American fiction -- 19th century; Short stories; Western stories
And then, without warning, there dropped from Heaven a day so tender, so
mystically soft, so dreamily beautiful, so throbbing, and alive with the
fluttering of invisible wings, so replete and bounteously overflowing
with an awakening and joyous resurrection not taught by man or limited
by creed, that they thought it fit to bring her out, and lay her in that
glorious sunshine that sprinkled like the droppings of a bridal torch
the happy lintels and doors. And there she lay beatified and calm.
Wearied by watching, Carry had fallen asleep by her side; and Mrs.
Starbottle's thin fingers lay like a benediction on her head. Presently
she called Jack to her side.
“Who was that,” she whispered, “who just came in?”
“Miss Van Corlear,” said Jack, answering the look in her great hollow
eyes.
“Jack,” she said, after a moment's silence, “sit by me a moment, dear
Jack: I've something I must say. If I ever seemed hard, or cold, or
coquettish to you in the old days, it was because I loved you, Jack, too
well to mar your future by linking it with my own. I always loved you,
dear Jack, even when I seemed least worthy of you. That is gone now.
But I had a dream lately, Jack, a foolish woman's dream,--that you might
find what I lacked in HER,” and she glanced lovingly at the sleeping
girl at her side; “that you might love her as you have loved me. But
even that is not to be, Jack, is it?” and she glanced wistfully in his
face. Jack pressed her hand, but did not speak. After a few moments'
silence, she again said, “Perhaps you are right in your choice. She is a
good-hearted girl, Jack--but a little bold.”
And with this last flicker of foolish, weak humanity in her struggling
spirit, she spoke no more. When they came to her a moment later, a tiny
bird that had lit upon her breast flew away; and the hand that they
lifted from Carry's head fell lifeless at her side.
A JERSEY CENTENARIAN
I have seen her at last. She is a hundred and seven years old, and
remembers George Washington quite distinctly. It is somewhat confusing,
however, that she also remembers a contemporaneous Josiah W. Perkins of
Basking Ridge, N. J., and, I think, has the impression that Perkins was
the better man. Perkins, at the close of the last century, paid her some
little attention. There are a few things that a really noble woman of a
hundred and seven never forgets.
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