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THE SOUTHERN WORLD, APRIL 1,1884.
Written specially for tbe Southern World.]
THE I.AST KISS.
An Incident of the 'Wreck of the
City of Columbus.
BY CHABLM W. IIUBNER.
"Among the confused mass who were strug
gling and screaming were noticed a middle-aged
man and Ms wife. Their conduct was In marked
contrast with that of the other passengers. The
the road, and the concussion seemed to suiting from so painful an accident, af-
have been fatal. fected the whole community.
A faint gasp, however, proved that he If not precisely popular, in consequence
was still alive, and one of the men ran of his high temper and wilful disposi-
for assistance. It was only a short dis- tion, he was very much respected for his
tance to the Meadows, and the family integrity, and had exhibited many gen-
coach was driven rapidly to the scene of erous traits. Eccentric to the last de
the accident. gree, and with an exaggerated sense of
The coach contained two persons who his own importance, he was yet known
panic which had seized the "others 0 was not I exhibited the acutest distress—a lady of to be extremely charitable to the poor;
shared hy them, but their blanched faces told of about forty and a young girl of nine- and those who were best acquainted
that they realized the peril which surrounded jg en or t werd y # in the midst of their with him insisted that he was a person
wi^hat producTd^yth^chll^lD^attnogphm’e" lamentations Colonel Ludwell was lifted of the kindliest heart-provided no one
They stood close together, their hands clasped into the coach, and it was driven at a opposed him,
in each other as if to fulfill the marital vow of slow pace, in order not to pain the un- Certain circumstances had seemed to
standing by each other in the varying tide of f or t una te gentleman, to the large manor indicate that this estimate was well
life’s fortunes and misfortunes. As the wreck , , ° . ,,
careened with the gale from one side to the h <>use where he was borne from the ve- founded,
other, and while the spray and waves were hide to his chamber, and placed in bed. He had inherited his large estate from
drenching them at every moment, the husband The scene which followed in the great his father; married early in life, and
turned and imprinted a kiss upon the compan- eBta bii s hment was painful in the ex- losing his wife, had yielded to what re
ion of his life, and while thus embraced a heavy , , ,, , . , , , , , . . ..., ,
sea broke over the wreck and both were washed trem e. The household hastened to and sembled despair. Without children to
away and not seen afterward. Mr. Cook says fro, overwhelmed by the terrible occur- cheer him, his great establishment had
the scene was one which will remain upon his rence, and Mrs. Darrel, the elder of the grown insupportable. He had left the
| two ladies, wrung her hands in helpless country and traveled for years, entrust-
agony. ing his property to a manager; and, re-
The younger, Rose Darrel, was the turning at length, had adopted the son
I only person who seemed to retain any of a favorite brother.
| self-possession. The uncle and nephew were so much
She directed a trusty servant to mount devoted to each other that it seemed
and ride at full speed for Dr. Wells, the highly improbable that anything could
family physician; and then, taking com- ever cause a disagreement between them;
[ mand of everything, reduced the chaos but nevertheless they came to quarrel,
to something like order. Some thoughtless act of the youth dis-
In an hour the hoof-strokes of a horse pleased his uncle; hasty words were ex-
were heard on the long avenue leading changed, and it was found on the next
[ up to the mansion. morning that Harry Ludwell had disap
Rose hastily left the chamber of the peared.
I invalid and ran down the broad stair- A note left on his table informed his
' ca8e ’ uncle of his motives. It was plain, this
As she reached the front door it open- note 8aid> that hi8 preS ence at the Mead
ed and she exclaimed with both hands 1 0WB was distasteful. He had felt for a
held out:
“Ohl come! come! Dr. Wells—he
will die!”
memory until his dying day.—Boston Herald,
The breakers roar, the mad winds howl,
Sharp smites the icy blast;
Her stout sides riven by the rocks,
The doomed ship sinks at last.
With dreadful din and thundrous shock,
Their wido mouthB flecked with spray,
The hungry billows loap on deck,
Like wolves upon their prey.
Against the onset of the soa,
The fury of the gale,
What human heart may hope to stand 7
What arm, save God’s, prevail ?
Alas, alas I 0, cruel Death,
Thine lathe victory 1
Gorge with an hundred victims more
Thy monstrous maw, O, Sea!
But look! Who stand so calmly there
Upon the reeling deck,
Unmoved amid the shrieking throng,
The clamor of the wreck?
A stately form in manhood’s prime,
Stern-browed and eagle-eyed,
A slender woman, sweet and fair,
Close clinging to his side ?
Scourged by the sharp sleet’s stinging thongs, 1
Drenched by the ice-cold sea,
Thoy shrink and shiver, and their cheeks
Are wan as doad men’s be;
It is the lashing sleet that makes
Their bodies shrink with pain,
And not the dread of death that cowes
The hearts of craven men;
For see, how calmly, heart to heart,
Hand closely clasped in hand,
Amid the riot’s maddening din
Tho wife and husband stand!
Stand as they stood, long years ago,
Proud groom and happy bride,
She fair to him as angels arc,
And he her fond heart’s pride.
Ab, who can know the thoughts that burned
Those brave, calm brows beneath ?
The ages in that moment lived
There, face to face with Death?
A shock—a lurch—an awful crash!
Tbe sharklike rock-fangs rip
The steel-clad sides, and with a roar
The wild waves whelm the ship!
One brief embrace of loving arms,
One long, fond farewell kiss,
And wife and husband, heart to heart,
Sink in the dread abyss!
O, Death, thou hast thy victories,
O, Life, thou hast thy fame,
Yet Love can do heroic deeds
That shall your triumphs shame;
But never a diviner deed,
Even by Love was done,
Than when her apotheosis
In this last kiss she wont
Atlanta, Georgia.
long time that he was idle and depend
ent. He meant now to leave a place
_ ., , _ , , , . where he was plainly unwelcome and
Suddenly Rose drew back—the person adjected to insult, and go out into the
before her was not the gray haired Dr. | world and make his own way>
Wells, but a man of from twenty-eight
to thirty.
“Ah! I thought it was Dr. Wells
It is you, Dr. Lanier? Oh! do come!”
When this note was brought to him
by a servant, Colonel Ludwell read it
with an explosion of wrath. Then acute
, . i pain succeeded, for he had loved the boy
The doctor howed without speaking. dearl md hi „ mood bec>me oae , r
It was plain that the young lady’s dis- tled g i oom>
tress greatly affected him.
“ Dr. Wells is ill, and as his assistant, Wlnther had the boy gone ? No one
I came in his place, Miss Darrel,’’ said G0U J d 8ay ’ out a ru “ 0rat , last came that
I the doctor • he bad been seen in Callf omia. Colo-
“Oh, yes! I am so glad! Do come nel . L J udw<d ! was 400proud take 8te P 8
up, there is not a moment to lose!’’ ?° mduce bim * return or failed in <*o-
She hastened up the staircase followed B0 ’ and 80 tbo great Meadows estab-
| by Dr. Lanier to the chamber in which bsbment became an abode of silence.
Colonel Ludwell was lying. At last this grew insupportable. He
He was stretched at full length upon a resolved to make a second tour abroad,
I bed, breathing heavily with his eyes though his good sense convinced him
I closed; and as the blood was removed that Iris property would suffer by it.
i from his face, the deep wound on his The great house was certain to go to
| temple could be clearly seen. wreck unless it were inhabited—but a
“Oh, doctor! do something for him!’’ circumstance occurred which promised
I exclaimed Mrs. Darrel, who was stand- to obviate this difficulty.
| ing at the bedside sobbing. An old friend, who had married a dis
Dr. Lanier bent down over the sufferer, tant cousin of his own, had become im-
I looking intently into his face and feeling poverished, and this gentleman wrote a
| his pulse. pathetic letter saying that he and his
Has he recognized anyone?” he wife and daughter were without means
asked in a low tone. or a home. Colonel Ludwell’s reply
“ No one at all 1” sobbed Mrs. Darrel, was prompt. Following as usual a sud-
1 not even Rose whom he is so fond of.” den impulse, he wrote inviting his im
Dr. Lanier again examined the suf- pecunious friend, Mr. Darrel, to bring
I ferer- his family and reside at the Meadows
“Is there any hope, doctor?” said during his own absence. And then hav
Rose in a faint whisper. ing seen them arrive, he went on his
“ There is none.” travels again.
The words were uttered in a voice He was absent for some years, when
nea ^ y a8 as her . own ; one day he received a letter from Mrs.
The fall has produced concussion of Darrel announcing the death of her hus-
ie brain and—” band. The letter found him in Paris,
Rose clasped her hands and looked W earied out and homesick, and the nexi
wildly into the physician’s face. 8teamer brought him to New York f
He turned away without finishing the whic h he hastened to the Meadows
sentence. As he did so the young lady ,, ,.
Colonel Philip Ludwell, of the “Mead-1 ottered, and Dr. Lanier had just time an air of acute^stress^^d behiidTer
ows,” not far from the town of Scar- J° p ! evGnt her from falhng by catchmg little Rose looked at him with an ex
borough, was riding over his estate, ne £ “ ar “ B * . pression of the deepest sadness. Hia
when his horse shied and threw him 1 Colonel Ludwel 11 remaiinBea8lble heart wurmed to them at once, and three
violently. timmghout the rest of the day and the day8 ^ hUj arriyal
Some men, laboring near by, ran to following night recogniz'ng no one I -. -- - "“"ranged
Written especially for the Southern World.]
THE STOUT OF HOSE DASHES,
BY JOnN BBTKN COOKE.
All rights reserved.J
I.
SUDDEN DEATH.
his assistance and lifted him from the |
ground.
He was insensible and his face was I
covered with blood. In - falling, he had
truck his temple on a pointed rock in
n.
COLONEL LUDWELL’S WILL.
Colonel Ludwell’s sudden death, re-
They would not leave the Meadows
I but stay and cheer his loneliness. He
was getting to be an old man, he said
and could not live alone. Nobody would
find fault with his widowed cousin for
| taking the head of Ha establishment,
and so the widow and her daughter had
remained.
Soon tho lonely Colonel Ludwell be
came devoted to them, especially to
Rose. She was a charming blue eyed
girl, with great sweetness of disposition
and force of character also. Her moth
er, an extremely handsome woman of
middle age, was excellent company, but
Rose was the real head of the household,
and her uncle, he would have her call
him, became quite wrapped up in her.
This had been the state of affairs at
the opening of the present narrative.
The gossips who had grown weary pre
dicting that Mrs. Darrel would become
the second Mrs. Ludwell, now predicted,
with apparent justice, that Rose Darrel
would inherit the Meadows.
It seemed doubtful in the extreme
whether Harry Ludwell, the runaway,
even if he were still alive, would be re
membered in his uncle’s will. Years
had passed and it was not known that
they had had any intercourse—and to be
brief, Miss Rose had a number of suit
ors.
She had reached the age of nineteen
or twenty without encouraging any, and
indeed did not seem to intend marrying
anyone. She was far more interested in
what other young girls cared little for—
the affairs of humble neighbors and the
duties of the household. Having set
the large establishment of the Meadows
going for the day, Rose had generally
ordered her pony, a shaggy little animal
which seemed devoted to her, and gal
loping all alone to Scarborough had
“ gone her rounds.” In a dozen humble
houses she was far more than welcome.
She had Sunday school children, and
taught young girls plain and ornamental
work—in a hundred ways she had be
come a young benefactress in the little
community.
But the merits and proceedings gen
erally of Miss Rose Darrel must be re
served for another occasion. It is suffi
cient here to say that she was a warm
hearted girl, with the apparent convic
tion ever present to her mind, that prac
tical kindness was better than mere pro
fessions of regard, and that many things
were more important than the attentions
of young gentlemen.
So the disconsolate young who had
made her romantic speeches quietly sub
sided into hopeless friendship, and ceased
to reflect upon upon her probable inheri
tance of the Meadows. Life passed
there in happy tranquillity, and the aged
Colonel Ludwell was going quietly into
the vale of years, when suddenly the
blow had fallen, and he had dropped out '
of life.
A great funeral; a buzz of comment
as to the probable disposition of his
property; many visits of condolence and
curiosity to the unhappy Mrs. Darrel
and Rose—these followed, and the whole .
community remained in suspense.
At last the suspense was relieved.
Colonel Ludwell had made a very curi
ous will. Henry Ludwell, his absent
nephew, was to have the great Meadows
property upon condition that he married
Rose Darrel I If the marriage for any
reason did not take place in twelve
months’ time, the whole estate was to
go to his cousin, Mrs. Darrel, who in ei
ther event was to reside at the Meadows
with a full allowance for her comfortable
maintenance. No mention was made of
Rose in case her mother inherited the
property—Mrs. Darrel’s devotion to her
insured her future.
It was plain, however, that the testa
tor regarded the union between the
young lady and his nephew as certain to
take place. Mr. Timothy Thwackett,
an old lawyer of Scarborough, was ap
pointed executor, and was directed to
communicate if possible with the young
man at once and inform him of the pro
visions of the will. He was to have the
space of one year to comply with the
testator’s conditions—if at the end of
that p$nod the union had not taken