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Show 286 RI CHARD HUIWIS. "Aml would yon have me stay, U1 ary ,· Wherefore I t Wh. at reward cnn you give 1 what i.s thor?. now in your power o g 'vo I ld b ·'b me to complwncc 1 t 1at con '.' 0 . , I hould have spoken freely. I paused JUSt at _tJw tnnc '\~c~lak: uo answer; yet s]u) lmd 'l'o what I had saiCl, she co~l i ht ltavc said. But I said noth~ J er answer ready to -.,~ha~ I J -fct, could I IHwc seen it! -had ~1~~;u~~~:·:t1i~;~~1:1~1:~~; :~a besotted slave an<bl v i1ctim to 1m~ own jaundicing all(I J.C a 1o us all J>rchcnswns, the dI us·1 1 ud pod n y1ecr >on her Jip the downcast an s Ia c c ' clhcc;.,l:l,~ trm:o;c~~-a11 thcs~ would ],ave conveyed an an-tIC '' c~ mg ~ d' me ha > then . And yet th<'sc swcr, winch nllght have rna c 1 PY . I t I f' It them . uasivc si,.,.ns did not utterly escape my s'g' . . . e ' ;:~s '~ondered at them-and was almost tempted, m tl•e ".e~v warmth of IJ eart wllich they broug]Jt me, to declare my nll~c· i ns but for the thought that it would be unseem.ly to do so, !to a :nomen! wl•en we had jnsl left the chamber of death,. and bel~ehl tJte htst gleam of life pass from t~lC eyes of lo~eli.ness l outll l"ool that I was, as if love did not lJinnt Ins I ~scs :~:nyon tl:e grave of his worsltil)pcr, and find his most flounsh. ing soil in the heart of the beloved one. . 1 rrl t ni ()'ht my mother drew me aside, and asked me WJt t some •sa ignif0i cance, what had passe d bc t ween Ma• r y and myself. "Nothing." "\VI! at! have you not spoken 7" "Of what?" " Of your love ! -" ·en son 1 "No! Why should you think it, mother 1 tVh~~.: , I s sltc not cngnged to John 1 is that matter broken o . " "I think it is-he has not been to sec her for a week. "Indeed P' . h 1 oks 1 sl10 "And have you not seen, my son, how sad s e o has looked so ever since you went away." to see her, "That may be only because he has ~o~ been . I he has motlJer; or, it may be, because of the afflictiOn wluc l s been compe11cd to witness." 8011 "'\V ell, Richard, I won't say that it is not, and yet, my 1 ' I'm somehow inclined to think that you could have her fort JO nsking." LOVE t\ND RE\"EKGE. "Do you tltiuk so, mothct·, nnd yct-cnn if it were so, mother, I would not n~;k. Tl1c wonHin wl1o has flth"c n<·<·('pted the l11.1nd of Jol1n Uunlis, though she :1fterwanl n:jcds !tim, is 110t the woman IOr me." "llut, Richard, I'm not so Sll t'C now, tbt~t she eH•r tlid af'crpt llim. 'l'hcl"C wns that poor woman, J\ irs. Pickett, only n. f0w dnys ago cnme here, and she took p:.trt ieu lar ptliils to let me know that Mary and John were never lt;:llf so ncar together, to usc her own words, ns 1\I ary and yourself." "liow could she know anything abont it 1" was my reply. "'"ell, I don't know; but I can te ll you, she's a very know-ing woman-" "She would scarcely be the confidant of 1\fary, ncvc.rtlt cless." "But you will sec J\f<lry, Uicl1ard-you will try 1" "If I thought, motlter, that she :1nd John lwd never Leon engaged-if 1 knew that. But I will sec her." rrhe }Jromise srttisficd both my mother and myself for the time; and I now gaYo myself up to reflection in solitude, as a new task had been forced upon me, by tho circumBta.nces of the few past days. I had suffered more in mind from beholding tho misery and madness of Emmeline 'Yalker, thau it would be manly to avow; and there was one portion of tltis trngedy which more than any otlter, impressed itself upon me. I was haunted by the continual presence of the lovely m:miac, as she appeared at the moment when she denounced me as deserting my friend, exposing and leaviug him to }JCril, and Jiually, suflCr. ing l1is murder to go unavenged. rrhe more I thought upon this last passage of her angry speech, tho more impress ively did it take the shape of moral r equisition. I strove serious!y to examine it as a question of duty, whether I wns bound to go upon this errand of retri bution or not, and the answers of my mind were invm·inbly and iuevitably the same. 1 Shall the mur. derer go unpunishcd-slwll so heinous a crime remain una~ venged 1 Arc th ere no claims of fri endship- of manhood upon you1 rrlto blood of the innocent calls upon you. Tho indignities which you yourself have undergone-these call upon you. But a louder call upon you than all, is tl1e dcmnnd of Society. She calls upon you to ferret out these lurkers upon the highway-to bring them to justice that the innocent travel- |
