The Two Wives | Page 2

half-past eight, to a minute."
Mrs. Wilkinson made no answer; but her husband saw that tears were
in the eyes fixed so lovingly upon him.
"Now don't, love," said he, tenderly, "make so much of just half an
hour's absence. I promised Elbridge that I would call around and see
him about a little matter of business, and I must keep my word. I had
forgotten the engagement until it crossed my mind while reading."
"If you have an engagement." There was a certain emphasis in the
words of Mrs. Wilkinson that caused her husband to partly turn his face
away.
"I have, dear. But for that, I should not think of leaving you alone."

Almost instinctively Mrs. Wilkinson withdrew the hands she had
placed upon the shoulder of her husband, and receded from him a step
or two; at the same time her face was bent downwards, and her eyes
rested upon the floor.
For some moments Mr. Wilkinson stood as if in earnest debate with
himself; then he said, in a cheerful, lively tone--
"Good-by, love. I shall only be gone half an hour." And turning away,
left the room. He did not pause until he was in the street. Then a spirit
of irresolution came over him, and he said to himself, as he moved
slowly away,
"It isn't kind in me to leave Mary alone in this way; I know it isn't. But
I want to see Elbridge; and, in fact, partly promised that I would call
upon him this evening. True, I can say all I wish to say to him in the
morning, and to quite as good purpose. But--"
Wilkinson, whose steps had been growing more and more deliberate,
stopped. For some time he stood, in a thoughtful attitude--then slowly
returned. His hand was in his pocket, his dead-latch key between his
fingers, and his foot upon the marble sill of his door. And thus he
remained, in debate with himself, for as long a time as two or three
minutes.
"Yes; I must see him! I had forgotten that," he exclaimed, in a low tone,
and suddenly stepped back from the door, and with a rapid pace moved
down the street. A walk of ten minutes brought him to the house of Mr.
Elbridge. But it so happened that this gentleman was not at home.
"How soon do you expect him to return?" was inquired of the servant.
"He may be here in half an hour; or not before ten o'clock," was the
reply.
Wilkinson was disappointed. Leaving his name with the servant, and
saying that he would probably call again during the evening, he
descended the steps and walked away. He was moving in the direction

of his home, and had arrived within a block thereof when he stopped,
saying to himself as he did so--
"I must see Elbridge this evening. It is already nearly half an hour since
I left home, and I promised Mary that I would not remain away a
moment longer than that time. But, I did not think Elbridge would be
out. Poor Mary! She looks at me with such sad eyes, sometimes, that it
goes to my very heart. She cannot bear to have me out of her sight. Can
she doubt me in any thing? No; I will not believe that. She is a loving,
gentle-minded creature--and one of the best of wives. Ah me! I wish I
were more like her."
Still Wilkinson remained standing, and in debate with himself.
"I will go home," said he, at length, with emphasis, and walked quickly
onward. He was within a few doors of his own home, when his steps
began to linger again. He had come once more into a state of
irresolution.
"Perhaps Elbridge has returned." This thought made him stop again.
"He must have understood me that I would be around."
Just at this moment the crying of a child was heard.
"Is that Ella?" Wilkinson walked around a little way, until he came
nearly opposite his own house. Then he stopped to listen more
attentively.
Yes. It was the grieving cry of his own sick babe.
"Poor child!" he murmured. "I wonder what can ail her?"
He looked up at the chamber windows. The curtains were drawn aside,
and he saw upon the ceiling of the room the shadow of some one
moving to and fro. He did not doubt that it was the shadow of his wife,
as, with their sick babe in her arms, she walked to and fro in the effort
to soothe it again to sleep. Had there been a doubt, it would have been
quickly dispelled, for there came to his ears the soft tones of a voice he

knew full well--came in tones of music, low and soothing,