Interpersonal relations -- Fiction; Spiritualism -- Fiction; United States -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
Later she understood, as will all of us after a little time. Now we
weep and moan over sorrow, questioning it all, resenting it all; but a
day is coming when we shall see and know and understand, and in that
day we shall re-name many things, having until then miscalled them.
* * * * *
Now another serious event confronted Mrs. Doring. She had done her
best to save her husband from himself but could not. Now she saw
clearly at last, after much striving to bring compatibility out of
incompatibility, that their union was a sham, a pretence, a lie, which
if persisted in could only bring destruction to both of them. The
conviction came to her that it must end.
Few experiences are bitterer or sadder for a sensitive, proud,
high-spirited woman, than to face a domestic calamity like this. To see
the love upon which she had founded her dearest hopes turn to ashes;
to have what she once thought happiness become a burden so intolerable
that it must be cast down, acknowledging disappointment, defeat and
humiliation before the world, is, indeed, a bitter cup.
The coarse, the malicious, the undeveloped have sneers, jeers and
taunts for this order of sufferer; but the enlightened, the truly moral
bow before her reverently, not only because she has suffered, but
because she stands for a great principle.
That the separation must be legal as well as actual, she saw would be
best for both. Though the laws of their state were as humane as most
others, still they had not evolved beyond the point, where in order to
secure freedom from irksome marital bonds one of the parties must make
a damaging charge against the other.
In talking it over with her husband she said, “We can arrange that as
decently as the law will permit. If I make the application, I shall put
it on the most inoffensive ground possible. If that is not agreeable to
you, I will leave you and you can charge me with desertion.”
Doring determined to do at once what he had long been arranging to do
slyly, which was to go away himself, and as a Parthian arrow announced
that he had intended to do so for sometime, but not alone.
It was a curious ending of the most delicate and important relation in
life. Cartice gathered his effects together, packing everything with
careful hands. When he went she watched him out of sight, and out of
her life. Late into the night she still sat at the window, with a white
face and eyes that stared into the darkness yet saw only the scenes of
the past.
When Louis Doring boarded the train that evening he knew that within
awaited him the sharer of his future fortunes.
His story can soon be told. It was the natural outcome of his weak,
selfish, stubborn and vain character. A few months later, deserted by
the companion he had taken with him, penniless and alone in a southern
city, he fell a victim to a malignant fever and passed out of life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account