第97章 THE SKETCH BOOK(2)

At length he came to me one day, and related his whole situationin a tone of the deepest despair. When I heard him through I inquired,"Does your wife know all this?"- At the question he burst into anagony of tears. "For God's sake!" cried he, "if you have any pity onme, don't mention my wife; it is the thought of her that drives mealmost to madness!""And why not?" said I. "She must know it sooner or later: you cannotkeep it long from her, and the intelligence may break upon her in amore startling manner, than if imparted by yourself; for the accentsof those we love soften the harshest tidings. Besides, you aredepriving yourself of the comforts of her sympathy; and not merelythat, but also endangering the only bond that can keep heartstogether- an unreserved community of thought and feeling. She willsoon perceive that something is secretly preying upon your mind; andtrue love will not brook reserve; it feels undervalued and outraged,when even the sorrows of those it loves are concealed from it.""Oh, but, my friend! to think what a blow I am to give to all herfuture prospects- how I am to strike her very soul to the earth, bytelling her that her husband is a beggar! that she is to forego allthe elegancies of life- all the pleasures of society- to shrink withme into indigence and obscurity! To tell her that I have dragged herdown from the sphere in which she might have continued to move inconstant brightness- the light of every eye- the admiration of everyheart!- How can she bear poverty? she has been brought up in all therefinements of opulence. How can she bear neglect? she has been theidol of society. Oh! it will break her heart- it will break herheart!-"I saw his grief was eloquent, and I let it have its flow; for sorrowrelieves itself by words. When his paroxysm had subsided, and he hadrelapsed into moody silence, I resumed the subject gently, and urgedhim to break his situation at once to his wife. He shook his headmournfully, but positively.

"But how are you to keep it from her? It is necessary she shouldknow it, that you may take the steps proper to the alteration ofyour circumstances. You must change your style of living- nay,"observing a pang to pass across his countenance, "don't let thatafflict you. I am sure you have never placed your happiness in outwardshow- you have yet friends, warm friends, who will not think the worseof you for being less splendidly lodged: and surely it does notrequire a palace to be happy with Mary-""I could be happy with her," cried he, convulsively, "in a hovel!- Icould go down with her into poverty and the dust!- I could- I could-God bless her!- God bless her!" cried he, bursting into a transport ofgrief and tenderness.

"And believe me, my friend," said I, stepping up, and grasping himwarmly by the hand, "believe me she can be the same with you. Ay,more: it will be a source of pride and triumph to her- it will callforth all the latent energies and fervent sympathies of her nature;for she will rejoice to prove that she loves you for yourself. Thereis in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire, which liesdormant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but which kindles up, andbeams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity. No man knows whatthe wife of his bosom is- no man knows what a ministering angel sheis- until he has gone with her through the fiery trials of thisworld."There was something in the earnestness of my manner, and thefigurative style of my language, that caught the excited imaginationof Leslie. I knew the auditor I had to deal with; and following up theimpression I had made, I finished by persuading him to go home andunburden his sad heart to his wife.

I must confess, notwithstanding all I had said, I felt some littlesolicitude for the result. Who can calculate on the fortitude of onewhose life has been a round of pleasures? Her gay spirits might revoltat the dark downward path of low humility suddenly pointed outbefore her, and might cling to the sunny regions in which they hadhitherto revelled. Besides, ruin in fashionable life is accompanied byso many galling mortifications, to which in other ranks it is astranger.- In short, I could not meet Leslie the next morningwithout trepidation. He had made the disclosure.

"And how did she bear it?"