King Copethua's Wife, Chapters XIII-XIV [pp. 292-299]

King Cophetua's Wife.
my heart filled with love for him. I have
risen in the morning, and found strength to
get through the day only by the stimulus of
remembering that he loved me once: yes, I
know that he loved me once." She said this
slowly and softly, as if answering a questioning voice that had spoken from her heart.
"And, Frank, do not think me crazy or foolish; I am but a loving, clinging woman. I
believe that he will come back to me some
day, and that is the only reason why I do
not die. For oh! God knows that I should
have died long ago if I had not had faith to
believe he spoke an untruth when he said
that he did not love me."
She was exhausted by her emotion, and
sank back into a chair. We sat a long while
talking about Neil, for I saw that to speak of
him was the only way to calm and relieve
her mind. The sunshine slipped its light
from the dish of fruit, it lingered for a few
moments on the pink cushions of the window-seat, and at last a gray light filled the
room. There had been several cards sent
up to Mrs. Barras, but she would see no
strangers. The light grew dimmer and dimmer, and still I did not go. I heard the
distant tinkle of the door-bell once more,
just as I was repeating the few lines of one
of Clough's poems. Madge sat with her
eyes fixed upon the folded hands in her lap.
I heard the servant opening the door, and
a murmuring of voices, but Madge had not
noticed the sounds. Her thoughts, I knew,
were far away, and that, although she might
be conscious of my voice, it was only as we
are conscious of the current of the river
that bears our drifting boat on and on.
A trembling of the curtain before the
door that led into the hall, the gleam of a
hand amid its folds, a gentle pushing back
of the heavy plush, and a man came into
the room and stood motionless. Madge
looked up, and I had finished the poem.
"My wife, my friend, I have come back.
Not proud, not stubborn and selfish as I
went away, but, by the grace of God, a better man than I was of old. Madge, I have
come back to tell you that I lied to you. I
love you, and you alone. My heart was
not false to you; it was only for a moment
that my fancy strayed away from you. Frank,
the last time I saw you, you refused to take
my hand, and rightly, because I seemed to
you a weak man, untrue to his best vows
and to his better self, as well as to the
woman who loved him with all her soul.
Once more I hold out my hand to you:
will you take it now? it is as worthy of your
clasp as ever."
I had taken his hand and stood with my
other hand upon his shoulder as I looked into
his face that was white in the dusky light that
filled the room; but Madge had not moved.
"Go to her," I said; and he went. He
kneeled down by her chair and kissed
the hand that laid in her lap. She raised
her hand and it rested upon his head for an
instant, then she rose and drew herself away
from him.
"You have come back, my husband, after
all these many months to tell me that you love
me. Can this telling kill the memory of the
time when you said that you did not love
me? Can I forget the agony of this waiting,
the murdering of my faith in humanity, of
the belief in all that is noble and true in
men? Have you not drawn between yourself and me an impassible line? Did you
not take away from me all that made life
beautiful and sweet? and have you not turned
it for me into a hard, stern routine, worse
yes, ten thousand times worse-than the life
you took me from? 0, why did you not let
me die when my mother died, instead of
feeding me with all the sweets of love and
existence, and then stabbing me to the heart
when your passion had cooled?"
Neil had stood with his head bowed upon
his hands while she was speaking, and when
she ceased he lifted it and said, in a voice
husky with despair and tears: "You are
right, of course. It was foolish to hope that
you could forget all this, and forgive me for
the wrong I have done you. But I loved
you so that I could not stay away longer,
and I came back to pray for pardon and for
love. Good by." He started towards the
door. I took his hand, and he lifted my
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[Sept.