I see Charlotte Bronte in the little parsonage parlor, at Haworth, draperied, hung with pictures, furnished, at last, with books from the proceeds of her own pen; and upon the vacant chairs upon which should have sat the toiling, gifted sisters, over whom the grave had closed, I see inscribed, Too late--Too late! and I look at its delicate and only inmate, and trace the blue veins on her transparent temples, and say, Too late!--even for _thee_--Too late! Happiness is not happiness if it be not shared--it turns to misery. But, thank God, at last came the delirious draught of love, even for so brief a space, to those thirsting lips--but which, incredible as it may seem, the father, in his selfishness, would have dashed aside; relenting at last, he gave up this tender, shrinking flower to more appreciative keeping; but the blast had been too keen that had gone before--the storms too rough--the sky too inclement. We read of a wedding, the happiness of which the selfish father must cloud at the last moment, by refusing, for some inexplicable reason, or no reason at all, to give away the bride in person according to episcopal usage--we read of a short bridal tour--of a return to a love-beautified, love-sanctified home--we read of a pleasant walk of the happy pair--of a slight cold taken on that occasion--of a speedy delirium--of a conscious moment, in which the new-made bride opened wide her astonished eyes upon her kneeling husband, pleading with God to spare her precious life; and we read the heart-rending exclamation of the latter as the truth flashed upon her clouded intellect--“O! I am not to die _now_?--when we have been so happy?” and with streaming eyes we turn away from the corpse of Charlotte Bronte. THE END. Transcriber’s Note: This book contains inconsistent hyphenations which have been left as printed. Corrections to punctuation have been made without comment. Other changes that have been made are: Page 70 From posssible To possible Page 103 From what do you thing of this? To what do you think of this? Page 138 From betwen the leaves To between the leaves Page 181 From and and her heart To and her heart Page 194 From friendles sonly To friendless only Page 218-219 From childred To children Page 258 From coat-of arms To coat-of-arms Page 278 From Soup hop; fish hot; To Soup hot; fish hot; Page 297 From mingled wth To mingled with The original chapter numbering has been retained, despite there being two chapters numbered “IV” in the “Fanny Ford” Story. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fresh Leaves, by Fanny Fern