Holmes_Ethelyns_Mistake.txt topic ['13', '324', '378', '393']
as connected with was lived over again; then she
would talk of , and shudder as she recalled the dreary, dreadful
day when the honeysuckles were in blossom, and he came to make her
his wife.
" was wrong, all wrong. did not love him then," she said, "nor
afterward, on the prairie, nor anywhere, until went away, and found
what it was to live without him."
" do you love him now?" asked her once when he sat alone with
her.
was no hesitancy on her part, no waiting to make up an answer.
was ready on her lips, ", oh, yes!" and the weak arms lifted
themselves up and were wound around his neck with a pressure almost
stifling. much of this was real could not tell, but he
accepted it as such, and waited impatiently for the day when the full
light of reason should return and be restored to him. was
but little of her past life which he did not learn from her ravings, and
so there was less for her to tell him when at last the fever abated, and
his eyes met hers with a knowing, rational expression. was alone
with her when the change first came. rain, which had fallen so
steadily, was over, and out upon the river the sunlight was softly
falling. 's earnest entreaty, had gone for a little
exercise in the open air, and was walking slowly up and down the broad
piazza, while slept, and kept his vigils by .
, too, was sleeping quietly, and saw the great drops of
perspiration standing upon her brow and beneath her hair. knew it was
a good omen, and on his knees by the bedside, with his face in his
hands, he prayed aloud, thanking for restoring to them, and
asking that they might all be taught just how to make her happy. faint
sound between a moan and a sob roused him and, looking up, he saw the
great tears rolling down 's cheeks, while her lips moved as if they
would speak to him.
", dear old ! is it you, and are you glad to have me back?" she
said, and then all 's pent-up feelings found vent in a storm of
tears and passionate protestations of love and tenderness for his
darling sister.
remembered how she came there, and seemed to understand why was
there, too; but the rest was a little confused. there,
or had she only dreamed it?
" is here," said, and then, with the same frightened,
anxious look her face had so often worn during her illness, said:
" else has sat by me and held my head and hands, and kissed me!
, tell me--was that ?--and did he kiss me, and is he glad
to find me?"
was gazing fixedly at , who replied: ", is here. 's
glad to have you back. 's kissed you more than forty times. don't
remember nothing.''
" the divorce, --is the story true, and am not his wife?"
" never heard of no divorce, only what you said about one in your
tantrums. would as soon have cut off his head as got such a thing,"
replied.
knew she could rely on what said, and a heartfelt "
! is more than deserve!" fell from her lips, just as a step was
heard in the hall.
"'s ,--he's coming," whispered, and hastily withdrawing he
left the two alone together.
was more than an hour before even ventured into the
room, and when she did she knew by the joy written on 's face and
the deep peace shining in 's eyes that the reconciliation had been
complete and perfect. error had been confessed, every fault
forgiven, and the husband and wife stood ready now to begin the world
anew, with perfect love for and confidence in each other. had
acknowledged all her faults, the greatest of which was the giving her
hand to one from whom she withheld her heart.
" you have that now," she said. " can truly say that love you far
betten than ever frank was loved, and know you to be worthy,
too. have been so wicked, ,--so wilful and impatient,--that
wonder you have not learned to hate my very name. may be wilful still.
old hot temper is not all subdued, though hope am a better woman
than used to be when cared for nothing but myself. has been so
good to me who have forgotten so long; but we will serve
together now."
talked she had nestled closer and closer to her husband, whose
arms encircled her form and whose face bent itself down to hers, while a
rain of tears fell upon her hair and forehead as the strong man,--the
grave and the honored ,--confessed where he, too, had been
in fault, and craving his young wife's pardon, ascribed also to the
praise for bringing them both to feel their dependence on , as well
as to see this day, the happiest of their lives.
, as she could bear it, the family came in one by one to see
her, . , ., waiting till the very last, and refusing to go
until had expressed a wish to see her.
" was pretty hard on her, s'pose, and it would not be strange if she
laid it up against me," she said to ; but had nothing
against her now.
deep waters through which she had passed had obliterated all traces
of bitterness toward anyone, and when her mother-in-law came in she
feebly extended her hand and whispered: "'m too tired, mother, to talk
much, but kiss me once for the sake of what we are going to be to
each other."
. was not naturally a bad or a hard woman, either. was
only unfortunate that her ideas had run in one rut so long without any
jolt to throw them out. had greatly softened her, and
's words touched her deeply.
" was mighty mean to you sometimes, , and 've been sorry for
it," she said, as she stooped to kiss her daughter-in-law, and then
hurried from the room, " to think, she called me mother," she said
to , to whom she reported the particulars of her interview with
--"me, who had been meaner than dirt to her--called me mother,
when used to mistrust her she didn't think any more of me than if 'd
been an old squaw. shan't forget it right away."
the sweetest, most joyful tears shed that day were those
which came to her eyes when they brought her , her namesake, the
little three-year-old, who pushed her brown curls back from her baby
face with such a womanly air, and said:
"'se glad to see . prays for her ever' night.
told me so. loves you, ."
was a beautiful little creature, and her innocent prattle and
engaging manners did much toward bringing the color back to 's
cheeks and the brightness to her eyes. days of convalescence were
blissful ones, for now there was no shadow of a cloud resting on the
domestic horizon. husband and wife there was perfect love, and
in his newly born happiness, forgot the ailments which had sent
him an invalid to , while , surrounded by every luxury which
love could devise or money procure, and made each hour to feel how dear
she was to those from whom she had been so long estranged, grew fresh,
and young, and pretty again; so that when, early in , . .
came to to see her niece, she found her more
beautiful far than she had been in her early girlhood, when the boyish
had paid his court to her. little was dead. life
had literally been worried out of her; and during those days,
when was watched and tended so carefully, she had turned herself
wearily upon her pillow, and just as the clock was striking the hour of
midnight, asked of the attendant:
" come yet?"
" yet. you want anything?"
", nothing. mother here?"
" was tired out, and has gone to her room to rest. call her?"
", no matter. in her crib? bring her here. mind
if you do wake her. ' the last time."
so the little sleeping child was brought to the dying mother, who
would fain feel that something she had loved was near her in the last
hour of loneliness and anguish she would ever know. ,
disappointment, and cruel neglect had been her lot ever since she became
a wife, but at the last these had purified and made her better, and led
her to the 's feet, where she laid the little child she held so
closely to her bosom, dropping her tears upon its face and pressing her
farewell kiss upon its lips. she put it from her, and bidding the
servant remove the light, which made her eyes ache so, turned again upon
her pillow, and folding her little, white, wasted hands upon her bosom,
said softly the prayer the taught, and then glided as softly
down the river whose tide is never backward toward the shores of time.
* * * * *
one came home from the young men's association which he
attended so often, his head fuller of champagne and brandy than it was
of sense, and every good feeling blunted with dissipation. the
whose pale face had been to him so constant a reproach was gone
forever, and only the lifeless form was left of what he once called his
wife. was buried in , and they made her a grander
funeral than they had given to her first-born, and then the household
want on the same as ever until . conceived the idea of
visiting her niece, . . , and taking her grandchild with
her. the sake of the name she was sure the little girl would be
welcome, as well as for the sake of the dead mother. she was
welcome, more so even than the stately aunt, whose deep mourning robes
seemed to throw a kind of shadowy gloom over the house which she found
so handsome, and elegant, and perfectly kept that she would willingly
have spent the entire winter there. was not invited to do this, and
some time in she went back to her home, looking out on
, but not until she had eaten a dinner with .
, senior, at whose house the whole family were assembled on
that occasion.
was much good cheer and merriment there, and , in her rich
crimson silk which had surprised her with, was the queen of all,
her wishes deferred to, and her tastes consulted with a delicacy and
deference which no one could fail to observe. was
there, too, waiting upon the table with , who insisted upon standing
at the back of 's chair, just as he had seen the waiters do in
, and would have his mother ring the silver bell when anything was
wanted. was a happy family reunion, and a meet harbinger of the
peaceful days in store for our heroine--days which came and went so
fast, until winter melted into spring, and the spring budded into
blushing summer, and the summer faded into the golden autumn, and the
autumn floated with feathery snowflakes into the chilly winter and
came again, bringing another meeting of the . this
time it was at the governor's house in , and another was added
to the number--a pretty little waxen thing, which all through the
elaborate dinner slept quietly in its crib, and then in the evening,
when the gas was lighted in the parlors, and . was there in
his gown, behaved most admirably, and lay very still in its father
's arms, until it was transferred from his to those of the
clergyman, who in the name of the , the , and the
baptized it " ."