A. L. O. E.

“ Coldstream’s parting with Lawrence is over; both felt that they should never look on each other’s face on this side the grave, but that they should meet on the other side. The breeze fills out the swelling sails; the vessel bounds over the waves. The smell of the sea, the glitter on the waters, the sense of having only the blue sky above, exercised a sensible influence on both the Coldstreams. A slight tinge of colour came to Oscar’s pale, thin cheeks, and Io’s dark eyes brightened with something like pleasure. ”

“ Oscar’s reply was a heavy sigh, almost a groan.
Io looked up anxiously into his face. “O my beloved husband,” she cried, “you have now found out the secret of my sadness; and now that you know all, my soul is relieved of its burden. Will you not also open your heart? will you not tell me why your life has lost its brightness? There should be no secret between husband and wife.”
Oscar took both hands of his Io, and his eyes gazed into hers with an expression of mingled love and sorrow which she remembered to her dying day. “There should be no secret between us. ”

“ Pinfold gives sound advice, Thud,” said Oscar; “it is high time that you should be harnessed to regular work. I am afraid that you have not even begun to study the language.”
“Oh! no need to study it; I’ll drink it in,” replied Thud, with sublime indifference to anything like reproof. “I’ve a theory that language floats about in the air in invisible globules, like cholera or small-pox. We don’t set babies to learn grammar or idioms; they catch them exactly as they catch measles.”
“It is a pity that Dr. Pinfold is not here to benefit by your medical theory,” said Io playfully. ”

“ IN THE FOREST. Again the little cavalcade moved forward, and again Oscar heard a sweet voice warbling from the height of the howdah. Well he knew that the song was meant for his ear.
“Thank Heaven! Io is happy,” thought he; “happy in pure memories of the past, in the innocent joys of the present, and in the unclouded hope of the glory to come. What a strange fate it was that linked this bright, joyous being’s life to mine! Will Io miss me in the mansions of light? Amidst her thoughts of gladness will there be one of tender regret for one who loved her as no other man ever loved?” ”

“ What could so shut out a Christian from communion with God but sin? My beloved one’s life is as pure as mortal’s can be; there can be nothing in the present to weigh so heavily on his conscience as to crush out the spirit of prayer. Can it be possible that there has been something in the past which to one so sensitive to the least touch of evil, one who so abhors the smallest error, may appear to be a very serious sin? Oh that Oscar would confide all to his wife, to one who would not love him less whatever he might have done!”
Then Io’s thoughts fell naturally into the channel of prayer. ”

“ CONCLUSION. “O Oscar! this can be no penal settlement; it is a paradise, a perfect paradise of beauty!” was Io’s delighted exclamation as, aided by her husband, she stepped on shore. Imagination had pictured the Andamans as some hot waste of sand, or some burning rock, fit abode for criminals driven forth from their fellow-men; but perhaps the whole earth holds no fairer spot, none more favoured by nature, than these beautiful Eastern islands—“emeralds set in the ring of the sea.” There plants grow in the richest luxuriance; there verdure clothes the forest, and flowers spangle the earth. ”

“ Io could not have put such ideas into words, but they were working, and tearing her heart as a machine rends and wrenches a human limb entangled amongst its whirling wheels. She could hardly reason, but she keenly suffered. Hard did Io strive so to collect her ideas as to find out whether her new discovery would account for that gloom in her husband which had seemed to her so mysterious. Oscar had received no letter from her at Malta, none by the Channel pilot: had her apparent neglect caused him pain, or perhaps a sense of relief? ”

“ The curtain was dropped again over the picture of woe. “Let the past be—as far as possible—forgotten; and for the future,” thus mused Io, “is there not a pitying Father who hath promised that all things shall work together for good to them that love Him? Can I not trust that promise, and so lay down my burden of fears? I have so much, so very much, to make me thankful and happy. I am the cherished wife of one of the noblest of men. Oscar has wonderfully recovered from his distressing illness, and though everything is not yet bright, I believe—yes, I do believe—that joy is coming. ”

“ The reply came in a howl of mingled anger and pain from the prostrate rider. Oscar hastened to the spot where Thud, who had now raised himself to a sitting position, was roaring like a two-year-old child, and pressing his handkerchief to his mouth.
“Help me down, Oscar,” cried the pitying Io. “I must see how much my poor boy is hurt.”
“There is not much harm done, I think,” observed Mr. Coldstream.—“Stand up and shake yourself, Thud. There are certainly no bones broken; the road was perfectly soft. Leave off crying, Thud; tears are unworthy of any one but a baby. ”

“ Again the doctor gave way to his mirth. “You would make out the queen of night to be a kind of big bladder-ball! O Thucydides Thorn, when will you leave off playing at ninepins! You put up your wooden theories to let us have the fun of knocking them down.”
“It is I who knock down old wooden theories like ninepins,” said Thud, blinking like an offended owl. “I am aiming after something original and new. We learn by finding out the mistakes of our elders. Every generation stands on the heads of the last.” ”

“ Io admired the picturesque effect of the red light on huge trunks, gnarled roots, and overhanging boughs, and suppressed, as far as she could, all signs of fatigue and hunger. She could not help thinking of the possibility of leopards, even tigers, haunting those dark, desolate woods. Her ear was quick to detect the slightest sound which imagination might convert into a distant growl, and her glance anxiously scanned the thick undergrowth of bushes to detect the glare of the eye of any wild beast. Oscar had left his gun on one of the mules ”

“ Before the pillared portico stood a splendid carriage drawn by tall camels with trappings of scarlet and gold, preceded by outriders on gaily-caparisoned steeds. The Governor-General was going out to attend a review.
“I am just in time,” thought Io, as she threw open the door of her conveyance and sprang out. Through the little crowd of gaping Orientals waiting to see the Lord Sahib “eat the air,” past outriders, and all the glittering paraphernalia of princely state, glided Io Coldstream, too intent on her errand to heed anything around her. ”

“ Io, I have not only broken God’s law, but the laws of my country. Justice demands a victim. My cross is to let the world know my guilt, publicly to confess my crime and accept its penalty, even should it be a death of shame. ”

“ In refusing to speak for the Master may you not be burying a talent, may you not be hiding a light?”
Then Oscar raised his eyes to meet the gaze of Mark Lawrence. The gloomy expression in them was such as the chaplain could never forget, or the bitterness of the tone in which Coldstream replied to his friend’s remonstrance: “Would you think it meet to take an unrinsed glass from a publican’s counter and use it as a chalice?” Then, without waiting for a reply, Oscar turned on his heel and strode out of the veranda into the garden beyond.
“Is the poor fellow insane?” thought the chaplain. ”

“ It is too much the way with men to take all that is pleasant and soothing in Scripture and to leave out the sterner truths. That figure does imply the surrender, at any cost, of what is dear as a hand or an eye.”
There was rather a prolonged silence; then Io lovingly laid her hand on her husband’s arm, and softly said, “Do you not think that the greatest trial which we can ever be called on to bear is to lose one whom we love?”
“No; there is a heavier cross even than that,” muttered Oscar, as if speaking to himself rather than to his young wife. ”

“ Thud’s head was poised a little on one side, for this was a weighty subject.
“You had better make sure that your theory, whatever it may be, is founded on facts,” observed Coldstream.
“Theories first, facts come afterwards,” said Thud solemnly—an observation which made Oscar faintly smile, and Io burst into a silvery laugh.
“You will next have a theory that trees should be planted root upwards, and people walk on their heads!” cried she.
“You need not laugh,” said Thud, a little offended; “you women know nothing of logic. I can prove my assertion to be correct. ”

“ Coldstream spoke more freely to Lawrence of his grief than he had done to Io, for he was less afraid of inflicting pain. Lawrence gave heart-felt sympathy, and he gave consolation besides. The chaplain spoke of the tears of a David and the penitence of a Peter. He touched on the story of the woman deeply sunken in sin, who was offered freely the water of life by Him who was to die to procure it. Was not that woman to become a missionary to her own people? Was not David to prepare for the building of the Temple? Was not Peter to live an apostle and die a martyr? ”

“ The evangelist, in his own impressive and vehement way, denounced that love of the world and its pleasures which is found even in the secluded villages from which one might deem such temptations excluded.
“A worldly man is never satisfied with what he possesses. Let me have more houses, more lands, more buffaloes, more slaves, more clothes, more children and grandchildren, more gold and silver, more paddy and rice, more boats and vessels; let me be rich: this is his language. He thinks of nothing so much as of amassing worldly goods; of God and religion he is quite unmindful. ”

“ He noticed that Io now looked almost as sad as her husband, and Mark naturally attributed her sorrow to the too evident fact that something was hiding the light of God’s countenance from Oscar Coldstream. It was a cause of grief to the wife (of this Mark felt assured) that lips once eloquent for the Master were strangely sealed; that a sincere Christian, as the chaplain believed his friend to be, could not, or would not, enjoy the child’s privilege of approaching his Father’s table. The more earnest the wife’s piety, the deeper her sorrow if her husband could not participate in its comfort. ”

“ Over the rude table, on which former criminals had carved their names, a spotless white cloth was spread, covering every mark and unsightly stain. Before it knelt Oscar and his wife, with their missionary friends. It was a holy, peaceful service. Oscar felt that there was a blessing even for a sinner such as he. Blessed is he whose transgression is pardoned, and whose sin is covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not sin. ”

“ I am annoyed at your disappointment, and have been rebuking Thud pretty sharply; but he is so encased in self-complacency that it is not easy to touch him. He told me that the fall was entirely the fault of the pony.”
“I fear that poor Thud is a great trial to you, dear Oscar,” observed Io.
“He would have been a greater trial to those at home. I do not regret that we brought him. I own that if we had any one with whom to leave him, Thud should not, after this last prank, accompany us to Tavoy. But I cannot burden poor Lawrence, and Pogson is out of the question—so are the Cottles.” ”

“ This bird’s-eye view of a new world is very amusing. What a flight of parrots—lovely green, screaming parrots! And see that bird with flashing blue wings—such an exquisite metallic tint! Certainly, if our English birds excel those of the East in song, these far excel ours in plumage.”
With such cheerful chat Io Coldstream beguiled the way. Oscar encouraged his wife to talk, gathered for her wild flowers wherever he could see any remarkable for beauty, and bade Io employ Maha’s deft fingers in making garlands for the howdah. ”

“ In vain Thud tried to coax him to go on, then cautiously touched him up with the whip, Pinfold looking on and laughing.
“Give it him, Thud!” cried the doctor, bestowing on the tat a gratuitous whack with his own umbrella.
The unexpected blow from behind had instantaneous effect. Ma Ping suddenly bolted off at a pace which almost unseated his rider. Off came Thud’s pagri and hat; but he clung desperately to the pommel with which the native saddle was happily furnished, without the aid of which the youth would certainly have come to the ground. ”

“ Io kept repeating to herself, as she quitted the dark, dismal prison. “The Lord can make him happy yet; and as for me, it is happiness to be with him.”
Io did not find the palanquin at the entrance, for no one had expected her to quit the prison so soon. She stopped the first empty conveyance which she saw. “To Government House” was the direction which she gave to the driver. She had entered that lordly building but once before—on her arrival as a bride at Calcutta. Io had gone in goodly apparel, and her beauty had attracted much admiration. ”

“ I might still give you a husband’s protection, more than a husband’s love, and you should never know that marriage had linked you to one whom you might justly abhor. Io, do you not hate me?”
Io’s only reply was throwing herself on her husband’s breast, with her arms clinging round his neck. Oscar’s confession, made at cost of so much shame and anguish, made him seem dearer than ever.
“Oscar, I love you, oh so fondly! God loves you too, and He will forgive. ”

“ The servants were busy pitching the small tent which Coldstream had brought for his wife.
“I can’t sleep on the bare earth,” said Thud doggedly; “it is so hard, and I should catch my death of cold.”
“I am going to sleep on the ground,” observed Oscar. “We have plenty of rugs and wraps. I have often made my bed beneath a tree.”
“You, I daresay; but I’m different. I’ve a theory that development of brain makes the bodily frame more delicate, and that philosophers need to sleep softer and fare better than other men.” ”

“ Come back here, Maha; sing me the rest of your song.”
Maha obeyed at once, resumed her place at Io’s feet, and with an occasional glance at the picture beside her, went on in the same chanting tone:—
“Father God said, ‘My son and daughter, your Father will make and give you a garden. In the garden are seven different kinds of trees bearing seven different kinds of fruit; among the seven one is not good to eat. Eat not of its fruit; if you eat you will become old and will die: eat not. All I have created I give to you. Eat and drink with care. ”