LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2287, 1 August 1881, Page 4

LITERATURE.

RUTH DARNEL’3 REYE \ r -E. Part I. ( Concluded ) • Nothing to fear at preset !’ she aaifL with intense scorn. ‘ ilow very kind oi yon I You will condescend to amuse j'onr* | self with me until yon fling the handkerchief at some one else who is wealthy. And you say in the same breath you love me. Ask yonrse'f the meaning of that word.’ She was pacing up aud down now, with her hands clasped to her breast, in fierce agitation. ‘ And I believed you once, poor fool that I was !’ She dashed away some angry tears. • But thank Heaven, the drsam is over. I have been roughly awakened ; but batter now than horea'ter.’ She took one or two swift steps, and then atood facing him. * Love, they say, changes; and mine has changed now —for, Beglnald Tremaine, I hate you, and one d«y I will have my revenge!’ And then she turned and left him. Reginald Tremaine waa thoroughly astonished, and for the moment stunned. The not very heroic exclamation, I By Jove !’ was all he said, with a long breath. The young men of the day are not much given to the soliloquies which are peculiar to "iha fliagd, _ .... He had only one clear idea in his mind, -viz , that at any rata it was all over. The storm had been severe while it lasted ; but It had not been for long. He had tur^ oCl .over a in his life ever { and with Yhai feeling he rose, made no further effort to sea Ruth, and went straight back to town. He waa sorry for hef. and ha was sorry for himself ; for, in his llgnt and careless way, he had loved her. His way, it Is true, had not been bet way ; but still ;he hardly realised that* And consoled himself With the idea that she would get over it, as he hoped to do. Bat, as It happened, Ruth Darnel was not -one of those girls who can be off with an old love and on with a new as readily as they change partners at a ball. She had loved Reginald Tremaine with her whole heart, and though that love had seemingly changed to hate, the shook of his faithlessness was none the less terrible to her. - Indeed it reacted, as each shocks so often do in women, on her nervons system, and for some time she was seriously ill. When Ruth Darnel recovered, she and her mother moved from the neighborhood of London into a distant county, and the name of Reginald Tremaine waa as that of a dead man between them, concerning whom they were to be for ever silent. Part 11. Every one said that, sooner or later, the * Rapid Rassian,’ for that waa the nickname of the quickest express train which ran upon a certain long line of railway, would ‘come to grief.’ That was the opinion of the villagers who stood on the platforms of small wayside stations when the Rassian flew past disdainfully ; when they saw it come tearing along the line, dashing round the curves aud rattling over the points with a roar and a clatter that almost deafened yon, and leaving a series of miniature whirlwinds behind it, wherein the dust and leaves circled for some moments after the train had passed. If anything were to give way, or If a certain part of the line, of which a Government inspector had spoken somewhat harshly some years ago, were to become any worse, it was clear to every one that a catastrophe would happen which would stand out as one 'of the most terrible ever recorded in the annals of railway accidents. But in spite of these predictions, and of newspaper paragraphs advising the directors not to run the Russian at snob a pace, the public still patronised the train. We are in such a hurry nowadays that we cheerfully risk our lives in order to gain a little more time for the business of life, and no warning will ever prevent people doing so. The impatience of the public creates a desire for these very fast trains, and the managers of railways can only yield to the demand. And one fine morning the smash did happen. The ‘ Russian ’ left London, perfectly appointed, as usual, on a bright morning In winter, and flew through the snowy landscape at its accustomed pace. The passengers, snugly wrapped up in furs and rugs, sat luxuriously in the carriages and discussed the last new novel or the news in the papers; the pleasant sense of exhilaration which accompanies very rapid travelling being heightened by the brilliant sunshine on the snow, and all the glories of a fine winter morning. Suddenly, without the least warning, the tire of a wheel broke, one of the foremost carriages flew off the line, and with a terrific oscillation the whole train followed it down a steep embankment, and came crashing on a low wall at the bottom. Then the sunshine seemed to fade out of the landscape, shrieks of agony and low moans filled the startled air, and the fair white snow was pitifully stained with blood.

Ruth Darnel and her mother lived in a quiet cottage not far from the scene of this accident, which took place near a little village, and to Mrs Darnel’s one of the sufferers. Ja man sorely injured, who could be moved no farther, was conveyed. Many a house in the village had a strange inmate that night, and the people vied with each other in offering shelter to the unfortunate victims of the accident.

Ten years have elapsed since wa saw Ruth Darnel dismiss her fickle lover, and those years have been very bitter ones to her. For hers waa ono of those intense natures which do not readily forget, and the iron had entered deeply into her soul. She had loved well and fervently, and that love, she told herself, had been scorned. So she had resolved to steel her heart against love in the future ; and though several men had evinced a disposition to make love to her, they very soon found oat that her buried hopes barred them from Ruth Darnel’s heart.

And how did she feel towards Reginald Tremaine ? The moat passionate resentment softens to some extent with the lapse of years, and certainly she did not feel so bitterly towards him now as she had done just after that terrible interview in the old days. Bat, nevertheless, deep in her heart there were at times very hard and revengeful feelings towards him, feelings which she tried to stifle and keep down, bat which would spring up and sway her like the suggestions of an evil spirit. There is nothing so easy to preach and so hard to practise as forgiveness for injuries, and iu certain moofs, as she confessed to herself with shame, Ruth Darnel had not forgiven E- pinald Tremaine.

On the day of the terrible railway accident Ruth Darnel was away from home on a visit, but was to return in a few days. Before that time Mrs Darnel had made a strange discovery and taken a resolution, Aa the reader will probably have guessed, the Injured passenger who had been thrown upon Mrs Darnel’s hands was none other than Beglnald Tremaine. After all these years he had, by the irony of fate, returned to them In this fashion. He was unconscious, and so severely injured about his head that the doctors feared he would lose hia sight, while one leg waa broken. Mrs Darnel was much startled at first, but of coarse she took the patient In, and when the surgeons had put him to bed she resolved upon two things. In the first place, she determinednot to lot Reginald Tremaine know whose house he was in; and there was true womanly charity in that, for the knowledge would most probably have precluded all possibility of his recovery. In the second place, she settled not to tell Ruth whom,chance had cast iu their way until she returned. Surely snob revengeful feelings would die out of her heart when she saw her former lover in so sore a plight.

Ruth Darnel came home, and her first question was naturally regarding the now inmate of her mother’s cottage. • Well, mamma,' she said, ‘ and how is your poor patient f By the way, you never told me his name. What a terrible business it mast have been !’

‘I never told yon his name, Ruth, as I did not want to shock you, for it is some one you know.’ ‘ What, one of onr neighbors ?’ ’ I ought rather to say, some one you once knew.’

Mamma !’ Ruth Darnel’s lips parted, and her face turned pale, and then she said very quietly, ' May I go up and see him ?’ *lf you wish it,’ said her mother ; and Ruth went npatahs.

Reginald Tremaine lay, curtained from the light, at the point of death. He was etill only partially sensible, and hia mind wandered a great deal, while the

doctors coaid not yet give any decisive opinion as to his eyesight. His braised and battered face was covered up, and he was moaning in a fitful sleep. Ruth Darnel advanced to the bed, draw aside the curtain, and gazad upon the man who had deserted her, and whom, she told herself, she hated. At first she started back in horror at the terrible picture ha presented, with the blood stains and the surgical bandages, and then a strange revulsion of feeling came over her, Was this the man she hid hated? Wa~ this the tan she had left in scorn ? Whore was her hatred now, so near as it seemed to the presence of death ? She did not ask herself whether he had ever married, nor why he had been content to leave her all these years. She only knew that he was stricken down, and from that moment Kuth Darnel took upon herself the task of nursing Reginald Tremaine. How nnwearingly and how devotedly she did it only she herself could have told. She was the moans, under Providenoo, of saving his life. And he bad a hard fight; Affef pa any weary weeks of illness he was stiU very weak, and hardly able to move, nor had he regained his eyesight. He had never, so it seemed, recognised Knth’s voice, and in answer to his question as to where he was, the name of the villager from whom Mrs Darnel rented the cottage had been given All the time she had been nursing him one haunting thought occupied Ruth Darnel’s mind—had Reginald Tremaine been married or not ?

She was satisfied he was not married now, for he had held no communication with any one bnt his bankers and a distant cousin, who, being himself laid up with illness, was unable to come and see him. While Ruth told herself that it was of no moment to her, she was intensely curioss on the point. Rut in all their conversations they had never approached the subject. It was inevitable too that some of the old tenderness should revive now that Reginald was so dependent on her, but she persuaded herself it was only due to his illness. It seemed inevitable too that he should know who had sheltered him before he departed, or was she to let him leave her without a sign ? The explanation was precipitated by a conversation which took place when he waa recovering. Reginald was able to sit up in a chair, bnt was still weak, and the doctors could give him but a faint hope of regaining his sight. One afternoon, when Ruth bad been reading to him, he said, ‘ Your voice reminds me very much of some one I once knew, Mbs Grey. ’ • Indeed ! ’ said Ruth.

* Yes. some one very dear to me,’ he went on, 1 but whom I have not seen for years, and whom since this misfortune has come upon me I may never see again.’ At this allusion to hla blindness Ruth could not suppress a sob ; and he said. ‘ Ah, I know how yonr gentle heert feels for me. Miss Grey ; but if you knew all—how like a madman I once put aside from me deliberately all the happiness of my life—you would indeed pity me. Listen for a little while, aud I will tell yon a sad story.’ And then he told her how ho had repented his action on that fatal morning, describing to her also her own conduct, and how her face waa still with him, sleeping and waking. He told her how he had never married, and how aimless and reckless and miserable a life he had led, never daring to seek out Ruth Darnel again. He said how he had been working to be worthy of her ; and how while on this very journey, which had come to an end so disastrously, he had been filled with a faint hope for the future, and had wellnight resolved to seek Ruth out. He painted his boyish love in such colours that Ruth felt the old thrills stronger than ever; and ho described herself till she blushed rosily, though she knew he could not see her. And then as his voice faltered, and he spoke of his desolate condition, she could bear no more, but burst into tears and fled from the room.

* A tender-hearted girl,’ thought Tremaine; ‘ why have I inflicted my troubles upon her ? it’s a strange return for all her kindness.’ And then he murmured to himself, as the tears rolled down his scarred face, ‘O Ruth, Ruth 1 what would I not give to have my wasted life over again !’ Was he dreaming ? Waa it only fancy, or did a voice echo his own ory of * Rath V He listened and heard it again, and then the answer in the low sweet tones of his nurse.

So her name was Ruth, and the voice so like the Bnth’a of old! And who was calling her ? Mrs Darnel surely, as he had heard her in other years. A glimmer of the truth burst on him, and hia brain reeled at the thought that his old love had been nursing him. In a few moments Ruth returned. When she did so she was much surprised to find her patient standing, despite bis weakness, upright in front of his chair, in the attitude, aa It seemed, of an eager listener. ‘Rath!’ he said, as she entered ; and she saw he knew all, aud in a moment she was clasped in his arms. Then be spoke in a broken voice, as she sat beside him with bis hand In hers.

‘Ruth, I have no words to thank you with ; but your life must be no part of mine now, shattered and b’lnd os I am. I must go, dear, and go soon.* * No, dearest,’ she said, very quietly; *we will separate no more.’ ‘I cannot have you sacrifice yourself,’he said; ‘it is pity.’ ‘No,’she said, gently kissing his hand ; ‘it is love.’

And that was Ruth Darnel’s revenge.