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diff --git a/9243-0.txt b/9243-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..01e2ceb --- /dev/null +++ b/9243-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,622 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Wives of The Dead, by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: The Wives of The Dead + +Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Release Date: September 18, 2003 [eBook #9243] +[Most recently updated: May 16, 2022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: David Widger + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WIVES OF THE DEAD *** + + + + +The Wives of The Dead + +by Nathaniel Hawthorne + + + + +The following story, the simple and domestic incidents of which may be +deemed scarcely worth relating, after such a lapse of time, awakened +some degree of interest, a hundred years ago, in a principal seaport of +the Bay Province. The rainy twilight of an autumn day,—a parlor on the +second floor of a small house, plainly furnished, as beseemed the +middling circumstances of its inhabitants, yet decorated with little +curiosities from beyond the sea, and a few delicate specimens of Indian +manufacture,—these are the only particulars to be premised in regard to +scene and season. Two young and comely women sat together by the +fireside, nursing their mutual and peculiar sorrows. They were the +recent brides of two brothers, a sailor and a landsman, and two +successive days had brought tidings of the death of each, by the +chances of Canadian warfare and the tempestuous Atlantic. The universal +sympathy excited by this bereavement drew numerous condoling guests to +the habitation of the widowed sisters. Several, among whom was the +minister, had remained till the verge of evening; when, one by one, +whispering many comfortable passages of Scripture, that were answered +by more abundant tears, they took their leave, and departed to their +own happier homes. The mourners, though not insensible to the kindness +of their friends, had yearned to be left alone. United, as they had +been, by the relationship of the living, and now more closely so by +that of the dead, each felt as if whatever consolation her grief +admitted were to be found in the bosom of the other. They joined their +hearts, and wept together silently. But after an hour of such +indulgence, one of the sisters, all of whose emotions were influenced +by her mild, quiet, yet not feeble character, began to recollect the +precepts of resignation and endurance which piety had taught her, when +she did not think to need them. Her misfortune, besides, as earliest +known, should earliest cease to interfere with her regular course of +duties; accordingly, having placed the table before the fire, and +arranged a frugal meal, she took the hand of her companion. + +“Come, dearest sister; you have eaten not a morsel to-day,” she said. +“Arise, I pray you, and let us ask a blessing on that which is provided +for us.” + +Her sister-in-law was of a lively and irritable temperament, and the +first pangs of her sorrow had been expressed by shrieks and passionate +lamentation. She now shrunk from Mary’s words, like a wounded sufferer +from a hand that revives the throb. + +“There is no blessing left for me, neither will I ask it!” cried +Margaret, with a fresh burst of tears. “Would it were His will that I +might never taste food more!” + +Yet she trembled at these rebellious expressions, almost as soon as +they were uttered, and, by degrees, Mary succeeded in bringing her +sister’s mind nearer to the situation of her own. Time went on, and +their usual hour of repose arrived. The brothers and their brides, +entering the married state with no more than the slender means which +then sanctioned such a step, had confederated themselves in one +household, with equal rights to the parlor, and claiming exclusive +privileges in two sleeping-rooms contiguous to it. Thither the widowed +ones retired, after heaping ashes upon the dying embers of their fire, +and placing a lighted lamp upon the hearth. The doors of both chambers +were left open, so that a part of the interior of each, and the beds +with their unclosed curtains, were reciprocally visible. Sleep did not +steal upon the sisters at one and the same time. Mary experienced the +effect often consequent upon grief quietly borne, and soon sunk into +temporary forgetfulness, while Margaret became more disturbed and +feverish, in proportion as the night advanced with its deepest and +stillest hours. She lay listening to the drops of rain, that came down +in monotonous succession, unswayed by a breath of wind; and a nervous +impulse continually caused her to lift her head from the pillow, and +gaze into Mary’s chamber and the intermediate apartment. The cold light +of the lamp threw the shadows of the furniture up against the wall, +stamping them immovably there, except when they were shaken by a sudden +flicker of the flame. Two vacant arm-chairs were in their old positions +on opposite sides of the hearth, where the brothers had been wont to +sit in young and laughing dignity, as heads of families; two humbler +seats were near them, the true thrones of that little empire, where +Mary and herself had exercised in love a power that love had won. The +cheerful radiance of the fire had shone upon the happy circle, and the +dead glimmer of the lamp might have befitted their reunion now. While +Margaret groaned in bitterness, she heard a knock at the street door. + +“How would my heart have leapt at that sound but yesterday!” thought +she, remembering the anxiety with which she had long awaited tidings +from her husband. + +“I care not for it now; let them begone, for I will not arise.” + +But even while a sort of childish fretfulness made her thus resolve, +she was breathing hurriedly, and straining her ears to catch a +repetition of the summons. It is difficult to be convinced of the death +of one whom we have deemed another self. The knocking was now renewed +in slow and regular strokes, apparently given with the soft end of a +doubled fist, and was accompanied by words, faintly heard through +several thicknesses of wall. Margaret looked to her sister’s chamber, +and beheld her still lying in the depths of sleep. She arose, placed +her foot upon the floor, and slightly arrayed herself, trembling +between fear and eagerness as she did so. + +“Heaven help me!” sighed she. “I have nothing left to fear, and +methinks I am ten times more a coward than ever.” + +Seizing the lamp from the hearth, she hastened to the window that +overlooked the street-door. It was a lattice, turning upon hinges; and +having thrown it back, she stretched her head a little way into the +moist atmosphere. A lantern was reddening the front of the house, and +melting its light in the neighboring puddles, while a deluge of +darkness overwhelmed every other object. As the window grated on its +hinges, a man in a broad-brimmed hat and blanket-coat stepped from +under the shelter of the projecting story, and looked upward to +discover whom his application had aroused. Margaret knew him as a +friendly innkeeper of the town. + +“What would you have, Goodman Parker?” cried the widow. + +“Lackaday, is it you, Mistress Margaret?” replied the innkeeper. “I was +afraid it might be your sister Mary; for I hate to see a young woman in +trouble, when I have n’t a word of comfort to whisper her.” + +“For Heaven’s sake, what news do you bring?” screamed Margaret. + +“Why, there has been an express through the town within this +half-hour,” said Goodman Parker, “travelling from the eastern +jurisdiction with letters from the governor and council. He tarried at +my house to refresh himself with a drop and a morsel, and I asked him +what tidings on the frontiers. He tells me we had the better in the +skirmish you wot of, and that thirteen men reported slain are well and +sound, and your husband among them. Besides, he is appointed of the +escort to bring the captivated Frenchers and Indians home to the +province jail. I judged you would n’t mind being broke of your rest, +and so I stepped over to tell you. Good night.” + +So saying, the honest man departed; and his lantern gleamed along the +street, bringing to view indistinct shapes of things, and the fragments +of a world, like order glimmering through chaos, or memory roaming over +the past. But Margaret stayed not to watch these picturesque effects. +Joy flashed into her heart, and lighted it up at once; and breathless, +and with winged steps, she flew to the bedside of her sister. She +paused, however, at the door of the chamber, while a thought of pain +broke in upon her. + +“Poor Mary!” said she to herself. “Shall I waken her, to feel her +sorrow sharpened by my happiness? No; I will keep it within my own +bosom till the morrow.” + +She approached the bed, to discover if Mary’s sleep were peaceful. Her +face was turned partly inward to the pillow, and had been hidden there +to weep; but a look of motionless contentment was now visible upon it, +as if her heart, like a deep lake, had grown calm because its dead had +sunk down so far within. Happy is it, and strange, that the lighter +sorrows are those from which dreams are chiefly fabricated. Margaret +shrunk from disturbing her sister-in-law, and felt as if her own better +fortune had rendered her involuntarily unfaithful, and as if altered +and diminished affection must be the consequence of the disclosure she +had to make. With a sudden step she turned away. But joy could not long +be repressed, even by circumstances that would have excited heavy grief +at another moment. Her mind was thronged with delightful thoughts, till +sleep stole on, and transformed them to visions, more delightful and +more wild, like the breath of winter (but what a cold comparison!) +working fantastic tracery upon a window. + +When the night was far advanced, Mary awoke with a sudden start. A +vivid dream had latterly involved her in its unreal life, of which, +however, she could only remember that it had been broken in upon at the +most interesting point. For a little time, slumber hung about her like +a morning mist, hindering her from perceiving the distinct outline of +her situation. She listened with imperfect consciousness to two or +three volleys of a rapid and eager knocking; and first she deemed the +noise a matter of course, like the breath she drew; next, it appeared a +thing in which she had no concern; and lastly, she became aware that it +was a summons necessary to be obeyed. At the same moment, the pang of +recollection darted into her mind; the pall of sleep was thrown back +from the face of grief; the dim light of the chamber, and the objects +therein revealed, had retained all her suspended ideas, and restored +them as soon as she unclosed her eyes. Again there was a quick peal +upon the street-door. Fearing that her sister would also be disturbed, +Mary wrapped herself in a cloak and hood, took the lamp from the +hearth, and hastened to the window. By some accident, it had been left +unhasped, and yielded easily to her hand. + +“Who’s there?” asked Mary, trembling as she looked forth. + +The storm was over, and the moon was up; it shone upon broken clouds +above, and below upon houses black with moisture, and upon little lakes +of the fallen rain, curling into silver beneath the quick enchantment +of a breeze. A young man in a sailor’s dress, wet as if he had come out +of the depths of the sea, stood alone under the window. Mary recognized +him as one whose livelihood was gained by short voyages along the +coast; nor did she forget that, previous to her marriage, he had been +an unsuccessful wooer of her own. + +“What do you seek here, Stephen?” said she. + +“Cheer up, Mary, for I seek to comfort you,” answered the rejected +lover. “You must know I got home not ten minutes ago, and the first +thing my good mother told me was the news about your husband. So, +without saying a word to the old woman, I clapped on my hat, and ran +out of the house. I could n’t have slept a wink before speaking to you, +Mary, for the sake of old times.” + +“Stephen, I thought better of you!” exclaimed the widow, with gushing +tears and preparing to close the lattice; for she was no whit inclined +to imitate the first wife of Zadig. + +“But stop, and hear my story out,” cried the young sailor. “I tell you +we spoke a brig yesterday afternoon, bound in from Old England. And who +do you think I saw standing on deck, well and hearty, only a bit +thinner than he was five months ago?” + +Mary leaned from the window, but could not speak. “Why, it was your +husband himself,” continued the generous seaman. “He and three others +saved themselves on a spar, when the Blessing turned bottom upwards. +The brig will beat into the bay by daylight, with this wind, and you’ll +see him here to-morrow. There’s the comfort I bring you, Mary, and so +good night.” + +He hurried away, while Mary watched him with a doubt of waking reality, +that seemed stronger or weaker as he alternately entered the shade of +the houses, or emerged into the broad streaks of moonlight. Gradually, +however, a blessed flood of conviction swelled into her heart, in +strength enough to overwhelm her, had its increase been more abrupt. +Her first impulse was to rouse her sister-in-law, and communicate the +new-born gladness. She opened the chamber-door, which had been closed +in the course of the night, though not latched, advanced to the +bedside, and was about to lay her hand upon the slumberer’s shoulder. +But then she remembered that Margaret would awake to thoughts of death +and woe, rendered not the less bitter by their contrast with her own +felicity. She suffered the rays of the lamp to fall upon the +unconscious form of the bereaved one. Margaret lay in unquiet sleep, +and the drapery was displaced around her; her young cheek was +rosy-tinted, and her lips half opened in a vivid smile; an expression +of joy, debarred its passage by her sealed eyelids, struggled forth +like incense from the whole countenance. + +“My poor sister! you will waken too soon from that happy dream,” +thought Mary. + +Before retiring, she set down the lamp, and endeavored to arrange the +bedclothes so that the chill air might not do harm to the feverish +slumberer. But her hand trembled against Margaret’s neck, a tear also +fell upon her cheek, and she suddenly awoke. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WIVES OF THE DEAD *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following +the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use +of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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