LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 1082, 15 December 1877, Page 3

LITERATURE.

ONE OF THE WORLD’S SACRIFICES. {Argosy.'] ( Concluded .) ‘ Are you quite well ?’ lie asked. She put her hand into his, answering she knew not what, Mr May sat down beside her. He told her how well he was prospering ; that Canada would have to be his home yet for years, perhaps for life. He inquiredinto all her home changes and trials ; the sub stance of them he knew, but not the details. Then for a little while they sat in silence. And ho, looking into the face that had lost its early bloom and brightness only to gain a mo;e spiritual beauty, could yet see little to give him hope in the steady, thoughtful eyes. - You have changed much, Ethel.' ■Ah, I suppose so. Time and sorrow change us all,’ she added, sadly. ‘ Will yon be my wife now, Ethel ?' She only replied by a fit of trembling. Oh, if she might be I But there was no hops. He had come home all that way to ask the question, he said, not choosing to trust to a 1 etter; speech was more eloquent than written words, more persuasive, ils bad waited for

all these years ; but his patience was ex hausted now.

‘ And you surely will not say nay to me again?’ he urged. 4 You cannot be bo cruel, Ethel.’

She shook her head pitiably, and pointed to her sleeping father, ‘I am all that is left to him, Henry. While he lives, I must be at hand to comfort him. ’

‘He may live for years. He is only sixty' five or so,’

‘True. He may live for years. His health is good now.’ ‘ Would he come out with us, do you think ?’

‘lt would be impossible. To take him from the home of his lifetime would kill him. He will never leave it: he must live and die in it.’

* Have you learnt to care for any other man ?’ Mr May asked in a modified tone. ‘ I shall never care for anyone but you. I shall never marry. You are denied to me, but no one else will ever win regard from me or call me wife.’

‘ Do you understand, Ethel, that this'is the last time I shall be able to put the question to you ?’ ‘Yes—l suppose it is. Of course it is. It is very good of you to come again.’ ‘ This is your final answer to me ?’

‘ It is the only answer I can give.’ He spoke a little further then, Canada was the country of his adoption ; at least it would be for years to come ; he had his house and home in it, but he must have a wife. And Ethel gathered, more by her own instinct than by his spoken words, that if she still declined"to be that wife, he would seek another.

‘ There is some one else you wish to take in r my place!’ she hastily said, her heart fluttering strangely. ‘ No, Ethel, I wish to take you. 1

‘But—as I cannot go V ‘ Then in that case I must do the best I can, failing you. There is a young lady out there whom I esteem greatly ; and whom I should like to look upon always as a dear friend, or sister. Ido not love her ; I shall never love anyone but you; and if you will go with me f she will be to us both as this friend and sister. She has heard of you.’ ‘ And—if Ido not |go, you will marry her V’

‘ Most probably. I toll you, Ethel, I am sick and tired of being alone. My darling, won’t you come with me ?’ Once more, as in the years gone by, she wrung her hands to pain. But she could give him no better answer than the one already given. ‘You have wasted your best years, you have sacrificed the dearest hopes of your life to your inordinate sense of duty,’ he said, ‘Y ou have sacrificed me. No other woman would have done so,’

‘Yes, she would,’ sighed Ethel. ‘lam no better or wiser than my sisters, and the world is full of such sacrifices. Whatever work God gives me to do, that I will do, bravely and patiently. I know that it must be best for me, or the trial would not be sent. For oh, it is a trial, sore and endless. Yours, Henry, is as nothing to mine.’ Mr Strong opened his eyes, and put on his spectacles to see what tall fine man was in the arbour talking to his daughter. Henry May went in to say a few words of greeting, and then returned to Ethel,

*lt is to be then, Ethel '! There’s no hope ?’ *lt must be. Heaven help me 1’

‘Fare you well, my best and'dearest. Fare you well for over.’ A convulsive sob broke from her aching heart. And he pressed bis last kiss upon her lips. Thus they parted. Is ever, in all probability, to meet again on this side of the Eternal City. It was one ot the world’s sacrifices.

Never again, as Ethel thought, and as he thought. But, curious to say, Mr Strong himself came to the rescue. Whether he had hoard aught of what passed between them in the arbour, or whether his better nature rose up within him, Ethel never know. She heard her name spoken hastily. * Yes, father !’ ‘ Is Mr May going ‘He is gone, father. He is now passing out at the gate. ’ ‘Call him back. Say I would speak a word to him.’

And the departing steps were soon returning. A curious look of hope, like a ray of light, shone on Henry May’s face. Did instinct give rise to it 1 Mr Strong, looking at him attentively, stretched out his hand to take that of the engineer.

‘ Will you tell me what you have been telling Ethel ?’ And the tale was told. All his hopes, all his pleading ; and Ethel’s grevious answer. ‘ Says it would kill me to go to Canada, does she ?- thinks I could not die away from my own home? Well, I don’t know. I have always had a wish to see Canada ; a cousin of mine went out there in early life and made his fortune. I could not be sepa rated from her, you know, Harry May ; but I don’t see why I should not live as long there as here. ’

The teais were in the old man’s eyes, though he spoke in a quaint joking tone. Ethel stood with clasped hands and parted lips, hardly daring to believe what she heard. Her lover caught her to him with a sob of emotion, and pressed the aged hands with gratitude so fervent that Mr Strong cried out for quarter. * You may get your wedding gown made, child. And the sooner we start, after that, the better.’

* Oh, father, father !’—with a burst of joyous tears —‘ how shall we ever thank you ?’ ‘ By taking loving care of him,’ whispered Henry May. ‘ So after all, this was not to be one of the world’s sacrifices. But, alas ! many such take place daily.