room. 9) to me; “It is my turn to speak, then":--and he Upon a prayer-book, open at the rite rose, Of solemnizing holy matrimony. Taking a candle: "come this way with me." Her marriage-ring was stitched into the page. They stepped asido into a neighbouring Grey stood a long while gazing. Then he Grey walked with quiet footsteps, and he set turned The candle on the ground, and on his knees So noiselessly the handle of the door Close to her unringed shrouded hand, he That Harling fancied some one lay asleep prayed, Inside. The hand recovered steadiness. Silent. With eyes still dry, he rose unThe room was quite unfurnished, striking changed. chill. They left the room again with heeded steps. A rent in the drawn window-blind betrayed On friendly Harling lay the awe of death A sky unraried, moonless, cloudless, black. And pits : he took his seat without a Only two chairs were set against the wall, sound. And, not yet closed, a cofii placed on Some of the hackneyed phrases almost them. passed Harling's raised eyes inquired why he was His lips, but shamed him, and he held his brought peace. Hither, and should he still advance and “Harling,” said Grey, after a pause, “you look. think " It is my wife,” said Grey; " look in her No doubt that this is all-her death is all. face." Harling, when first I saw you in the street, This in a whisper, holding Harling's arm, I feared you meant to come and speak And tightened fingers clenched the whispering So hid myself and waited till you knocked ; Ilarling could feel his forehead growing Longing that you, perhaps, would go. Waited behind the door until you knocked, moist, When I And sought in vain his friend's averted Had opened it, I think I called you Sireyes. Their steps, suppressed, creaked on the un Did you not chide me? Do you know, it seemed corered boards : They 'stood beside the coflin's foot and So strange to me that any one I knew head. Before this happened should be here the same, Both gazed in silence, with bowed faces And know me for the same that once I was, Grey With bony chin pressed into bony throat. I could not quite imagine we were friends. It is not merely death would make one The woman's limbs were straight inside her feel shroud. Like this -no, there is something more The death which brooded glazed upon her behind eyes Harder than death, more cruel. Let me Was hidden underneath the slapely lids ; wait But the mouth kept its anguish. Combed Some moments; then no help but I must and rich tell." The hair, which caught the light within its strings, IIe gathered up his face into his hands From chin to temples, only just to think Golden about the temples, and as fine And not be seen. He had not seated him, And soft as any silk-web; and the brows But leaned against the chair. Nor Harling A perfect arch, the forehead undisturbed ; But the mouth kept its anguish, and the spoke. lips, “Two months are gone now," Grey purClosed after death, scemed half in act to sued. "We two speak. Lived lovingly. I had to come down here, Covered the hands and feet; the head was And here I met a surgeon of the town. laid Hell only knowg- I cannot tell you — why, So that would make her sad. I thought it strange She had not so informed me from the first. Her cousin, when I named the point, ap peared Surprised; but then to recollect herself, And answered— I could see, a little piquedShe should not cry again because of her. « These fits of tears continued. We were now not I asked him to return with me, and spend A fortnight at our house. Perhaps I wrote The whole of this to you when it occurred. His name is Luton." Here he chose to pause. "Perhaps: I am not certain," Harling said. “I think you might be certain," answered Grey, "If you're my friend.” But then he checked himself, Adding : “Forgive me. I am not, you see, Myself to-night-this night, nor many nights, Nor many nights to come. Well, he agreed. Of course, he must agree ; else I should Have been like this, disgraced, made al most mad.” At this he found his passion would be near To drive him to talk wildly: so he kept Silence again some moments-then re sumed. “ How should I recollect the days we passed Together? There must surely have been enough To see, and yet I never saw it once. Besides, my patients kept me out all day Sometimes. It was in August, John, was thisThe end of August, reaping just begun. We've had a splendid harvest, you'll have heard.” "Indeed!" the other said, shifting the while His posture-and he knew not what to say. : ; “Yes, you detect me," Grey cried bitterly ; Alone together, for the cousin went way : hardly leave This is the only place where I can sleep.' sight?" eye, “Is it not,” he pursued, With floorward gaze, “hard on me I must tell now ?" “keep All that remains unspoken; for it wrings My heart, dear Grey, dear friend, to see you thus." home. begin "No, it is better I should speak it out, For you would fancy something; and at least like che felt friends “ Coroner's Inquest-A Distressing Case. “When the Jury came From viewing the corpse, in which are seen remains Of 110 small beauty, witnesses were called. “Mr. Holmes Grey, surgeon, deposed: 'I lire In Oxford, where I practise, and deceased Hyd been my wife for upwards of three years. About the middle of September, she weight Seemed on her mind. The symptoms had begun Nearly a month before, and still inereased, Until at last they gave me great alarm, Of which we often spoke. On the eighteenth She told me she would like to stay a while With two of her si-ters, living on the coast, Ai Barksedge House, not far from here. She went Next day. I cannot speak to any more.' • The Coroner: 'How were you first ap prised of this most melancholy event ?'—' By note Addressed to me by Mr. Luton here.' "A Juror : Could your scientific skill Assign some cause for this debility?' "No, I believed it was occasioned (so She intimated) by a domestic grief Quite unconnected with the preeent case.' “ The Coroner: 'You'll know how to cx. cuse The question which I feel compelled to put : I have a public duty to perform. Had you, before the period you described, Any suspicions ever?'— Never once : There was no cause for any, I swear to God.' " The witness had, throughout his testi. (That is, two sisters some few miles from here). She spoke more firmly than I had heard her talk A long time past, because I thought it long- all time- his fists Together, and he clutched them toward his throat. “Many days passed. She had begged me, feeling Eure It would excite her, not to write a line, And said she would not write, nor let her friends. I think I did not tell you, though, how pale Her cheeks were ; and, in saying this, she sobbed, For such a lengthened silence looked like death. away : trash : more.' come ; He took a newspaper room ; And Harling caught his footfall toward the corpse, And touching of his knees upon the boards. And this is what he feverishly perused : some mony, Preserved his calm-though clearly not without An effort, which augmented towards the close. |
