The Argosy — page 178: what you’re looking at

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

Charles Austen’s Love. 165 existence of Mr. Austen ; forgot everything but that they loved one another better than life. Dr. Law was tolerably well acquainted with the mine; he real- ised the situation at a glance. To hope for aid from above was futile. The whole shaft had been choked up; the only avenue to safety cut off. All he could do was to labour for the few moments left him of life. He lifted Lucy some feet above to a shelf of rock and climbed up beside her. She clung to him like a child; he held her to him as if she had been one. “T am not afraid with you, Edmund,” she presently whispered. “I feel quite happy.” “Lucy, I must speak now. Oh, I have loved you from the very first, but I have tried to be honourable for his sake. He is so noble, andso generous! But now, in this last hour, it can be no sin to speak. My darling, may I kiss your lips ?” “On the other side,” she answered simply. ‘In this world my lips belong to him only. It cannot be long to wait.” He acquiesced in silence. They sat on quietly side by side, his arm round her waist to hold her up safely, her hand in his, It seemed ages to them, but it was only a few minutes, ere the terrible stillness that had come upon the place was broken by a duil thud. The very darkness quivered and danced before them; a second and a third stroke, and a mass of earth fell down from above, almost stunning, almost blinding them ; and then a breath of heaven’s own air swept in—aray of sunshine dropped its gold into the gloom. The miners had broken in the top of the mine, and they were saved. A rope was let down—Dr. Law fastened it around the waist of Lucy—she was drawn up, and he speedily followed. But when he bent to lift her up, she sank a dead weight in his arms, without life or motion. A week or two of long and anxious watching elapsed before Lucy Dennit rallied, and they knew that she would live. All through the sweet April sunshine she lay in the great guest-chamber of the Hall, to which she had been carried—lay quietly unconscious. But she spoke at times incoherent words in her mind’s wandering, which astonished Squire Austen and Mrs. Law. “The mine, Edmund! the mine!” she murmured in her first re- turn to consciousness. - “ Edmund, where’s Edmund ? ” “You are safe with me, my dear,” said the Squire; “and Edmund is safe too. He was hurt a little, and has stayed on here to get well and strong again. You shall see him soon,” Lucy took the kind hand that was smoothing her brow, kissed it, and burst into tears. ‘You are so good to me!” she whispered. “I try to be,” he answered. A day or two later, when she was better, and lying on the sofa by Gomichoo cS) (EO) m