“Hush, Rose, hush!” said the husband, soothingly, for she was becoming terribly excited, as the agony of years rushed over her heart and almost crushed her anew.
“I know all that you have suffered, my poor darling,” he said; “but listen, and I will make everything as clear as noonday. I will tell you all that has happened to me since I last saw your dear face. Sit here, dear, and calm yourself, for it is a long story.”
He placed her in a chair, but remained standing by her side, holding her hand in his own. Then he said:
“You are my own true wife, and have been for over twenty-five years, though I myself have sometimes feared that you had freed yourself from me during the years of our separation.
“You remember, doubtless, the day I received a letter calling me away on business. I went, bidding you a fond ‘good-by,’ but expecting to see you again in two or three days at most. My business took me aboard a vessel, where I met a friend who was just ready to sail for California; or, at least, he was ready to start in a few days. He urged me strongly to accompany him, and I was sorely tempted to give him the desired promise, for he pictured in glowing colors the fortunes so easily made in the land of gold. Finally I left him, promising to go home and talk it over with you, and if you consented, I would join him before the vessel sailed.
“It seemed such a good opportunity that I longed to improve it. And then I was so poor! I could not give you the comforts and luxuries which you seemed so fitted to enjoy, and I knew it would take years to gain them plodding on in the old routine of life. All the way home I planned how I would work and save the year or two I intended to spend in California—for I thought that sufficient time in which to make a fortune where gold was so plenty. I would deny myself everything, that I might gain a competence for my darlings; then home again on the wings of love, and the earnest welcome I should receive. Then I would build a palace fit for my treasures, and spend the rest of our days in peace and plenty.
“Charming picture! But how quickly its bright and glowing colors vanished and faded from my sight!
“On entering our little home, eager to clasp you and my boy to my heart, I found it deserted. I searched every room, but no wife’s glad smile greeted me; no baby’s chubby arms were outstretched, eager to come to me. At last, in your work-basket, I found a closely written letter, saying that you had gone back to your home to stay—that you did not love me, as I had believed you did, and that you could not longer live in the presence of one who constantly made you unhappy. You said you never wished to see my face again, and that I was free from that moment to go where I chose. You closed your cruel letter by positively forbidding me to seek you, saying you should not see me if I did; neither would you allow me to send you money, as you could not look for support from one whom you did not love.
“Hush, dearest, till I have finished,” he said, as she would have interrupted him.
“I know now that you did not pen one word of it; but I will tell you my story, and then you shall relate yours. You can imagine something of what my feelings were! At first I was stunned, overwhelmed; then grief filled my heart, and I was nearly crazy. Once I resolved to go to you and demand an explanation; but I knew your proud, willful spirit, and felt assured it would be of no avail. Ah! if I had but obeyed the instincts of my heart then, all this sorrow would have been spared us.