Paul Rundel: A NovelHarben, Will N. (Will Nathaniel)
General
Paul Rundel: A Novel
Harben, Will N. (Will Nathaniel)
Fugitives from justice -- Fiction; Georgia -- Fiction; Ku Klux Klan (19th century) -- Fiction
Mrs. Mayfield walking back and forth on the lawn. Her head was enveloped
in a light shawl and her eyes were downcast. Presently she turned toward
him, and he saw that she had been weeping.
“I was going to inquire of Mrs. Tilton how your daughter is,” he began.
“I have not seen her since the morning I walked with her to the spring.”
The lady touched her thin lips with her handkerchief and made an obvious
effort to control her voice. She laid her hand on his arm almost with a
gesture of despair, and he felt the delicate fingers tremble.
“I've been wanting to see you,” she faltered. “The poor child seldom
leaves her bed. The doctor says nothing but time will do her any good.
She scarcely eats anything, and has grown thin and white, and oh, so
nervous! Jennie's death has simply terrified her--shocked her through
and through. She cries constantly. I wake up in the night and hear
weeping and moaning. The doctor can't deceive me. I know he is worried,
because he comes often and asks so many questions. He admits that grief
like Ethel's sometimes results disastrously, and I myself have never
seen so serious a case as hers. Paul, she has lost all faith in God and
religion. She came up-stairs, after you talked to her that day, in what
seemed to be a really more hopeful mood. She put her head in my lap and
cried for the first time in a natural way, but she hardened again soon
afterward. That afternoon letters came from Jennie's father and mother
and the young man Jennie was to marry, and Ethel went into hysterics.
She really did not know what she was saying or doing. Oh, it was
pitiful! She says she simply can't get away from the memory of the
awful details. It was my fault; she should never have been there. Jennie
wanted her, though, and there was no time for reflection. We were all
excited.”
“Something must be done to take your daughter's mind from it,” Paul
advised, gravely. “A mental picture like that should not be held. It is
decidedly dangerous.”
“That's why I wanted to see you,” Mrs. Mayfield said. “You can help me
if you will. My brother says you are going to drive over the mountain
tomorrow on business. I really think Ethel would go along if you would
care to take her.”
“I should be delighted,” he answered. “I'd be a poor companion at such
a time, but the view from the mountain at this time of the year is
wonderful, and the trip might divert her thoughts.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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