Mrs. Georgie Sheldon

“ Editha, there is; I need you; my heart has never ceased to cry out for you; my life is miserable and aimless without you. Come to me and comfort me, and let me try to win back the light in your eyes, the color to your cheeks and lips, and nurse you back to health. I do not ask, I do not expect, that you can learn to love me at once as you have loved, but if you will only let me take care of you, give me the right to love you all I wish, I do believe there may be something of peace for you yet even in this world. But I cannot see you die while you are so young and bright. ”

“ Tom returned, looking down upon his emaciated hands, and thinking of his bandaged limb, which was still very sore.
“I suppose you would not think that the wound I gave you, and the terrible sickness which has followed, were blessings, would you, Tom?” Earle asked, with a smile, as he noticed the look and divined his thought.
“Hardly that, sir, when my reason tells me how it is all to end; but, sir, I’ll say this much, my own mother couldn’t have been kinder, nor given me better care; and, for the first time in my life, I’ve learned what it is to trust a man!” ”

“ Would it be proper?
“Editha, have I been deceived all this while? Have I been persecuting you with my attentions, while you loved another?” he cried, in consternation, as he marked that startled flush, and intuitively knew its cause.
She looked up into his white, pained face, and pitied him from the depths of her tender heart.
“Mr. Tressalia,” she said, with sudden resolution, “it is cruel to allow you to hope when there is no hope. I will make you my confidant. You are noble and good, and you will not betray my trust. What you have said—is true.” ”

“ He would do anything so that she need not die; he would “trample upon every tendril of affection reaching out after her,” as she had said regarding her love for Earle, and become only the true and faithful friend, if by so doing he could comfort and perchance save her.
Something of the struggle that this resolve cost him could be traced in the pale but resolute face, and in his quivering lips.
“Editha,” he said, solemnly, as if recording a vow, and still clasping those small hands, “it shall be as you wish; I will never utter another word of love to you; I will be your steadfast friend.” ”

“ With a fearful look of rage and hate convulsing his features, he leaned toward Earle and hissed:
“I would crush you this instant if I could; there is nothing of all the world’s ills too horrible for me to wish upon you, and I will yet be revenged upon you for what I have suffered this day. I will yet make you feel the power of my hate!” and he glanced darkly toward Editha as he said this.
Earle’s eyes involuntarily followed his look, and the bitterness of death seemed upon him as he realized that they two would have a life-long sorrow to bear. ”

“ Madam’s prophecy had come true, and he had at last found the “woman whom he should marry,” and they are as quietly, calmly happy as they could ever hope to be in this world, neither feeling, perhaps, the fervor of a first passion, but loving earnestly and with an enduring affection that would grow riper with every year.
It was this gentle woman’s face that had come, unbidden, to Paul Tressalia’s mind on that day when madam had told him that he would yet find one good and true who would fill the wants of his nature better than Editha could ever do. ”

“ I am rising higher on the ladder of prosperity every day, and money flows in rapidly upon me from every side. If my business abroad proves as successful as it has here, I have reason to hope that great good in a worldly point of view is coming to me—just what that is I cannot explain to you now—but under the circumstances I feel that I cannot be silent any longer. I cannot go away from you without speaking the words I have so longed to utter—to tell you of the deep and mighty love I have had to chain as with iron bands for a long time. Editha, I have loved you for more than half a dozen years. ”

“ Sumner Dalton asked, helplessly, and searching that noble face with painful earnestness, as if he could tell him.
“The future means ‘heaven’ to those who are ready for it,” was the grave, dignified reply.
“Yes, yes; but to those who are not ready for it?” came breathlessly from the blue lips of the sufferer.
“All may be ready for it if they will,” Earle answered, in low, sweet tones. Then seeing how excited Mr. Dalton was becoming, he added: “You must rest now—you have talked long, and are very weary. ”

“ Editha said, with a shudder.
“He is not here, and we must take counsel of each other. My darling we have some stern facts to look in the face. All——”
His courage failed him for the moment, and it seemed as if his reason was forsaking him.
After a while he went on:
“All our former hopes are crushed and destroyed. Oh, why were we ever permitted to love each other as we have done, only to suffer thus? But, Editha, I cannot—I do not feel that I ought to go back and leave you here with him. Will you come with me to Wycliffe and share my home—your brother’s home?” ”

“ A shade of bitterness passed over the young man’s face at her last words, and then the least smile of scorn curled his fine lips.
He had never experienced very much respect for Sumner Dalton; he knew him to be a man devoid of principle, of small mind, and smaller soul; but he was Editha’s father, and he could speak no word against him. He saw how ashamed and uncomfortable she felt to be obliged to make this humiliating confession regarding her only parent, while he admired the fine sense of honor that would not allow her to shrink from her duty in telling him. ”

“ He has won her love away from you; it is not fair that he should have everything and you nothing.”
“There is no true love without sacrifice,” came to him as if softly wafted upon the breath of some good angel. “If you truly love Editha Dalton—if it is a pure and unselfish love, you will do right and let her be happy, no matter what the cost is to yourself. Would she respect you? Would she honor you? Would she be proud to call you friend, as she once said, if, convinced of the right, you wilfully do wrong?” ”

“ Earle, without waiting for a reply, proceeded to relate to him the story of Editha’s relationship to himself.
“It is killing me,” he said, when he had finished. “I rebel every day against the cruel fate that has separated us, for I love her only as a man can love the woman who should be his wife, and shall love her thus until I die. You love her, also; and perhaps, if you can win her, you both may yet know much of domestic peace. If I cannot conquer my sinful heart I may die, and you will then regain what you have lost, while Editha will, after all, be mistress of Wycliffe.” ”

“ But his step was as free and proud, his head as erect, his gaze as clear and unflinching as before any one had dared to accuse him of having robbed his fellow-man, or he had served a criminal’s sentence.
And why not?
He had not sinned; he had done no wrong; he had never wilfully harmed a human being in all his life. His own conscience told him he was as true and noble a man at heart as any that walked the earth; and he would not sacrifice his self-respect because, upon circumstantial evidence, he had been obliged to serve out a sentence in a State prison for another man’s crime. ”

“ Earle said, trying to speak hopefully.
Editha sighed.
The future looked dark enough at the best, she thought.
“If we could but have had more time—if you might only have another trial. Could you not have appealed, Earle?” she asked.
He shook his head sadly.
“It could have done no good. The really guilty ones have covered their tracks, and hidden their booty so effectually, that we could get no clue. But do not grieve for me, my little friend. Other innocent men have suffered for the guilty, and it can be no harder for me than it was for them. ”

“ But if you really want to try to become a good man, I am willing to help you. I will be your friend; I will give you employment as soon as you are able for it, and as long as you show a disposition to live aright, I will keep the secret of your past, and no harm shall ever come to you on account of it. Now tell me, Tom, if you are willing to make the trial? Shall we start fair and square from this moment, and see how much better we can make the world for having lived in it?” and Earle turned to the astonished man with a frank, kindly smile on his earnest, handsome face. ”

“ Her eyes lighted with tenderness at the mention of herself, but she started as if in sudden pain, her fair face flushing a vivid crimson, as she read and involuntarily repeated the name signed at the bottom.
“Editha! Mr. Tressalia, you never told me what your friend’s name is,” and he thought her lips quivered slightly, as if at the remembrance of some sad incident of the past.
“No; I usually call her Miss Dalton when speaking of her to others. It is the dearest name in the world to me,” he added, with a slight huskiness in his voice, “though I never utter it without pain.” ”

“ Earle replied, but looking disappointed nevertheless. It really seemed to him as if something told him he must not leave her behind. “I would rather come to you with my hands full,” he added; “and Editha, if I am successful in my business abroad, I feel that even your father, with all his prejudice against me, will be proud to give you to me.”
“That settles it, then Earle; we shall wait; for it is better to win than to displease him. But I shall miss you; it is hard to let you go,” she said, with a quiver in her voice. ”

“ CHAPTER XXXIII
“I OWE YOU NOTHING” “Oh, why did I not know of this?” groaned Sumner Dalton, beating his brow with his hands. “I was, after all, the legal husband of the heiress of Wycliffe. All these years I might have occupied that proud position, and with unlimited wealth at my command. It is too much—too much to bear. What evil genius has been pursuing me all my life, that I should have missed it all?”
“That ‘evil genius,’ as you term it, was but your own villainy—the spirit that rules in your own evil heart. You sought to ruin an innocent girl, and you overreached yourself. ”

“ My heart is constantly rebelling against the unjustness, as it seems to me, of it all. Why did not some instinct warn me that Earle was my brother before I had learned to love him so well?” she concluded, wildly.
“Hush, dear,” madam said, with gentle reproof, but her fine face was very grave and troubled. “We cannot understand the why of a great many things; we know that they are, and we have no right to question the wisdom of anything that is beyond our comprehension; but I am greatly interested in this sorrow of yours and the young Marquis of Wycliffe. ”

“ Editha, with her heart saddened from her recent bereavement, would have much preferred remaining quietly at home; feeling, too, that there was more of comfort there in its large, airy, and beautiful rooms than in a crowded, fashionable hotel, where, at the most, she could have but two or three apartments, and those comparatively small and close.
Then she had no heart for the glitter and confusion of society; those two dead faces, so cold and fixed, were too fresh in her memory for her to take any pleasure in the gayeties of the world. ”

“ Earle Wayne’s enemy was utterly routed at last; he had stormed a citadel by a method of warfare hitherto untried, and it lay in ruins at his feet.
“I—I’m afraid I do not quite understand. You will not have me arrested or tried—I am to be a free man?” Tom Drake breathed, in low, suppressed tones.
“No; if you are sentenced to drag out a weary term of years as a convict, you would become discouraged, and be ready for almost any desperate deed if you should live to return; and, Tom, I have come to believe that you would really like to lead a different life from what your past has been.” ”

“ Sumner Dalton hated him. He hated him for what he had so dishonorably learned regarding him—who and what he was—and for the relationship which he bore to that face which he had seen in his mysterious package.
He hated him for the interest which Editha manifested in him, and also because Richard Forrester had desired him to have a portion of his vast fortune, and the former had dared to oppose and defy him regarding the matter.
He could never brook opposition from any one, and he had always possessed a strange desire to be revenged upon anybody who stood in his way in any form whatever. ”

“ Earle thought this but an idle threat, uttered in the heat of passion, and paid no particular heed to it; but he longed to put an end to the disgraceful scene.
“Mr. Dalton,” he said, speaking very calmly, “why will you not listen to reason? Do you not see that there is nothing to be gained by so much passionate opposition? Editha and I are both of age, capable to act for ourselves, and we both also believe that there can be no impediment to our union except, perhaps, the fancied one of a social unfitness; and for that we do not propose to sacrifice the happiness of our lives. ”

“ She has hunted me down at last!” he cried, in hollow tones, and shrinking further down in the bed, but with his eyes still fastened as if by magnetism upon Editha.
“Father,” cried Milly, cheerfully, “I’ll have something nice for you in a moment.”
“No, no; don’t let them take me away to jail; I ain’t able to go to prison,” he moaned, feebly, and trembling as if with fear.
His wife hastened to his side.
“No, John; no one shall disturb you or harm you,” she said, soothingly. “His mind is weak, ma’am, when he first wakes,” she continued, turning to Editha. ”

“ You are a noble daughter of a noble country, and he who has won your love will have cause to adore you all his life. That he is worthy of you, notwithstanding his misfortune, I cannot doubt, after what you have told me, and I do not believe you could love unworthily. God bless him for his nobility, and you for your constancy!”
Editha looked up astonished at this heartfelt benediction. ”

“ Earle smiled his rare, luminous smile, then said, gravely:
“Then I will help you all I can; but you must do your share also; it cannot be done in a moment, and you must not get disheartened. It will be something like this wound of yours; sin, like the bullet, has entered deep—the disease lies deep, and only the most rigid and skilful handling, with patient endurance, will work the cure.” ”

“ The only good thing that I can think of connected with myself is, that no one will sorrow or be made unhappy by my death;” and the smile that accompanied these words was intensely bitter.
“I have told you how I disliked you from the first, simply because Richard Forrester was interested in you, and I was jealous of any one who was likely to win anything from him. You know how I scorned you because Editha took a girlish fancy to you, and you dared to treat her as if you considered yourself her equal. ”

“ Madam sighed heavily.
“Why is it that the world always goes wrong for some people?” he asked, passionately, and longing for sympathy now that he had begun to unburden his heart, and realizing, also that now Editha was gone, Newport was a blank to him, and fearing that his boasted “friendship” had not been so disinterested after all.
“Ah, why, unless to fit us for something better than earth’s fleeting pleasures? There are some people in the world who would never own allegiance to the Great King, if they were not driven to Him by sorrow. ”

“ When she knelt in prayer and spoke his name, claiming Heaven’s tenderest care for the smitten one, the burning flush returned to her cheek, the thrill to her heart.
“Earle Wayne my lover!” she repeated, softly, as she laid her head upon her pillow, and her dreams were full of a manly face, with deep, dark eyes, in which shone a light tender and true, with lips that wore a smile as sweet and gentle as a woman’s, but such as no woman’s ever wore for her. ”

“ Earle answered, with something of bitterness in his tone.
“I do not understand you,” he returned, a flush rising to his cheek.
“Do you still love Editha Dalton?” Earle asked, setting his teeth to keep back a rebellious groan.
“Do you need to ask me that question?” Paul Tressalia, returned, reproachfully, his face suddenly paling now. “I must always love her.”
“Then go and win her if you can; the way is open; there is nothing to hinder you,” Earle said, wiping the cold sweat from his face. ”