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408 A STRANGE CHANCE.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
+ Chapter, Iii.
only hope and faith . Augusta began to address anxious and affectionate inquiries to Elizabeth respecting the course of this illness ,
and all topics relating both to hini and herself of which she dared to . ask . But it was not of this George desired to hear
her speak ; he wanted to learn something of her own life , about ¦ which he had had so many dreams and speculations , and by
degrees she found * herself constrained to say something concerning- it . She did so with reluctance , the crimson light often
coming into her face as she spoke of her home , her husband , and her son . These were her lifeand apart from them she had
, nothing to relate . It was soon evident that she had not been slow to mention them because there was anything she wished to conceal ,
but rather because , she had a delicate feeling about _sjDeaking * of a fate which seemed more sunny and happy than that of the sad
ones near her . And , it appeared scarcely right to her , that at such a moment anything should be discussed which was not in intimate
connexion with the dying man . How much all that belonged to her " was But— so but , it was " she not went possible on to for sa _} her _^ and to conceive an expression . of anxiety
, and deep grief passed into her face , " Where our own souls are not the fruitful sources of our woe , it seems to me that chance
and accident are sent to assail us , lest , overcome by our content , we should fall into slumber at the wayside . Upon the harmony of
our days burst a most unlooked-for and bewildering woe . We stood hast before it—it was so terribleso strange . But I must not
trouble ag you now , dear friend , with the , details of the accident hj which we lost our dearest , first-born child . "
Just as she said this the door-bell was rung below . She stopped speaking , and the color again rose into her face .
" Is that Charles ? " George asked of Elizabeth . "I fancy so" she replied ; " lie was out when Augusta arrived .
, "I believe , " interrupted Augusta , "it is somebody belonging to me . I have not yet told you that my luisband and son came
with me . I travel but little , and leaving suddenly and in some excitement for a journey upon a strange road , Edward
considered it best to accompany me ; and as it is Frederick ' s school holidays , we thought we would give him the pleasure of a journey
with us . " A stej ) was heard upon the stairs , the door _ojoened , and a
handsomefair-haired youth entered . The light in the room was very dim , for during their conversation the candle had remained
imtrimniod , and the fire unstirredand the side of the bed to which the boy passed was in shadow , . Augusta looking at him with
surprise , exclaimed , " Why , Frederick , how is it you come in in this manner ? What do you mean ? ' "
" " I Wha am t astonished do you say to ? see " asked Frederick Elizabeth enter . so familiarly , " she replied .
" Is your father below ? " she continued , again turning' to him . '
408 A Strange Chance.
408 A STRANGE CHANCE .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 1, 1861, page 408, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01021861/page/48/
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