Avice Gray, V-VII [pp. 134-141]

APPLETONS' JO URVAL.
You were absorbed with many a weighty care,
And could not take the time, perhaps, to heed;
It seemed to tax your patience but to spare
An hour or so at evening for my need;
And so I thought I hardly had my share
Of wifely honor, and was sore indeed,
And bitter often with a sense of wrong
That made the days more desolate and long.
If I had had a child-but there, again,
That boon so universal and so free
I of all others must desire in vain The joy of motherhood was not for me.
I would have borne its utmost care and strain No woman on God's earth more willinglyCould I have ever rocked to happy rest
A baby of my own upon my breast.
You never thought I cared? Ah! well, I did,
And there were other things I cared for, too,
But shyly half, and half in pride kept hid
By reason of my bitter thoughts of you;
Why should I tell you, only to be chid
For discontent? And so you never knew
How dull my days were, and how sore the smart
Of disappointment in my empty heart.
A VICE
He knew without the telling-all the rest
Grew out of this with such a gradual growth
I never saw the danger-never guessed
That I was false at heart to wedded troth Till sudden passion leaped up unrepressed,
And sudden ruin overwhelmed us both.
No need to tell you more, you know the worst;
But truly I was innocent at first.
Sometimes I feel-and you will smile, no doubt,
A bitter smile, and scornful, when I've said
The wicked thing you'll think it, boldly out I feel as if I shall not wholly dread
To stand before Him who dispersed the rout
That would have stoned a sinful woman dead He knows my sin, and my temptation too;
He will not be so stern a judge as you.
So I go forth to meet Him, glad to go For in this world is no more room for me.
There is another life somewhere, I know,
And, Christ being in it, it may also be
That I shall find my place there, and may grow
To something worth redeeming finally.
I see your pitying look-I hear your sigh;
No matter! Kiss me once before I die.
GRA Y.*
A STORY IN THIRTEEN CHAPTERS.
CHAPTER V. "Very hot, ain't it?" said Mrs. Harmer, as she
set a chair. "I'll go and put your horse in, doctor;
THE WYATERS OF MARAH.'
*HE WTR Othe boys are away."
ND into the peaceful scene I have described "Never mind him, please; I have not long to
dropped presently the thunderbolt. It came stay, and he will do very well where he is; I tied
in the shape of old Dr. Wells. him in the shade. Hot? I should think so. Those
If Avice had a friend whose kindness to her at who are out in the sun know that better than you
all equaled that of Mrs. Harmer, that friend was do. Where are all your folks?"
Dr. Wells. He had watched her in infancy; he had "Ephe and Ben are in the hay-field, and Fred
rendered gratuitously to her mother those attentions and Dorade are gone to Whitechester. You see all
through her failing health for which she could have that's left, for we've had no visitors to-day."
afforded no remuneration; he had assisted to pro- "And neither of you has left the house, I supcure for Avice, by his recommendation of her, her pose?"
place at Mrs. Vanvannick's; and on her dismissal "I've been nowhere, but Avice was out all the
from that place, he raised his voice in defense of her morning."
and in blame to her mistress, and, had he been a "Where?" asked the doctor, with a visible
free agent, would have offered the helpless girl the change of countenance.
protection of his roof. But the doctor's household "She wvent over the ridge to pick berries, andwas ruled by his sister, an ancient maiden lady, that reminds me.-Avice, show the doctor your arm.
whose ideas of propriety were as rigid as those of -She hurt herself, and I'm afraid, from the way it's
ancient maiden ladies are apt to be. With her, to bled, it's worse than she thinks."
be suspected and to be guilty were alike sinful; to The doctor made no answer, except such as
her the pretty face and the smirched name were might be expressed in his anxious face. He looked
alike distasteful; it was, therefore, out of the ques- at Avice, and she blushed, and did not meet his eye;
tion to suggest to her to be a friend to the friend- and he, though but for a moment, felt his faith fail.
less; and, indeed, she had more than once signified When the question of the girl's criminality had been
her disapproval of the doctor's entering the list as discussed under the roof wvhere the victim of the
Avice's champion. He had, however, remained crime was lying, he had expressed such utter disbetrue to his belief in her innocence, and that belief lief in the justice of the suspicion; he had been so
he never hesitated to express, in action as well as in confident that he had but to ask to be assured of
word. the impossibility of her implication in it; he had
He entered the room hurriedly, and cast his eye come to Mrs. Harmer's so certain that she would
rapidly round. As it fell on Avice, he smiled, and be able to prove for her proezge a convincing alibi,
was evidently relieved. that the shock of the disappointment was very great.
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