy and dull, and the golden hair is
thin and lusterless. We keep 1t from her
as long as we can, but she soon discovers
it IN our sorrowful looks; and her hOr-
rCr, her agony, almost threaten TO unseat
her reason. My wife is with her night
and day, watching her like a mother,
using every argument she can think of
to console her, and above all cOunseling
with gentle words submission to the will
OF God. But her misery, after the first
shock, is not so much for herself as for
the possible effect the less Of her beauty
may have on her husband, who is now
daily expected. His ship has been at
sea, so we have been unable to write to
him; and only on his arrival in Ply
mouth Sound will he hear of his poor
young wife's illness and Disagreement.
Before her sickness she had been count
ing the hours, now she sees every day
60 past with a shudder, feeling that she
Is brought twenty-tOUr hours nearer to
the dread trial. At length his vessels
arrive, and l receive telegram telling
me when we msy expect him, and
begging me to break the news gently
TO his vile. She receives it with
flood of bitter tears and sobs,
cryIng out that he would hate and
lOathe her, and that she is absut to lose
all the happiness of her life. Ny wife
weeps with her, and ] am conscious of
choking sensation in nay threat as we
take leave of her half an hour before
Mr.. Ogilvie isexpected, and pray God to
bless and sustain her.


We are sitting in rather melancholy
mood after dinner, talking of the poor
young husband and wife, when Mr..
Ogilvie is announced, and I hasten to
the door to meet him.


. She will not see me" he says impet-
uOusly, coming in without any formal
greeting. "She has shut herself into
II, IL -. l.
tears that she is too dreadful to look
upon, that I shall cease to love her as
soon as I look upon her, and that she can
not face it." And then the strong man
falls into a chair with q sob.


@ It is not 30 bad as that" l begin.


don't Gaze how bad it il" he cries;
" she need not doubt my love. Ny poor
darling will always be the same 10 me,
whether she has lost her beauty or not"


Whereupon l extend my hand to him
and shake his heartily; and know my
wife has great difficulty in restraining
herself from envelOping him in her
mOtheTly arms and embracing him.


You must resort to stratsgem,"
say. Z" will go down to the cottage at
once and yOn follow me in ten minutes
with nay vile. I will try and coax Mrs.
Ogilvie to come out and speak to me,
and you must steal upon her unawares."


Mrs. Ogilvie at first refuses TO see or
speak to me; but l go up to her door and
am mean enough to remind her of my
wlfe's devotion to her, and to entTeat her
for her sake to come down to me.


" Where is Frank ?" she asks.


"I LETT him at home with Mary
Anne" l reply, feeling that / am worthy
of being a diplomatist at the court Of
st. Petersburg, as she opens the door and
and descends the stairs. I take her out
into the garden and begin to reDrove
her for her conduct, with assumed an
ger. Sne listens with eyes blinded by
tears. ], on the lookout for it, hear
the latch OF the garden gate click, but
she absorbed IN her sorrow does not no
tice it. lOOk up and see Frank Ogil-
vie's eyes fixed hungrily upon his wife
Her changed appearance must be a
great shock to him; but be bears it
bravely; and in moment he has sprung
forward, clasped her In his arms, snd
the Door SCARED face is hidden on his
true and loving heart


Then Mary Anne and L turned gently
away, and leave him 70 teach her that
there are things more valuable, of high
er worth, than mere b, auty of face or
form.


After all we do not lose her, for Mr..
Ogilvie comes into some money, leaves
the navy and purchases a small estate
IN our neighborhOod, on which they still
reside Mrs. Ogilvie Is no longer young
and mas q family of Isds and lassies
around her who inherit much Of their
mothers loveliness. But one OF the first
things she teaches them is not to place
a fictitious value ON it, 'for," she says,
'' I thought to much of mine, and God
took it from me-" No one ever hears
her regret the loss of her beauty; "for
through that trial, she tells my wife; Il
learned the true value OF my Franks
heart"


She simply worships her husband and