Holmes_Darkness_and_Daylight.txt topic ['13', '324', '378', '393']
yet," and he lifted gallantly one of her chestnut
curls, just as he used to do in years agone, when she was
.
little act recalled so vivedly the scenes of other days that
burst into a flood of tears, and hurried from the room to
the parlor adjoining, where, unobserved, she could weep again over
the hopes forever fled. left to himself, with the exception
of little , had leisure to look about him, descrying
ere long the life-sized portrait of hanging on the wall.
an instant he stood before what was to him, not so much a picture
painted on rude canvas, as a living reality--the golden-haired
angel, who was now as closely identified with his every thought
and feeling as even herself had ever been. had followed
him over land and sea, bringing comfort to him in his dark hours
of pain, coloring his dreams with rainbow hues of promise, buoying
him up and bidding him wait a little--try yet longer, when the
only hope worth his living for now seemed to be dying out, and
when at last it, the wonderful cure, was done, and those gathered
around him said each to the other " will see," he heard nothing
for the buzzing sound which filled his ear, and the low voice
whispering to him, " did it--brought the daylight straight from
heaven. said might--and did. takes care of you."
told him that he had fainted from excess of joy, but
believed that had been with him all the same, cherishing that
conviction even to this hour, when he stood there face to face
with her, unconsciously saying to himself, " beautiful
. all my imaginings of you never saw aught so fair as
this. is beautiful, but not--"
" beautiful as was, am ?" said a voice behind him, and
turning round, drew to his side, and encircling her
with his arm answered frankly,
", my child, you are not as beautiful as ."
" in me, are you not? me honestly," and
peered up half-archly, half-timidly into the eyes whose glance she
scarcely yet dared meet.
" can hardly call it disappointment," answered, smiling
down upon her. " are different-looking from what supposed,
that is all. you are much like what remember your mother
to have been, save that her eyes were softer than yours, and her
lip not quite so proudly curved."
" other words, show by my face that am a , and
something of a spitfire," suggested , and rejoined,
" think you do," adding as he held her a little closer to him,
" been earlier blessed with sight, should have known
could not tame you. should only have spoiled you by indulgence."
at this point, little came in, and taking her in her
arms, said,
" wanted to call her , after myself, as thought it might
please you; but said no, she must be ,"
" so," returned , moving away from the picture, "
can never call another by the name once called you," and this
was all the sign he gave that the wound was not quite healed.
it was healing fast. influences were already doing him
good, and when at last supper was announced, he looked very happy
as he took again his accustomed seat at the table, with
opposite just where she used to be, and , sitting at
his right. was a pleasant family party they made, and the
servants marvelled much to hear 's hearty laugh mingling
with 's merry peal.
night, when the moon came up over the hills,
it looked down upon the four-- and , and ,
sitting upon the broad piazza as they had not sat in years,
a little apart from the rest, and between her husband and
, holding a hand of each, and listening intently while the
latter told them how rumors of a celebrated oculist had
reached him in his wanderings; how he had sought the rooms of that
oculist, leaving them a more hopeful man than when he entered; how
the hope then enkindled grew stronger month after month, until the
thick folds of darkness gave way to a creamy kind of haze, which
hovered for weeks over his horizon of sights growing gradually
whiter and thinner, until faint outlines were discovered, and to
his unutterable joy he counted the window panes, knowing then that
sight was surely coming back. did not tell them how through all
that terrible suspense seemed always with him; he would not
like to confess how superstitious he had become, fully believing
that was his guardian angel, that she hovered near him, and
that the touch of her soft, little hands had helped to heal the
wound gaping so cruelly when he last bade adieu to his native
land. was not a spiritualist. utterly repudiated their
wild theories, and built up one of his own, equally wild and
strange, but productive of no evil, inasmuch as no one was
admitted into his secret, or suffered to know of his one
acknowledged sphere where reigned supreme. was something
he kept to himself, referring but once to during his
narrative, and that when he said to ,
" remember, darling, told me in her letter that she'd keep
asking to give me back my sight."
cared but little by whose agency this great cure had been
accomplished, and laying her head on 's knee, just as a
girl she used to do, she wept out her joy for sight restored to
her noble benefactor, reproaching him for having kept the good
news from them so carefully, even shutting his eyes when he wrote
to them so that his writing should be natural, and the surprise
when he did return, the greater.
's servant came up to accompany her home, and she
bade the happy group good night, her heart beating faster than its
wont as said to her at parting, " was going to offer my
services, but see am forestalled. usual luck, you know," and
his black eyes rested a moment, on her face and then wandered to
where sat. he mean anything by this? the waves of
time, which had beaten and battered his heart so long, brought it
back at last to its first starting point, ?
only can tell. believed his youthful passion had died out years
ago, that matrimony was for him an utter impossibility.
had been comparatively happy across the sea, and he was happier
still now that he was at home, wishing he had come before, and
wondering why it was that the sight of did not pain him, as
he feared it would. liked to look at her, to hear her musical
voice, to watch her graceful movements as she flitted about the
house, and as the days and weeks went on he grew young again in
her society, until he was much like the to whom she once
said, " will be your wife," save that his raven hair was tinged
with grey, making him, as some thought, finer-looking than ever.
and he was like a dearly beloved brother; while to
and he was all the world. was very proud of little
, but was his pet, as she was every body's who knew her,
and she ere long learned to love him better, if possible, than she
did her father, calling him frequently "her oldest papa," and
wondering in her childish way why he kissed so tenderly as often
as she lisped out that dear name.
now but little more remains to tell. is four months since
came home, and the hazy summer sun shines o'er the
hills, bathing in its soft, warm rays, and
falling upon the tall bare trees and the withered grass below,
carpeted with leaves of many a bright hue. the velvety sward,
which last summer showed so rich a green, the children are racing
up and down, 's cheeks glowing like the scarlet foliage he
treads beneath his feet, and 's fair hair tossing in the
autumn wind, which seems to blow less rudely on the little girl
than on her stronger older brother. one of the iron seats
scattered over the lawn sits ; watching them as they play,
not moodily, not mournfully, for grief and sorrow have no lodgment
in the once blind 's heart, and he verily believes that he
is as happy without as he could possibly have been with her.
is almost everything to him now that a wife could be
consulting his wishes before her own, or 's, and making all
else subservient to them. royal sovereign ever lorded it over
his subjects more completely than could over ,
if he chose, for master and servants alike yield him unbounded
deference; but is far too gentle to abuse the power vested
in his hands and so he rules by perfect love, which knows no
shadow of distrust. gift of sight has compensated for all his
olden pain, and often to himself he says, " would hardly be blind
again for the sake of 's first affections."
calls her now, just as he used to do, and knows
that only a scar is left, as a memento of the fearful sacrifice.
morning has broken at last, the darkness passed away, and
while basking in the full, rich daylight, both and ,
and wonder if they are the same to whom the world was once
so dreary. over is any darkness brooding.
cannot forget the peerless boon she throw away when she
deliberately said to , " will not walk in your
shadow," and the love she once bore him is alive in all its force,
but so effectually concealed that few suspect its existence.
goes often to , staying sometimes hours, and
, with his opinion of the "gay widow" somewhat changed, has
more than once hinted at how he thinks these visits
will end. the servants scoffed, at the idea, while and
look curiously on, half hoping is right, and so that
matter remains in uncertainty.
the fields, still lies a mass of shapeless
ruins. has talked of rebuilding it as a home for
his children, but as has always opposed it and is
indifferent, he will probably remain at .
to the south, the autumn winds blow softly around ,
where 's negroes are living as happy under the new
administration as the old, speaking often of their beautiful
mistress who, when the winter snows fall on the hills,
will wend her way to the southward, and fires will again
be kindled upon the hearthstones left desolate so many years.
is she, whose little grave lies just across the field forgotten.
is her memory within the hearts of all who knew and
loved her, while away to the northward where the cypress and
willow mark the resting-place of 's dead, a costly
marble rears its graceful column, pointing far upward to the sky,
the home of her whose name that marble bears. "." is all.
laudations deeply cut tell what she was or where she died.
"." more. yet this single word has a power to
touch the deepest, tenderest feeling of two hearts at least,
's and 's--speaking to them of the little golden-haired
girl who crossed so innocently their pathway, striving hard to
efface all prints of her footsteps, caring to the last for her
" boy" and the "" she loved so well, and calling to
them as it were, even after the rolling river was safely forded,
and she was landed beside the still waters in the bright, green
fields of .
now to the sweet little girl and the noble man who, through
the mazy labyrinths of and of , have grown so
strongly into our love, whose faces were familiar as our own,
whose names were household words, over whose sorrows our tears
have fallen like rain, and in whose joys we have rejoiced, we bid
a final adieu. to thee, beautiful . " hath none
fairer lost. none purer gained." to thee forever,
and blessings, rich and rare, distil like evening dew upon the
dear head of the brave-hearted, generous hero .