|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 15
"Ah, Edie! Edie!" said Claire, interrupting his wife, in a fond,
playful tone, "you are a wise preacher, and as good as you are wise.
I only wish that I could see and feel as you do; no doubt it would be
better for me in the end. But such a wish is vain."
"Oh, say not so, dear husband!" exclaimed Edith, with unexpected
earnestness; "say not so! It hurts me almost like words of personal
unkindness."
"But how can I be as good as you are? It isn't in me."
"I am not good, Edward. There is none good but God," answered the wife
solemnly.
"Oh yes, yes! You are an angel!" returned Claire, with a sudden
emotion that he could not control. "And I--and I--"
He checked himself, turned his face partly away to conceal its
expression, sat motionless for a moment, and then burying his face
on the bosom of his wife, sobbed for the space of nearly a minute,
overcome by a passion that he in vain struggled to master.
Never had Edith seen her husband so moved. No wonder that she was
startled, even frightened.
"Oh, Edward, dear Edward! what ails you?" were her eager, agitated
words, so soon as she could speak. "What has happened? Oh, tell me, my
husband, my dear husband!"
But Claire answered not, though he was gaining some control over his
feelings.
"Oh, Edward! won't you speak to me? Won't you tell me all your
troubles, all your heart? Am I not your wife, and do I not love you
with a love no words can express? Am I not your best and closest
friend? Would I not even lay down my life for your good? Dear Edward,
what has caused this great emotion?"
Thus urged, thus pleaded the tearful Edith. But there was no reply,
though the strong tremor which had thrilled through the frame of
Claire had subsided. He was still bowed forward, with his face hid
on her bosom, while her arm was drawn lovingly around him. So they
remained for a time longer. At length, the young man lifted himself
up, and fixed his eyes upon her. His countenance was pale and sad, and
bore traces of intense suffering.
"My husband! my dear husband!" murmured Edith.
"My wife! my good angel!" was the low, thrilling response; and Claire
pressed his lips almost reverently upon the brow of his wife.
"I have had a fearful dream, Edith!" said he; "a very fearful dream.
Thank God, I am awake now."
"A dream, Edward?" returned his wife, not fully comprehending him.
"Yes, love, a dream; yet far too real. Surely, I dreamed, or was
under some dire enchantment. But the spell is gone--gone, I trust, for
ever."
"What spell, love? Oh, speak to me a plainer language!"
"I think, Edith," said the young man, after remaining thoughtfully
silent for some time, "that I will try and get another place. I don't
believe it is good for me to live with Leonard Jasper. Gold is the god
he worships; and I find myself daily tempted to bend my knee in the
same idolatry."
"Edward!" A shadow had fallen on the face of Edith.
"You look troubled at my words, Edith," resumed the young man; "yet
what I say is true, too true. I wish it were not so. Ah! this
passage through the world, hard and toilsome as it is, has many, many
dangers."
"If we put our trust in God, we need have no fear," said Edith, in a
gentle yet earnest and penetrating voice, laying her hand lovingly on
the hot forehead of her husband, and gazing into his eyes.
"Nothing without can harm us. Our worst enemies are within."
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|