The Cameron pride; or, purified by suffering : $b A novelHolmes, Mary Jane
General
The Cameron pride; or, purified by suffering : $b A novel
Holmes, Mary Jane
American fiction -- 19th century
She was standing before him, her slight figure seeming to expand into a
greater height, the features glowing with strong excitement, and her hot
breath coming hurriedly through her dilated nostrils, but never opening
the pale lips set so firmly together. There was something terrible in
her look and attitude, and it startled Wilford, who recoiled a moment
from her, scarcely able to recognize the Katy hitherto so gentle and
quiet. She had learned his secret, but the facts must have been
distorted, he knew, or she had never been so agitated. From beneath his
hair the great sweat-drops came pouring, as he tried to approach her and
take the uplifted hands, motioning him aside with the words, “Not touch
me; no, not touch me till you have told me _who_ is _Genevra Lambert_.”
She repeated the question twice, and rallying all his strength Wilford
answered her at last, “_Genevra Lambert was my wife!_”
“I thought so,” and the next moment Katy lay in Wilford’s arms, dead, as
he feared, for there was no motion about the eyelids, no motion that he
could perceive about the pulse or heart, as he laid the rigid form upon
the bed and then bent every energy to restore her, even though he feared
that it was hopeless.
If possible he would prefer that no one should intrude upon them now,
and he chafed her icy hands and bathed her face until the eyes unclosed
again, but with a shudder turned away as they met his. Then, as she grew
stronger and remembered the past, she started up, exclaiming, “If
Genevra Lambert is your wife, what then _am I_? Oh, Wilford, how could
you make me _not_ a wife, when I trusted and loved you so much?”
He knew she was laboring under a mistake, and he did not wonder at the
violence of her emotions if she believed he had wronged her so cruelly,
and coming nearer to her he said, “Genevra Lambert _was_ my wife once,
but is not now, for she is dead. Do you hear me, Katy? Genevra died
years ago, when you were a little girl playing in the fields at home.”
By mentioning Silverton, he hoped to bring back something of her olden
look, in place of the expression which troubled and frightened him. The
experiment was successful, and great tears gathered in Katy’s eyes,
washing out the wild, unnatural gleam, while the lips whispered, “And it
was her picture Juno saw. She told me the night I came, and I tried to
question you. You remember?”
Wilford did remember it, and he replied, “Yes, but I did not suppose you
knew I had a picture. You have been a good wife, Katy, never to mention
it since then;” and he tried to kiss her forehead, but she covered it
with her hands, saying sadly, “Not yet, Wilford, I cannot bear it now. I
must know the whole about Genevra. Why didn’t you tell me before? Why
have you deceived me so?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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