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diff --git a/old/9243.txt b/old/9243.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b9ff4be --- /dev/null +++ b/old/9243.txt @@ -0,0 +1,656 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wives of The Dead, by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 + + +Title: The Wives of The Dead + +Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne + +Posting Date: December 20, 2010 [EBook #9243] +Release Date: November, 2005 +First Posted: September 18, 2003 +Last Updated: February 6, 2007 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WIVES OF THE DEAD *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger. HTML version by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + THE SNOW-IMAGE + + AND + + OTHER TWICE-TOLD TALES + + + + 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 Project Gutenberg's The Wives of The Dead, by Nathaniel Hawthorne + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WIVES OF THE DEAD *** + +***** This file should be named 9243.txt or 9243.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/2/4/9243/ + +Produced by David Widger. 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