The Soldier's Wife — page 47: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

86 THE SOLDIER'S WIE. “T pen these few lines, dearest Frederick, to|table; he observed not who it was—he would let you know that our interview of last even-|not touch the victuals—his brain swam-—there ing has remained totally unsuspected by my|was frenzy in it. The meal was left disre- father: but such is his vigilance over me, that/garded. Presently the door was again opened ; 1 cannot hope to meet you presently at the/and this time it was to intimate that in a few pape of appointment. Martha however will|minutes he must be ready for departure. Ah! e there. I have made a complete contidante|this announcement startled him from the hor- rible vortex of his wretchedness. Oh, to write a line to Luey and get it conveyed to her! There was some little solace in the thought and he lost not a moment in carrying it into execution, Writing materials were procured; and he covered a page with the impassioned effusions of his bleeding—almost broken heart. He summoned the hostler; and putting into his “Six c’clock, Monday Evening. |Some one entered ar 1 placed food tpon the of the kind-hearted girl; and she will do may thing she can to serve us. If by any accident rou do not make your appearance at the oak in the a ee she will wait half-an-hour for you—she will repair at once to Mr, Bates’s house, and deliver this packet into his hands. Therefore you see, dearest Frederick, that every precaution is taken to ensure the success of our arrangements. You can of course pay the money at once; and then you will be free. |packet, he besought and conjured him to find Oh! dearest, dearest Frederick, how happy |some opportunity for delivering secretly to shall I be presently! At about nine o’clock I; Miss Davis the letter which he likewise gave shall say to myself, ‘ He as free by this teme—he|him, The man knew Lonsdale well, and liked is no longer a slave, bound hand and foot: he is|him as much: he was deeply moved too by the happy once more. ‘These will be my thoughts: !spectacle of his boundless grief—and he pro- and they will prove the source of ineftable|}mised compliance in terms so sincere that the bliss. youns man felt assured the pledge would not “Now, dear Frederick, you must every even-|be broken. ing repair to our place of appointment, until [| Almost immediately after this incident, a succeed in joining you there: and then, when|covered van drew up to the door of the Royal I do, it will be to part no more. Are you not}/Oak; and Lonsdale, with the other recruits happy, my beloved Frederick? I am so happy|who had by this time mustered at the publi —Oh! so happy, I cannot describe all I feel.|house, entered the vehicle under the supervi- Heaven’s blessings be upon your head, my own|sion of Serjeant Langley. There were many well-beloved !—and I need searcely add that if|persons assembled to witness the departure; the sincerest. affection which woman’s heartjand many a friendly shake of the hand and may experience, can make man happy, then do|kind wish were bestowed upon the hero of our vou possess that devoted love on the part of|tale. Mr. Bates did not, however, show him- your self: for after all his horrible perfidy, it was “Lucy.” |scarcely to be supposed that he would venture The tears rained in torrents down Lonsdale’s|to meet the indignant looks of the outraged cheeks as he read this note. The strong man|Lonsdale. Distressing enough was the parting was convulsed with the bitterest agony; and/sceue betwixt all the other recruits, their rela- he wept like a child. A child—no! the com-|tives and friends: mothers and sisters clung to parison is ridiculous. No child, even when/|them frantically ere they ascended the vehicle; most poignantly afflicted, ever wept so bitterly |and there were few of the young men who did as Frederick Lonsdale wept then. O God!|not now bitterly repent the step they had how much happiness had been annihilated in a|taken, and curse the hour when they suffered moment. What feartul ravages had _ foul|themselves to be beguiled by the inflated false- treachery made! The desolation of a ravaging |hoods and grandiloquent exaggerations of Mr, army in a fertile territory, was as naught in|Langley. comparison with the desolation which a mon-| The vehicle drove away; and while it passed strous iniquity had brought into two fond and|through the village, Lonsdale felt, as each fa- faithful hearts. Oh, that the happiness which|miliar object was left behind, as if he were _was breathed in the artless, ingenuous language| parting with life itself by a rapid succession of of the sweet girl’s letter, should be thus anni-|the cruellest blows. The villagers were all hilated in a moment! Oh, that a crown of|assembled at their cottage-doors to witness the thorns should be placed on that beauteous head, |departure, and to wave their hands in farewell. and that a dagger should be ruthlessly thrust/One after another the little shops disappeared inte that innocent bosom! Heaven, why did|from the view; Dr. Colycinth’s house was thy thunders sleep? had’st thou then no light: passed—then the neat dwelling of the parish- nings to blast and destroy the satanic authors |clerk—then the church—and at length naught of that foul and hideous wrong? Oh, it was|save the spire was visible from the window of almost sufficient to make the young man mis-|the van. .But half-way up the eminence on trust Providence itself, in the contemplation of |which the Manor House stood, was the bailiff’s this ghastly wreck of bliss that had been suf-|cottage; and on this Lonsdale kep this eyes fered to take place! rivete” with a mournful earnestness until that But we cannot—we dare not linger upon the/jalso faded from his sight. At last not even scene. Our soul is smitten with a deep, deep|the church spire itself was any longer visible ; sadness, as we make this feeble attempt to de-|and as he sank back with a deep inward moan lineate the workings of the utter agony which|—the soul speaking silently in its ineffable took possession of our young hero’s mind.'anguish—it appeared as if a tremendous gulf hand the gold which had dropped from the Gomicbooks.co