"No," she said, in answer to my exclamation of indignant horror, "his wife did not leave him even after that. The act of infamous cruelty seemed to subdue her utterly. I never saw her again. I dared not visit her, and she never went beyond her yard gate, even to church. It was said she had fallen into a gentle melancholy. I am thankful, for her sake, that it was gentle. Her children loved her dearly. I hope they brought some balm to the wounded spirit.
"The youngest was ten years old when his mother died. The week after her burial her husband sold the plantation through a real-estate agent to my brother David. A month later he left the county and State, and removed to Louisiana. I hear that he has grown rich there on a sugar plantation. He says that the climate of Virginia did not agree with him. That was lucky for him--and for Virginia."
AUTHOR OF "SNOW-SHOES AND SLEDGES," "THE FUR-SEAL'S TOOTH," "THE 'MATE' SERIES," "FLAMINGO FEATHER," ETC.
Of the many trying experiences through which our lads had passed since their introduction to each other in Victoria, none had presented so many hopeless features as the present. They were high up on a mighty mountain, whose terrible wilderness of rock and glacier, precipice and chasm, limitless snow-field and trackless forest, stretched for weary leagues in every direction; beyond hope of human aid; only a mouthful of food between them and starvation; with night so close at hand that near-by objects were already indistinct in its gathering gloom; without shelter; inexperienced in wood-craft; and one so badly injured that he lay moaning on the rocks, incapable of moving.
As all these details of the situation flashed into Alaric's mind he became for a moment heart-sick and despairing at its utter hopelessness. He was so exhausted with the exertions of the day, so unnerved by the strain and anxiety of the perilous hours just passed, and so faint for want of nourishment, that it is no wonder his strength was turned into weakness, or that he could discover no ray of hope through the all-pervading gloom.
Suddenly and as clearly as though spoken by his side, came the words: "Always remember that, as my friend Jalap Coombs says, 'It is never so dark but what there is a light somewhere.'" The memory of Phil Ryder's brave face as he uttered that sentence came to our poor lad like a tonic, and instantly he was resolved to find the light that was shining for him somewhere.