THE RIVALRY OF LOVE.
A silence almost like the silence of the grave reigned in the house of
the Marvels. If, by some chance, a blind man had found his way there,
he might reasonably have wondered whether it was tenanted by ghosts or
human beings. The persons in the house walked about it with such a
ghostly motion that scarcely a footfall could be heard. The doors were
opened and shut as tenderly as if wounds were being handled, and as if
rough treatment would cause them to cry out with pain. The very voices
were hushed and low, and what was said was said in whispers. The blow
by which Joshua had been struck down was a severe one, and wounded
many besides himself. Notwithstanding Minnie's efforts, Joshua had
lost a great deal of blood, and was laid on a sick-bed for many weeks.
For a long time the doctor feared for his life; but good nursing and a
strong constitution were in his favor.
"But mind you, Mrs. Marvel," the doctor had said, half-a-dozen times,
"nothing _would_ have saved him--not even his constitution, and
it's a good one; not even the nursing he has had, and no man ever had
better--nothing _would_ have saved him if Miss Kindred had not behaved
like a heroine. You may thank that young lady for saving your son's
life. If she hadn't stopped the flow of blood with her lips, all the
doctors in London couldn't have kept him in the world for twenty-four
hours."
When Minnie was told of this, she went to her room and locked herself
in.
"I have saved him!" she said to herself, weeping tears of delicious
joy. "I have saved his life! Oh, what happiness! I could die now, I am
so happy!"
It might have been better for her if she had died then with those
words upon her lips.
During the time that Joshua was in the greatest danger, Mrs. Marvel
would allow no one but herself to sit up with him at night. She had a
bed made up on the floor, and rested there, taking, indeed, but little
sleep, until Joshua was out of danger. Minnie, especially, had pleaded
hard to be allowed to sit up with her; but Mrs. Marvel was firm.
Although she would not have confessed it even to herself, she was
jealous of the girl's solicitude; and once expressed herself angrily
because Minnie had offered to give Joshua his medicine. Afterwards,
seeing Minnie in tears, Mrs. Marvel kissed her and begged her pardon
in a gentle, motherly way, which made Minnie cry the more. Mrs. Marvel
found Minnie more difficult to manage than Ellen. Ellen was
wonderfully undemonstrative and wonderfully obedient. And besides,
Ellen was never in the way when she was not wanted, and was always at
hand the instant she was required. There was an instinctive sympathy
between Mrs. Marvel and Ellen which did not exist between Mrs. Marvel
and Minnie. The good mother loved both the girls, but she loved Ellen
like a daughter. In the second week of Joshua's illness a circumstance
occurred which, for a short time, occasioned Mrs. Marvel much anxious
thought. Joshua being more feverish than usual--for three weeks he was
delirious, and did not know where he was, or who were tending him--the
girls hovered about the room (in their anxiety to be of some
assistance) rather later than Mrs. Marvel generally allowed them.
"Go to bed, girls," said Mrs. Marvel.
Ellen rose obediently, and kissing Mrs. Marvel, and asking to be
called if Mrs. Marvel wanted assistance in the night, went softly out
of the room. But Minnie lingered behind, and with a yearning, wistful
look at Mrs. Marvel, begged, in the softest of whispers, to be allowed
to sit up with her.
"No, child," said Mrs. Marvel, "I can't think of it. You would be of
no use to me to-morrow if you were to sit up to-night."
"Oh, yes, I should!" said Minnie, still pleading; "you don't know what
a strong girl I am. Do let me stop with you! Do let me think that I
can do something to help you!"
"You can do a great deal if you obey me, Minnie; and you do assist me
very much, my dear; but I will not let you sit up to-night. Hush!" For
here Joshua said something aloud, and murmured feverishly in his
sleep. When he was quiet, Mrs. Marvel said, "Don't distress me, dear
Minnie; go to bed, like a good girl."
Minnie, with deep sighs, went to the bedside to look at Joshua and to
bid him a silent goodnight--Mrs. Marvel regarding her jealously the
while--and then crept out of the room in tears. The girls being gone,
Mrs. Marvel felt more contented. She sat down by her son's bedside,
and, with that lightness of touch which nothing but a mother's pure
love or that of a wife can impart, smoothed the bed-coverings, and
brushed the hair from Joshua's eyes. At about eleven o'clock the
handle of the door was gently turned, and Mr. Marvel entered. He had
no boots on, and she had not heard him come up from the kitchen.
Clasping his wife's hand, he leaned over the bed to catch a glimpse of
Joshua's face.
"He is better to-night, George," she said; "he is getting along
nicely. The doctor said to-day that he will soon be sensible."
George Marvel nodded, and put his lips to his wife's cheek.
"You must be very tired, Maggie."
She replied by a bright smile.
"Shall I sit up for an hour while you lie down?"
"Yes, father," knowing it would please him. "Have you had supper?"
A nod.
"And your beer?"
Another nod.
"And your pipe?"
"Yes; Ellen got every thing ready nicely. She is like you were when
you were a girl, Maggie."
"Better than me, father."
"That's not possible, wife." Ah! how her heart fluttered as he said
the word! She trembled in his arms like a girl. "Now lie down; I'll
wake you in an hour."
She had but to close her eyes--being satisfied that her darling son
was in good hands--and she was asleep. George Marvel watched for an
hour, and perhaps a little longer, and then touched his wife, who was
instantly awake. Alone again, Mrs. Marvel resumed her loving vigil.
Not a sound was to be heard except the occasional prattle of Joshua,
now of Dan and the birds, now of "father" and "mother," now of Ellen,
now of Minnie and her shell. Mrs. Marvel had already learned, through
those unconscious confessions, that her son's heart was as tender and
as good as it had been before he had started in life for himself. A
few minutes after the church-clock had struck two, Mrs. Marvel fancied
she heard a soft breathing, outside the bedroom-door. She listened
intently, thinking she must have been deceived; but no--the soft
breathing, as of some one asleep, came distinctly to her ears. She
went to the door and opened it, and, lying at the foot of the stairs
in the narrow passage, she discovered Minnie, in her night-dress, fast
asleep. The girl had evidently kept awake until Ellen and Sarah were
asleep, and had then stolen down stairs, and had sat outside the door
of the sick-room until she had been overpowered by fatigue. Mrs.
Marvel stooped over the sleeping girl and whispered,--
"Minnie!"
The sound of her name, chiming in with some dreaming fancy, brought a
happy smile to the girl's lips, and she answered,--
"Yes, Joshua!"
A look of pain passed into Mrs. Marvel's face; she knelt by Minnie's
side, and gently raising the girl's head, she whispered again,--
"Minnie! You'll catch your death of cold lying here."
Minnie, still sleeping, encircled Mrs. Marvel's neck with her arms,
and murmured, as she nestled close to the anxious mother's breast,--
"Joshua! Love me! Love me, Joshua!"
Mrs. Marvel trembled as she looked upon the girl's fair face, made
fairer by the happy smile playing about the lips, and she felt a
sudden chill at her heart.
"Oh, my poor Minnie!" she said beneath her breath. "Oh, my poor, poor
Minnie!"
Then by a strong effort, she raised the girl, and so awoke her.
Before Minnie had time to recover full consciousness, her name,
uttered by Joshua in his fevered sleep, fell upon her ears. With a
glad cry she sprang from Mrs. Marvel's arms into the sick-room; but
Mrs. Marvel stepped swiftly before her, and taking her two hands
prisoner, said, in a voice which, although very low, was stern and
decided, "I am seriously angry with you, Minnie."
The sudden movements, the light in the room, and, above all, Mrs.
Marvel's stern voice, restored Minnie to her senses. She dropped her
head, and a hot blush of shame stole over her neck and face, while the
hands which Mrs. Marvel held turned cold as ice. All Mrs. Marvel's
sternness was gone, and pity only remained.
"Forgive me," Minnie pleaded.
"I do, child," said Mrs. Marvel, more agitated than Minnie was. "I was
obliged to speak sternly, or I should not have been able to wake you.
Go to bed now, and be more obedient for the future."
Minnie walked humbly into the passage, whither Mrs. Marvel followed
her.
"Ah, not like that!" sighed Minnie, as Mrs. Marvel turned to enter the
room. "Not like that! Kiss me, and say again that you forgive me."
And Mrs. Marvel, distressed and pitiful, kissed Minnie, who clung to
her for a few moments, sobbing quietly, and then crept to bed.
But who had struck the blow? Who was it that, waiting with malicious
cunning until Joshua's foot was on the threshold of the home where so
many loving hearts were eager to welcome him, had foully struck him
down? Susan was the only one who had any suspicion; but she did not
mention it, for she had not seen the Lascar for many months. When
Minnie was questioned, she declared that she saw no one in the street.
A neighbor asked why one of the men in the house did not look for
footsteps in the snow and follow up the track. They could not tell why
they had not done so; it would have been the right thing to do,
undoubtedly, but it had not occurred to them. When Joshua was
sufficiently recovered, he could not assist them. He was examined and
cross-examined closely. Did he suspect any of the sailors? No; he was
good friends with every person on board; was even a favorite with the
captain and officers. Ah! perhaps it sprang from that, they said; one
of his mates might have been jealous of him. No; he was certain not
one of them was. His own opinion was that he had been stabbed by a
thief who wanted to rob him. But there! what was the use of bothering
about it? Here he was, getting well and strong again, when it might
have been so much worse. Thank God, in a few weeks he would be as well
as ever! The day that Joshua was out of danger, the doctor told him
that his life had been saved by Minnie.
"In what way, sir?" asked Joshua.
"Don't you remember that, when you were struck"--commenced the doctor.
But Joshua interrupted him by saying that he remembered nothing from
that moment.
"I was walking along, too much occupied with the happiness of coming
home to think of any thing else. I remember looking at the houses in
the street, and stopping before our house. I heard voices inside, or I
thought I did. Indeed, it might have been fancy. I stooped to listen,
and then knocked. Some one asked--ah, now I remember! It was Minnie's
voice asking who was there. Just as I answered, a dizziness came over
me; I did not even know that I was struck."
"As you answered," said the doctor, taking up the narrative where
Joshua dropped it, "Minnie opened the door. She saw you falling, and
saw blood flowing from your neck. She threw herself by your side, and
put her lips to the wound, and pressed so as to cause the blood to
flow less freely. I honestly believe that if she had not done that,
your life would not have been saved."
Joshua did not pursue the conversation, and the doctor did not recur
to the subject again. The following afternoon Joshua said to his
mother,--
"Mother, I want to speak to Minnie."
Mrs. Marvel, a little uneasily, went for Minnie, who came and sat by
Joshua's bed.
"Are you better, Joshua?" asked the girl.
"Yes, dear Minnie," answered Joshua.
They spoke in whispers. Joshua put out his big hand, and Minnie
clasped it.
"Your hand is quite cold, Minnie." Minnie, indeed, was very agitated.
"I owe you my life, dear Minnie, and I want to thank you for it. It
almost seems to me, after what I have been told, as if my life
belonged to you. Thank you, dear little Minnie--you used to like me to
call you that!--thank you a thousand thousand times. I shall never be
able to repay you!"
"I don't want payment, Joshua," said Minnie, when the wild beating of
her heart was subdued. "It brought its own payment with it. It is, and
ever will be, my sweetest remembrance. O Joshua! as the greatest
unhappiness that ever could occur to me would be"--(to lose you, she
was about to say, but she checked the words in time)--"to know that
you would not recover, so the greatest happiness that I have ever
experienced is to think that I have done you some little service."
"Little service! The greatest service, the most devoted action that
woman could do to man! Perhaps--who knows?--one day I may be able to
repay you in my own way." As if those words were not sufficient for
her, who would have given her life for his. "Stoop down Minnie!" She
inclined her head to the pillow. "Little Minnie, little Minnie!" he
whispered tenderly, and he placed his lips to her cheek. "Thank you
for your devotion."
It was fortunate for Minnie that it was dusk, and that her back was
towards Mrs. Marvel, or the good mother would have had further cause
for anxiety and uneasiness in Minnie's trembling form and flushed
face. As it was, there was a long silence in the room; and Mrs.
Marvel, approaching softly to the bed to see if Joshua was asleep,
broke the happy reverie into which Minnie had fallen.
Solomon Fewster came to the house every day to inquire after Joshua,
and went away every day with content in his face and despair in his
heart. If ever a man played a double part, he played it during that
time. "If he would but die!" he thought many and many a time. "If
mortification would set in, or erysipelas, or something that would
kill him!" And "I am truly happy to hear it," he said, many and many a
time, to Mrs. Marvel, as in answer to his inquiries she told him that
Joshua was improving rapidly. "I have brought a little jelly for him,"
which Mrs. Marvel received thankfully. At other times he would bring a
chicken or some other delicacy to tempt Joshua's appetite, and would
walk from the house with earnest wishes that what he left would choke
the invalid. "I shall never forget Mr. Fewster's kindness," said Mrs.
Marvel. "I feel quite angry with myself; for I did not give him credit
for so much good feeling. But it is just in such times as these that a
man shows the real goodness of his heart." And Mr. Fewster met with
his reward immediately; for they were all grateful to him for his
attention to Joshua. Mr. Marvel always had a hearty word for him,
Minnie always a bright look, Ellen always a kind welcome now. But it
was both sweet and bitter to him. "Ellen looks kindly upon me," he
thought, and thought truly, "because I profess myself kind to Joshua.
Will it ever be otherwise? Yes; if money can make it so, it shall be.
And money can do much."
Yes, money can do much; but it cannot buy love, although it is often
paid for it.
The most delicious three months of Joshua's life dated from the day on
which the doctor declared him to be out of danger. He lived in an
atmosphere of love. Loving hearts, loving hands, loving looks, loving
thoughts, surrounded him. Is it better to have those than to be great
and rich and powerful? Too modest for ambition are such blessings. Yet
are they the sweetest, the holiest attributes of life. Of life, which
is nothing without pleasures which cost money. Of life, which is not
worth the living without fine linen and rich food. Of life, which is
useless without the restless striving, the absorbing ambition, which
make up the sum of human progress. Of Life, the Paradox!
Something which has fallen out of its proper place may be motioned
here. When Joshua was carried into the house on that memorable
Christmas night, two things that had fallen from his hands were picked
up from the snow and carried in after him. On of these was his
accordion, the other was a white cockatoo in a cage, which Joshua had
brought home from the South Seas. Whether it was that the cockatoo was
overwhelmed at finding itself in a strange land, or that it deemed it
necessary to be silent in the distressing circumstances of the case,
it certainly behaved itself in a most exemplary manner, and gave no
indication that it possessed a tongue. The cockatoo was taken to Dan's
house, which was but a very few doors from Joshua's, and two or three
days afterwards Dan was startled by hearing his name called in a
strange loud voice. He looked up at Ellen, and asked if she had
spoken. She had just time to say "No" when _her_ name was called in
the same strange loud voice.
"Why, it's the cockatoo!" exclaimed Dan.
Sure enough, it was the cockatoo, which, now that its tongue was
loosened, made as much use of it as a woman could have done. Its stock
of language was not large, consisting only of a shrill "Dan!" a shrill
"Dan and Jo!" a shrill "Ellen!" a shrill "Minnie!" and a softer
articulation of "Bread-and-cheese and kisses! and kisses! and kisses!"
winding up with a volley of kisses, which it continued until it was
completely out of breath. No stronger proof of Joshua's attachment
could have been received by Dan and Ellen. Dan was much affected by
it.
"You see how he was thinking of us all the time he was away," he said
to Ellen, with tears in his eyes. "What shall I do if he dies!"
But Joshua did not die, and it was not very long afterwards that Dan
was sitting in his friend's bedroom, surrounded by his birds as usual.
It was like the old time come over again. Here they were, man and man,
talking often as if they were boys. So much had to be told! The loss
of Dan's parents, Dan entering into business, and how they all came to
be living together. "Wonderful, wonderful!" said Joshua, again and
again. "Like a story in a book."
"Just what I said," said Dan; "like a romance."
Who should come to the house one day but the captain of Joshua's ship.
the "Merry Andrew"? The part he plays in this story is a small one,
but eventful enough in all conscience. He was a shrewd man of business
and a good officer. It was to his interest to have good men about him;
for he was the principal owner of the ship, and he was remarkably
sensible in any matter affecting his interests. He had heard of what
had occurred to Joshua, and he was very sorry for it, because he had
been so satisfied with Joshua's conduct on board his ship, that he had
determined to make the young sailor his third mate on the next voyage.
Therein he showed his eccentricity; most other captains would have
chosen a man who had already filled that position satisfactorily. But
Captain Liddle liked to judge for himself, and Joshua had found favor
in his eyes. The young sailor was steady and attentive, and had made
some progress in the study of navigation. There was one especial
reason why Captain Liddle wanted steady men with him on his next
voyage. He was about to get married, and he was going to take his
young wife with him. There was great excitement in the house when
Captain Liddle announced himself. Joshua, who was in bed, wanted to
rise, but Captain Liddle would not allow him.
"Lie easy, lie easy, Marvel," he said: "you'll get better all the
sooner."
"I hoped to come with you, sir, on your next voyage," said Joshua.
"Well, I had some thought of that myself," said Captain Liddle.
"Do you go out soon, sir?"
"Not for three months, Marvel; perhaps not for four. The ship's
undergoing a thorough overhauling. She'll have a precious freight in
her next trip."
"What loading, sir?"
Captain Liddle's eyes twinkled. "Female. Lie easy, lie easy, Marvel;"
for Joshua had given another start. "Mrs. Captain Liddle. I shall be
married soon, and my wife goes out with me."
Joshua murmured respectful congratulations.
"Thank you, thank you, Marvel. Now, I'll tell you what I have come
especially for. First, though, how long before you are well?"
"I am well now, sir."
"Strong, I mean; able to get about and do your work like a man."
"Not for two months, I am afraid, sir."
"That will do. Now, then. You get strong in two months, and you shall
go out with me in my next trip as third mate of the 'Merry Andrew.'
Lie easy, lie easy, Marvel. What do you say to it, eh?"
"Say to it, sir! O"--
"Lie easy, lie easy, my lad. When you get strong come to the ship, and
write a few lines soon telling me how strong you are getting. Mrs.
Marvel, your son is a good sailor, and will make a good officer. And
this is Dan, that you told me of once? A good head; but not so strong
in the legs as Marvel, eh?"
"No, sir," said Dan with a bright smile, for he was overjoyed at
Joshua's good fortune; "but it wouldn't do for all of us to be strong
sir; consider the doctors."
"Why, here is a ship, ropes and sails and all! And birds!"
Obedient to Dan's signal, the sailor-birds flew up the ropes, and
stood on the slender cross-trees, as proud as if they had passed their
lives in the service.
"Good--good!" said Captain Liddle. "For sale, eh?"
"No; they are not mine sir; they belong to an old sailor."
"Very proper. Ah, young lady," to Minnie, who had been in the room,
but in the background, during the captain's visit; "and what do you
think of the sea?"
"If I had been a man, sir," said Minnie modestly and quietly, "I
should like to have been a sailor."
"Very proper--very proper. Good-day, Marvel. Get strong as quickly as
you can. You'll have to superintend cargo."
Mr. Marvel, coming home at night, was told the good news before he had
time to take the comforter from his neck. He ran up stairs at once to
his son's room. "A sailor first, and then a captain," he exclaimed,
recalling Joshua's words when he first announced his wish. "Do you
remember, Josh?
"Yes, father, yes," said Joshua eagerly.
"It's better than being a wood-turner, Josh," said George Marvel
triumphantly.
"I should think so, indeed. You'll see!"
"There, Maggie!" observed Mr. Marvel to his wife later on in the
evening. "What did I tell you? And you was against it all the while,
and wanted him to be a wood-turner. He'll be a captain before he's
thirty."
"He is spared, I hope, for great things." said Mrs. Marvel meekly;
"and to be a blessing to us all."
That same night, Dan and Joshua and Ellen spent some very happy hours
together. Minnie was with Susan attending her father, so that the
three were undisturbed. Mrs. Marvel opened the door once; but seeing
the group, and observing how engrossed they were, she shut it softly,
and went down again into the kitchen. Once, also, George Marvel was
going out of the kitchen when his wife called to to him,--
"Where are you going, father?"
"To Joshua's room."
"Don't go, George. Come and sit down; I want to speak to you."
Mr. Marvel resumed his seat, and Mrs. Marvel refilled his pipe and
handed it to him, with a light, "There! smoke your pipe and don't be
so restless."
He took a few whiffs, and asked who was with Joshua.
"Ellen and Dan; and they are very happy and comfortable. I peeped in
once, and I wouldn't disturb them."
"Oh!" said Mr. Marvel reflectively dwelling lengthily upon that
smallest of words.
"I have reasons, George," said Mrs. Marvel quietly. "I never saw Ellen
look so happy and pretty as she looks tonight."
Mr. Marvel nodded two or three times with an expression of
satisfaction. "Do you think, mother," he commenced; and then he
paused, and repeated, "Do you think, mother, that"--and then he paused
again, as if he had said enough to make his meaning clear.
"Yes, I do, George," said Mrs. Marvel. "I had my doubts, but now I
really think it will be so."
"That will be a real good thing;" rubbing his hands. "Here's hoping
so!" and he drank a full glass of beer to his mysterious toast.
What was going on up stairs that the wood-turner and his wife were
loath to interrupt? Merely a recalling of old reminiscences and a
closer drawing together of three hearts, which might have been one,
for the undivided affection for each other with which they were
filled.
"Thinking of then, when every thing before us was so uncertain, and of
now, when every thing before us is so bright and clear," said Joshua,
"makes me almost believe that our ways are shaped for us, and that, if
we strive to do our duty, our reward is certain."
"It is too deep a question for us, Jo," said Dan; "so many
considerations spring out of it. As to whether every good man is
happy. As to whether every man who strives to do right is spared pain
and misery. At all events, it is certain that the very best thing to
do is to do what is right, and to be straightforward and honest. It is
not too often done, I am afraid. I haven't seen any thing of the
world, but it strikes me that that is not the way of it."
"If ever I am captain of a ship--and I may be, Dan--it looks
promising"--
"That it does, Jo."
"You shall come with me a voyage. I will have every thing snug for
you; hammock on deck the same as that day we spent with the Old
Sailor--ah, what a day was that!"
"I can recall every moment of it; from the night before, when Ellen
stood at the window watching the rain, and my waking up in the morning
waiting for you to come--oh, so anxiously! And the flowers, and the
birds--the poor birds!--and the breakfast, and the ride! I tell you
what, Jo, stories could be made out of these things. But the day
wouldn't have been the day it was if Ellen had not been with us."
Ellen smiled, and her eyes sparkled.
"Every thing connected with it is so vivid to my mind just now," said
Joshua, "that it only wants one thing to make it complete; and that is
for Ellen to sing 'Bread-and-Cheese and Kisses,' as she sang it in the
Old Sailor's cabin."
Ellen, in a low voice, sang the song; and they were silent for a long
while, musing happily. Then Joshua made a remark that his pillow was
not nicely arranged, and Ellen smoothed it for him. Her arm
necessarily was round his neck for a moment--only for a moment by her
own will; for when she would have withdrawn it, Joshua held it there,
and she, with impulse as pure as pure heart and mind could make it,
allowed it to remain. What wonder that a silence of longer duration
followed?
Ah! if a magic spell had fallen upon them then, a spell that would
have transfixed them and made their happiness eternal!
Not one of them knew how long that blissful trance lasted. It was
broken by the slightest sound--it might have been the opening of a
door, or even the light tread of our old friend the tortoise-shell
cat--but whatever the sound was, the trance was at an end, and they
were all awake again. Ellen withdrew her arm, and, with downcast eyes,
hurriedly left the room. Joshua turned to Dan, and holding out his
hand, said, "Dan, take my hand, and say, Brother Jo."
"I do. Brother Jo!"
"That's good; isn't it, Dan?"
"Yes, Jo."
"Brothers more than in heart, Dan, as we have always been. But
Brothers really and truly, if Ellen says yes."
"Ellen loves you, Jo. You have but to ask." He paused for a little
while before he spoke again. "There is something in my mind that it is
right you should know. It is the only thing I have ever kept from you;
but now, since you have told me about yourself and Ellen"--
"Did you ever doubt it, Dan?"
"I wasn't certain, Jo. You have removed a great weight from my heart.
It seems strange that now, when I see the almost certain prospect of
your future being as bright as we used to hope it would be--it seems
strange that I cannot say I am happy. Yet one thing would make me so
perfectly."
"There is no cloud between you and me, Dan?"
"None--nor ever will be, brother of my heart. But a great hope,
shadowed by a great fear, has entered into my soul--a hope which
fulfilled, would make earth heaven for me. Is it too precious a thing
to pray for? It seems so to me. I tremble as I think of it. But if it
is not to be, I hope I shall soon die."
"Dan!" cried Joshua in alarm, for Dan's last words were like a cry of
agony.
"Haven't you seen it, Jo? Haven't you suspected it? I love her so
that, if I knew she were lost to me, I scarcely think I could live. I
love her so that, if she were lost to me, some stronger motive, some
stronger feeling than any I can now think of; would have to animate me
to make my future less black than the blackest night."
"You mean Minnie, Dan?"
"Yes; she is my light. Ah, Jo! How I love her! I have never spoken of
it till now; I have never dared to breathe it. And now that I speak of
it for the first time, it frightens me."
"Nay, Dan, take courage. You are frightened by shadows."
"If I could think so!" mused Dan in a less agitated voice. "What can
I, a cripple, offer her? Love? Yes, I can offer her that, pure and
undefiled. Nothing more--nothing more! Keep my secret, Jo."
"Yes, Dan," said Joshua sadly.
"If all should come right in the end, Jo! You and Ellen, and me and
Minnie!"
He trembled, and burying his face in his hands, thought of the happy
night when the Old Sailor traced Joshua's course on the map, and when
Minnie's arm was round his neck and her cheek had touched his. How
many times had he thought of those few blissful moments, and what balm
and comfort had the memory brought him!