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Dodge's Miterry Haseum,
133
“You see, Jael,”: said Iorace, ' kindly,
“ how our case stands. Our marriage is il-
legal; no court of justice would uphold. it
for a moment. “If we !continue’ together,
loving one another as we do, we shall vio-
late every law of God ‘and man. «Is it not
better, then, to separate now, to remember
our affection as’a holy and beautiful dream
that‘came to cheer our lives? Sin might
give us a kind of happiness for a time, but
it would leave bitterness and sorrow and re-
morse behind. Do not think I love ‘you
less because I say, this—you are ‘dear as
ever tome. . The knowledge that you are
my sister does not give me a brother’s calm
‘affection for you. I still look upon you as
my wife, and love you as such. . When you
have left me, Jael, I shall think that God
has taken the bride He gave me.. I shall
think of’ you as one dead. | Would that you
had died before this sorrow came upon
you!”
He paused for a moment, and trembled
convulsively.
“ Now that the hour of parting has ‘really
come,” said’ he, “how can I let you go?
0, Jael! my hope! my love! my ‘life!
Jael! Jael!; Why did we not die together,
before this day dawned ? . How can I live
on, and know that you are far away, listen-
ing to other voices, smiling in other eyes?
Jael, the bitterness of death is upon me!
No agony can be worse than this!”
» He bowed his head above her and wept
bitterly. His tears fell upon. her face like
drops of molten lead. She threw her arms
around his neck, and uttered a low ery:
“O, let me die! .Let me die! . I cannot
bear this—it is far worse than death.. My
heart is breaking, Horace! » The room looks
dark; even your face seems strange to me.
I cannot breathe. Horace, darling Horace,
38 THIS Avan 9) ~ oy
> Her head fell upon his. breast, her eyes
closed heavily. Glenn supposed that she
was dead, and uttered a grateful prayer to
God. He could bear to lose her in this
way, but not through another! love, » He
could not bear to think that another might
clasp her in his arms when he was far from
her, that another head might be pillowed
upon the breast where his could never lie,
but he could have followed her to the grave
without a single murmur.
But this happiness was not for him. Jael
was not dead—she had only fainted. , He
bent above her, and. pressed his lips pas-
sionately upon hers. The touch aroused
her, and opening her eyes, she looked up
again into his face with a lost, bewildered
look. “A strange feeling, compounded of
thanksgiving and regret, awoke | within
Glenn’s heart when he knew that she still
lived.
» “ Darling, I was praying that you might
never look upon, my face again,” said he,
with a sad smile.
Jael understood him in an‘instant. « She
Pressed his hand.
4 Because you loved me, Horace. © ‘L wish
your prayer had been heard.”” |. :
-. It is better thus, I suppose.- And yet it
is @ very hard to see God’s mercy.” -
’ A. bustle was heard in’ the hall: 2 as he
apote. The heavy tread of men resounded
through the passage, and Mrs. Glenn Ingra-
ham’s voice directed them where to place
the burdens they bore. The trunks thun-
dered down with a heavy noise, and the
men passed out into the open air.’ Then
Mrs. Glenn Ingraham accompanied the mat-
ron into her own apartment, the door shut
with a complaining noise, and all was again
silent
Jael clung despairingly to her lover.
“ See,” said she, “ they are going to take
you from me now. Js this. better than
death ?.. Horace, kill me! Take my dag-
ger—yonder it lies—and. plunge it into my
heart. I would kiss the, hand that struck
me, and die happy, at your feet.”
“Hush, Jael! » The time. has mot. yet
come for you to die. A few more such sac-
fondly. Jael spoke.
“ You will not forget ime, my sister.
room. Above all,
I give him into your care.
him.”
“Twill, Jael.. I will be near him till he
leaves this place, and ever after, if God will
Be a sister to
rifices as this. are to be demanded. of. you,| permit it. .Trust in me, Jacl; I will be
before your cup will be full. ‘Martyr | faithful. Now, God bless you, and good
Jael!? Remember those. words.. The dy-| by.”
ing always speak in a spirit of propheey—
see how his prediction is about to be fulfill-
ed.. Say no more of death—it comes only
to the happy. . Those who love life for the
enjoyments it brings them, leave it soon;
but those who ‘wear sackcloth and ashes,
those who scourge themselves daily, and
fast and pray, wear their gloomy garments
for many years. Sorrow may kill me, Jael,
but never you. inherit a fatal disease—
consumption—but your constitution is like
that of our father, like iron. I am happier
than you, Jael, for I have the hope. of a
speedy release from my sufferings; you
must die daily a spiritual death, but, the
temporal one will be denied to you fora
long time. Jael, remember me—I cannot
say forget! We sacrifice enough by this
separation; surely we may pray for each
other's welfare. .I may not have long to en-
dure, Jael.. If this is the case, when you
hear that Iam dead”
“T shall rejoice that you are at rest; but
when Iremember your love, I shall weep
and refuse to be comforted.”
“Not so, my love. _ Do not ehed one tear
for me. Smile when they tell you the news,
and teach your heart to’ pray for a speedy
meeting, instead of weeping over my early
departure. I shall only go before to show
~| you the way.
As he spoke, a light | tap was heard at the
door, and Mrs. Glenn Tugraham said ten-
derly,
“ Ay children, I must part you now. It
is time that we were on our way.”
Jael turned pale and clung to her lov er.
Ile bowed his head in a fit, of silent agony
upon her breast. A. moment passed—he
looked up and strained her closely to his
breast. Their lips met, their eyes glared
wildly into each other’s depths. . Long, long
they stood in that passionate embrace—then
he drew her gently toward the door., His
hand was upon the latch—he ‘pressed one
last kiss upon her brow, and led her to her
mother, who waited in the hall with Olive
beside her. No other was there. | Mrs.
Glenn Ingraham had requested | all the in-
mates of the house to remain in their’own
rooms, that the lovers might part: with no
cold eyes looking curiously upon their ago:
ny. She laid; ‘her hand upon Horace’ 3
head as he stood before her.
“ God bless you, my son,” said’ she, ten-
derly. . “Do not hate me, Horace, for sepa-
rating you two. God knows I would wil-
lingly give her to you if I could.”.
Harace kissed her hand.
“Hate you? Never! You, are not to
blame because my heart is broken.
have not brought this sorrow upon us—that
guilt rests with the dead, and toward him I
can bear no malice. . Farewell, Mrs. Glenn
Tograham!; My own mother could not have
been’ kinder in this hour than you have
been. I shall never look upon your face
again, but I shall never forget you, May
God bless you.”
Te dropped her hand and turned toward
Jael, who :was speaking her last; words to
Olive. Both were weeping bitterly, for the
You |-
“She shook hands with Altha, and then
turned and ran rapidly up the stairs, lest
Jael should see the tears that filled her eyes.
Altha passed through the open door into the
yard. Horace followed with Jael. She
trembled so that she could scarcely walk;
he took her up in his arms, as if she had
been a little child, and bore her to the car-
riage. Altha sprang in, and turned to assist
her daughter, but she refused to enter. She
clung passionately to Horace Glenn.
“Mamma,” said she, faintly, “if you ever
loved me—if you love me now—do not take
me away from him. I shall die—go mad!
O, mamma, how cruel you are! Why did
you give me life, if you were to make ‘it so
bitter?”
Altha leaned forward with streaming eyes.
“ Horace, cau you not persuade her to
come ?, ‘This scene is killing us all.”
Glenn bent over her, pale as death, and
| whispered, passionately and imploringly,
“ Jael—sor my sake!”
In.an instant, she lay passively in his
arms. Ile placed her in the carriage; she
only kissed his forehead, and then sank back
upon the seat, and gazed mournfully upon
him. Te murmured, wildly, ~
“O God! ‘Can this be the last look ?”
Her caught her passionately to his heart,
and once more kissed her eyes, lips, cheeks
and forehead; then turned slowly away.
The carriage drove rapidly off; he paused
and gazed after it for a minute like one just
awaking from a dream, and then: turned
again to enter the house. Olive was watch-
ing him from her window; she saw that he
walked feebly and unsteadily. Suddenly he
staggered and fell, and a stream of blood
issued from his pale lips. He had broken a
blood-vessel.
With a scream of horror, Olive spraii?
down the stairs, and bent above him. She
tried to raise him, but in vain. Hurrying
back, she summoned assistance. ‘Two strong
men bore him up the stairs, and laid him
upon his own bed, while Olive, faithful to
the promise she had given, took her station
by his side. *
And while Jael, borne away at the swift-
est speed of four strong horsesy-was stretch-
ing her arms towards the dear home she had
left, and praying wildly to look upon her
lover’s face once more, he lay white and
silent upon his bed, like a blighted flower,
and all who stood around him deemed that
with the ebbing Night, his young life would
also ebb away.
Chapter Twelfth.
“ Life has dark secrets; and the hearts are few
That treasure not some sorrow from the world— —
A sorrow, silent, gloomy and unknown,
Yet coloring all the future from the past.
We see the eye subdued, the practised smile,
The word well weighed before it pass the Hp,
And know not of the misery within.
Yet there it works incessantly, and fear the time
0 come;
: For time Is terrible, avenging and betraying. »
GouE years had passed away. Another
grave had been made beside the lake,
and there they had laid. the young teacher, | *
Horace Glenn. . He had not died of. grief;
ho had lived to loarn the great leeson, how
two friends had learned to love each other ; to forget sorrow; and then died when hap-
piness smiled once more upon him. A vio-
You lent fever had carried him away, and he
will think of me when you sit alone in our,
Olive,. watch over him. !
was unconscious when he died. “A fair girl,
whom he had learned to love, ‘stood’ beside
hin with his hand clasped in hers; but in
the frenzy of those last moments, bis heart
went back to earlier days, and the name of
“Jael” »was forever upon his lips. «> She
came not, and he died, still praying earnest-
ly that he might see her face once more.
They laid him, by his own request, beside
the Professor.
Onc heart still mourns his untimely death ;
one form, still rounded and graceful, is ever
draped in weeds for his sake. She who
loved him living, still remembers him, dead,
and no other affection has been permitted
to enter her heart. It is hallowed ground,
because his image is shrined there. . Beau-
tiful mourner! happy is he for whom thou
weepest! Would that all might be so re-
membered and regretted !
Altha, too—the haughty, brilliant Altha—
laid silently beside the husband and child of
her womanhood. Jael had been left entirely
alone in the world. The old “ Abbey” was
sold, the property around made over toa
stranger, and she had departed—noneé knew
whither. Olive’s home was in Venice ; sie
was the wife of an Italian gentleman, of
good family and fortune. Emmie Ansel and
the two sisters had returned home. There
we will leave them. Their destiny was but
the common one; with them we have noth-
ing more to do.
Many changes had taken place in those
short years. Old friendships were broken
up—old friends buried or forgotten—old
memories banished from restless hearts.
Still flitted one form from Place to place,
never stopping, never staying ; still one face
‘was pale and sad—one heart ever crying out
in despair,
“Behold! the mark of Cain is upon ‘me!
Tama wanderer upon the face of the earth!”
That foot trod the summit of the Alps;
that hand caressed the dogs of St. Bernard ;
those eyes looked calmly into the burning
depths of Vesuvius,
Everywhere present, hurryi ing like arest-
less ghost to and fro, went she ; and though
peasants and strangers looked pityingly into
the sad countenance, there were none of her
own blood to send a thought after her; no
hearts that had ever beat against hers, to
long for herreturn. Alone she stood—alone
she passed from city to city.
Hushed and calm, silent and sorrowful,
seeking for rest, yet finding none, .ever
haunted by shadows of the past, went she,
the child of many prayers.
The windows of an apartment in one of
Venice’s deserted palaces, were thrown
open, and the evening breeze swept gently
through, stirring the tapestry upon the walls,
and drawing out the spirit of fragrance that
lingered in the flowers that filled a huge
vase of porphyry upon the pier-table.. An
wolian harp that hung there uttered a :plain-
tive melody as its strings trembled in. the
wind,
{To BE conrincED. 7°
—__
A Renanxaste Case OF TavuToro-
@y.—In the course of a Congressional de-
bate, one of the opposition charged one. of
the other party with an ungrammatical use
of the word that. A coadjutor of the’ of-
fender rose, and thus addressed the chair:
“Mr. President, I feel it my duty to de-
fend my colleague from, the’ charge ‘of false
grammars and, in so doing, I shall prove by
ny grammarian you please that that that
that that gentleman used, was’ in strict ac-
cordance with every rule of grammatical
construction.” wee