The Redemption of David Corson

trace our descents, we should find all slaves to com

g the two adventurers

e parting guest at the door of the country tavern. He drove a pair of beautiful, spirited horses, and had the satisfaction o

t understand had prevented her from telling the doctor of her interview with the Quaker. Long before the farmhous

as they passed the humble home of the Quaker, Pepeeta saw a little child driving the cows down the lon

she said to h

nd the turn of the road, into fu

it was there that he h

could not repress these evidences of her disappointment, and with a spasmodic motion she

er young hand, that it turned the horses out

the astonished driver pulled the

ver d-d-do that again, I will

red humbly, cowering u

matter?" he asked more kindly,

m nervous, I guess,

ght her nerves were m-m-made of steel? What is th

appy. Oh! why cannot we settle down somewhere and stay? I get so tired of being always on the wi

iberty. It suits me best to fly through the heavens like a hawk or swim the deep sea like a shark.

nswered w

a morning like this? Look at the play of the muscles under the smooth skins of the horses! Remember the b-b-bright shining dollars that we coa

ve a home," she said, still sobbing, and trying to conceal th

aved a sigh. His contentment was like that of a lion in a forest full of antelopes. But if he was fierce and cruel to others, h

must cheer you up. How would you like a s-s-song? What shal

uttered it forth in stentorian tones that went be

ts sank lower and lower. The light seemed to have faded out of the world, and the streams of joy to have run dry. She sighed again in

an unerring instinct. It was exactly as she thought

ndow looking out into the night, and when at last he fell into an uneasy slumber his dreams were haunted by two faces which struggled ceaselessly to crowd each other from his mind. One was the young and passionate countenance of the gypsy, and the other was that of his beautiful mother with her pale, carven features, her snow-white hair, h

sprang from his couch strong in his purpose to depart, for the fever of adventure was still burning in his veins, and the rapturous looks with which P

attachment to this dear place, and he turned his face toward the old gray house again and again. Every step away from it seemed more difficult than the last, and his feet became heavy as lead. But h

nt he would have gone; but it tarried, and the tide of love and regret bore him back

rn and hid himself from sight. There, breathless and miserable, he watched. He had not long to wait. The dazzling "turn-out" dashed into view. On the high seat he beheld Pepeeta, saw the eager glance she cast at the farm house, followed her until they arrive

inging of the breakfast bell. Springing to his feet, he hastened to the

rning meal and the prayer at the family altar, he never knew, and he escaped with inexpressible relief to the stable and the field to take up the duties of his daily life. H

e had ended; but he knew in his heart of hearts that he had failed to follow the gypsy, not because he did not really wish to, but because he did

and unrest. The very world in which he lived seemed to have undergone a transformation. The sunlight h

the visions of the spiritual world no longer visited it; he ceased to pray in secret, and the petitions which he offe

less critic, "you pray as if you

there is as great a difference between a prayer issuing from the heart and one merely fal

rpetual deceptions became more and more intolerable with every passing hour. Nothing could be more certain than that in a short time, like some foreign substance in a healthy body, his nat

lt that he could never stand the strain of another. And so, having detained his mother in the sitting room after the rest of the family

f to death against the limi

mly, "this has not com

nd looked as if he

r possesses the power of divination, and can discern the

r pain rendered him incapable of speech

?" she asked at last, with an effort

d," he answered, his ey

ed paler, if possible, than before; but summoning all the powers of self-control

what this world is whi

es calling to me. My spirit chafes to answer their summons.

e has dreamed such dreams is really like, my so

ould th

ve se

e had passed thy entire life among th

I tell thee what it is?" she res

ered, awed by a strange

d spots were burning on either cheek. Her white hands trembled as

l and disordered fancy, and projected into an unreal realm. That world which thee has thus beheld in thy dreams will burst like a pin-pricked bubble when thee tries to enter it. It is not the real world, my son. How shall I tell thee what that real world is? It is a snare, a

h the youth had never seen any other look but that of an al

of this world, thee who has passed thy life

er that portion of her life which preceded thy birth, and its secrets are hidden in her own heart. She has prayed God that she might never have to bring them forth into the light; but he has imposed upon her the nece

the bosom of her son a nameless fear. He cou

he faded form and features of a woman once

o children, to have been always what he had found her upon awakenin

Quaker that he was about to come upon a discovery that would shak

ing of the old clock sounded like the blows of a blacksmith's hammer, the purring of the cat l

white-faced woman said: "And so thee

such a marble smile as might have appeared upon the face of Niobe. In an instant more it had composed itself into it

not endure the strain of the withheld secret, but exclaimed hoarsely: "Go on! Mot

rets of her heart to God before the bar of judgment could hav

d every hour of my life. I have watched thee and prayed for thee as no one but a mother who has drunk the bitter cup to its dregs could ever do. I have trem

ed her white hand and clutched at her throat as if choking. Th

lamitous nature of this event came near unsettling the mental balance of the sensitive and highly organized youth. Coming as it did upon the very heels o

g a single leak, as like one out of which every nail had be

and leaving him more and more in darkness and in dread with regard to the origin of his own life. Wherever

erience in life produces a more profound shock than a discovery like that upon which David had so suddenly stumbled. It leads to despair or to melancholy, and many a life of highest promise has been suddenly wrecked by it

g mists a single star shone now and then, emitting a br

an emotion of joy. As other objects lost their power to a

e old clock ticked it on the stairway. The hoofs of his horse which he rode recklessly ov

ed his soul, they always returned to the swept and garnished c

an hope for harvests, when all his seed corn has been destroyed?

life where he had laid them down, but they were all

h he could still feel, the farewell glance of eyes which still glowed before his imagination, attracted him like a powerful magnet. It was true that he did not

isery and unrest. I will see if the future has any joys in store fo

e in the gathering dusk, and started in pursuit of the bright o

y of that tragic scene through which he had so recently passed; the quiet of the evening soothed his p

lts. Such a discontent and fever had been thrilling in David's veins during these warm spring days, when the whole world had been in a ferment of life, and he had been bottled up in the gl

t his own life had sprung from an illicit passion. These are violent blows, and many a man has gone down before a single one of them. If the blows had been delivered sin

r psychology is still impotent to solve them. We can detect and measure the dross in metals or the poison in drugs; but we have no solvent that w

o dogmatize about heredity. We learn as our experience deepens and our horizon widens to regard such collapses with a compassionate sympathy and a humbled consciousness of our own unfitness to judge and condemn. Whether we create our individuality or only bring it to light-is the question that makes us stumble! But while we move in the midst of uncertainties in this realm, there is another in which we walk in the glare of noonday. We know beyond the peradventure of a doubt that whatever ma

ome, David's fate was sealed. He was playing against a certainty and he knew it. But he ought to h

nal catastrophe of the long series; b

y. "Man advances; but in spiral lines," said Goethe. The river goes forward, in spite of its eddies. You can complete a geometric circle