The Laurel Bush: An Old-Fashioned Love Story

she was kept beside him, and away from the school-room, until the doctor could decide whether the illness was infectious or not. It turned out to be very trifling-a most triv

nged a greeting from the window. But beyond that, she had to take all passively. What could

been years. And now they were all gone, had fled like minutes, fled emptily away. A few

s rather cr

s, Dick-o

ome in to lessons, and said he hop

ing to remember him by when he was out in India. Did Mis

n of the South, and he goes by Liverpool instead of Southampton, b

Monday morning?" For t

to get his outfit still.

ose few months-expatiating with delight on his future career, as a merchant or something, they did not quite know what; but no dou

y bread; how he had lived on the hope that one day he-born only a farmer's son-might do something, write something. "I also am of Arcadia." He

nd he never allowed it to affect any body but himself. Still, there was no doubt he did not care for money, or luxury, or worldly position-any of the things that lesser men count large enough to work and stru

ul nights, this last thought entered Fortune's mind, she stifled it as somethin

was not able to fight the world as a man could, the thing-not so very impossible, after all-seemed to her almost incredible! And yet (I am telling a mere love story, remember-a foolish, innocent love story, without apologizing for either the folly or the innocence) sometimes she was so far "left to herself

love him better than any thing in all this world. I coul

girl missing her lover-who was, after all, not her lover-than a child mourning helplessly for the familiar voice, the guiding, helpful hand. With all the rest of the world Fortune Williams w

o language

too far off for any return home "between sermons." Usually one servant was left in charge, turn and turn about; but this Sunday Mrs. Dalziel, having put the governess in the nurse's place beside the ailing child, thought shrewdly she might as well put her in the servant's place too

d lady's request, to make the boys "behave"-or walking down the street, where he sometimes took the two eldest to eat their "piece" at his

es; but when her part was simply passive, she could also endure. Not, as some do, with angry grief or futile resista

-the beautiful Bible stories over which her own voice trembled while she told them-Ruth, with her piteous cry, "Whither thou goest, I will go; where thou diest, I will die, and there will I be buried;" Jonathan, who

ss, neither voices nor steps nor sounds of any kind breaking the death-like hush of everything. At length the boy fell asl

e hall bell rang through the silent house. She knew who it w

ping house alone, and I said I should jus

nd he looked so exceedingly pale and tired that; without any hesitation, she took him i

her overdone; I have had

e tomorrow, as I

oys to

ppose," patting Davie's head. "He seems quite well now, and as jolly as possible. You don't know what it is to say 'Goo

ricks as a monkey or a magpie. In fact, in chattering and hiding things he was nearly as bad as a magpie, and the torment of his g

to God I

ore demonstrative than was meant, or the exaggeration of coldness to hide its opposite; but sometimes a glance, a tone, betrays, or rather reveals, the real truth in a manner that nothing afterward can ever falsify. For one instant, one instant only, Fortune felt sure, quite sure, that in some w

ed so old, too, and he was but just thirty. Only thirty-only twenty-five; and yet these two were bearing, seemed to have borne for years, the burden of life, feeling all its hardships and none of its sweetnesses. Would t

on his knee-"I wonder if it is best to bear thing

wished it or not, two did really bear his burdens, and perhaps the one who bore it secr

u Miss Williams?" he sa

ely to leave the

of, the Dalziels are so well known hereabouts. Still, a poo

one another; such friends as you and I have been. I will take care we shall not do it, that is, if-but never mind that.

resist; but I think, if so, a woman like Fortune would have scorned to use it. Those poor weary eyes, which could weep oce

that, else you would

up, then begged her pardon. "I did not hurt you, surely? We

but only affectionately. The one step beyond affection, which leads

ishing to keep him as a sort of barrier. Against what?-himself? And so minute after minute slipped by; and Miss Williams, sitting in her place by the window, already saw, dotting the Links,

Miss Williams" (standing before her with an expression on his face such as she had never seen before), "before I go there was a question I had determined to ask you-a purely

t is

ut bitterness, "but you understand. Ought he not to wait till he has at least something to offer besides himself: Is it not mean, selfish, cowardly,

y did yo

hether he loved her and would not tell her so, or loved some other woman and wished her know it, it was all the same. He was evi

ot to have spoken of this at all. I ought just to have

s liked to wear it, as it had belonged to her mother. Robe

in when I am dead, or you are married, wh

presence), he took her by the two hands and looked down into her face. Apparen

to the house and the school-room, followed by their grandmother. The old lady

himself in front of her, between her and Mrs. Dalziel. Long afterward she remembered that trivial

ed me, and we have had half an hour's merry chat, have we not Davie? Now, my man, good-by." He took up the little fellow an

ys, he went to the door, but turned round, saying to the eldest boy, distinctly and clearly-thoug

to Miss Williams. Tell her I will write it. She is quite su

the gate, and shouting and waving their hats to him as he crossed the

r enthusiasm; also by some old memories, for, like many St. Andrews folk, she was strongly linked with India, and had sent off one-half of her numerous family to live or die there. There was something like a tear

r. Roy, and their envy of the "jolly" life he was going to; the

expecting the door to be opened for the customary presence that we scarcely even miss the known voice, or face, or hand. By-and-by, however, we do miss it, and there comes a general, loud, shallow lamentation which soon cur

hars on the way to Burntisland, and he would likely have a good crossing, as the sea was very calm. There had lately been some equinoctial gales, which had interested the boys amazingly, and they calculated with ingenious pertinacity whether such gales were likely to occur again when Mr. Roy was in the Bay of Biscay, and, if his ship were wrecked, what he would be

son in a dream, yet a not unhappy dream, for she still heard the voice, still fel

tted it out; then gradually blotted out the land also, the Links, the town, every thing. A regular St. Andrews "haar;" and St. Andrews people know what that i

lute faithfulness, the careful accuracy, in great things and small, with which she had to do. If Robert Roy said, "I will write on such a day," he wa

etly for the postman's h

look at the haar! I shall have

ime, rubbing his head and declaring he had nearly b

behind. No, no; all right. Such a lot! It's the Indian mail. There's

body noticed it or her, as she sat silent in her corner, while the ch

ld who in small things as in great are absolutely reliable. It seemed so impossible to believe he had not written, when he said he would, that as a last hope, she stole out with a plaid over her head and crept through the

ve, but a diseased craving to be loved, which causes a thousand imaginary miseries and wrongs. Sharp was her pain, poor girl; but she was not angry, and after her first stab of disappointment her cou

y, nor the next. On the fourth

b endurance, if not despair. This even with ordinary letters upon which any thing of moment depends. With others, such as this letter of Robert Roy's-let us not speak of it. Some may imagine, others may have known, a similar suspe

t up, for him and herself, gradually crumbled away. Had she altogether misapprehended the purport of his promised letter? Was it just some ordinary note, about her boys and their studies perhaps, which, after

liking, but actual love. She had seen it, felt it, with that almost unerring instinct that women have, wh

rning pang of shame. "Oh, why did he not speak-just

s completely as a falling star drops out of the sky, a ship sinks down in mid-oce

t. A little paler she grew, a little quieter, but nobody observed this: indeed, it came to be one of her deepest causes of thankfulness that there was nobody to observe any thing-that she had no living

d of night, when "the rain was on the roof." It so happened that, after the haar, there set in a season of continuous, sullen, depressing rain. But at night-time, and for the ten minutes

l she remembered this; indeed, almost every thing he had said or done came back upon her now-vividly, as we recall the words and looks of the dead-mingled with such a hungering pain, such a cruel "miss" of him, daily

nay, he usually said much less than he felt. Whatever he had felt for her-whether friendship, affection, love-must have

of the "dishonorableness" of asking a woman's love when one has nothing but love to give her in return. This, e

before he asked her. Also, that he should never ask twice, since, if she did not know her own mind the

hat though she felt kindly to all human beings, the one human being who was necessary to her-without whom her life might be busy, indeed, and useful

so alone in the world-and ever after belonged to one another, e

d have waited ever so hardly, and quite alone, if only I might have h

ost hour; and when it had gone by, nerving herself to endure u

py carelessness, their short-lived regrets for him

e comes back. I wonder if he will come back rich. They say he will: quite a nabob, perhaps, and take a place in the Highlands, and

and, smiling and speaking mechanically, as people can sometimes. When the tea

s life, as if it had never been any different-as if she had never seen his face nor heard his voice, never known the blessing of his companionship, friendship, love, whatever i

sant intimacy with herself, wished to draw back in time. Such things had happened, sometimes almost blamelessly, though most miserably to all parties. But with him it was not likely to happen. He was too clear sighted, strong, and honest. He would never "drift" into anything. What he

. "What ever it was, it was not that. I am glad-glad. I had far rather believe he never loved me than that he had been false to another woman for

of my poor Fortune Williams. They may console themselves by thinking she was not a young lady at all-only a woman. Such women are not too common, but they exist occasionally. And they

morning at her daily labors with a dogged persistence, never allowing herself a minute's idleness wherein to sit down and mourn. And when, despite her will, she could not conquer the fits of nervous irritability that came over her at times-when the children's innocent voices used to pierce her like needles, and their incessant quest

o school, and the younger ones to return with her to their maternal grand-mother in London-D

ination, and her hand was on the letter-box which the boys and Mr. Roy had ma

"She ought to keep it in memory of us and Mr. Roy. How c

answered

th a knowing look-the mischievous lad! and yet he was more loving and lovable than all the rest, Mr. Roy's favorite, and hers-"perha

" said the governess, gravely. But she felt hot from head to foot, and tu

d never been heard. The familiar places-hallowed as no other spot in this world, could ever be-passed out of sig

, outside life to be henceforth