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Article CATHERINE CARMICHAEL; on, THREE YEARS RUNNING. ← Page 8 of 15 →
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Catherine Carmichael; On, Three Years Running.
course , be forthcoming . Nor would it be wise that she should let him feel that she avoided them . It was not only necessary that Peter should not suspect , but that John too should be kept in the dark . Indeed , it might be well that Peter should suspect a little . But if he were to suspect , T—that other he , —and then he were to speak out , how should she answer him ? " Kate , " he said to her one day , " do you ever think of Hokitika ? " Thinkindeed 1 of the lace where father and mother lie
" , — p . " " But of the time when you and I used to fight it out for them ? I used not to think in those days , Kate , that you would ever be over here , —mistress of Warriwa . " "No , indeed , nobody would have thought it . " " But Kate " It was clearly necessary that she should put an end to these reminiscencesdifficult ,
, as it might be to do so , " John , " she said , " I think you'd better make a change . " " What change ? " She struggled not to blush as she answered him , and she succeeded . ' "I was a girl in those days , but now I ' m a married woman . You had better not call me Kate any more . "
" Why ? what ' s the harm ? " " Harm ! no , there ' s no harm ; but it isn't the proper thing when a young . woman ' s married , unless he be her brother , or her cousin at furthest ; you don't call me by my name before him , " "Didn't I ?" " No , you call me nothing at all . What you do before him , you must do behind his
back . " ' . " And we were such friends ! " But as she could not stand this , she left the room , and did not come back from the kitchen till Peter had returned . So a month went on , and still there was the word Kate sounding in her ears whenever the old man's back was turned . And it sounded now as it sounded on that one day when her finger was trembling at his throat . Why not ive way to the sound ! Wh
g y not ill-treat the man who had so foully ill-treated her ? What did she owe to him but her misery ? What had he done for her but make a slave of her ? And why should she , living there in the wild prairie , beyond the ken of other women , allow herself to be trammelled by the laws which the world had laid down for her sex ? To other women the world made some return for true obedience . The love of one man , the strong protecting arm of one true friendthe consciousness of having one to buckler
, her against the world , one on whom she might hang with trust 1 This was what other women have in return for truth;—but was any of this given to her when he would turn round and leer at her , reminding her by his leer that he had caught her and made a slave of her ? And then there was this young man , sweeter to her now than ever , and clearer !
As she thought of all this she came suddenly , —in a moment , —to a resolution , striking her hand violently on the table as she did so . She must tell her husband everything . She must do that , or else she must become a false wife . As she thought of that possibility of being false , an ecstasy of sweetness for a moment pervaded her senses . To throw herself on his bosom and tell him that she loved him would be compensation almost sufficient to the misery of the last twelve months . Then the word wife crept into her ears , and she remembered words that she had read as to woman ' s virtue . She
thought of her father and her mother ! And how would it be with her when , after a while , she would awake from her dream ? She had sat silent for an hour alone , now melting into softness , and then rousing herself to all the strength of womanhood . At last a frown came across her brow , very dark ; and then , dashing her clenched hand down upon the table , she expressed her purpose in spoken words : " I will tell it him ad ! Then she told him all , after her fashion . It was the custom of the two men to go forth together almost at dawn , ancl it was her business to prepare their meal for them before they went . On the first morning after her resolution had been formed , she bade her husband stay awhile . She had thought to say it in the seclusion of their
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Catherine Carmichael; On, Three Years Running.
course , be forthcoming . Nor would it be wise that she should let him feel that she avoided them . It was not only necessary that Peter should not suspect , but that John too should be kept in the dark . Indeed , it might be well that Peter should suspect a little . But if he were to suspect , T—that other he , —and then he were to speak out , how should she answer him ? " Kate , " he said to her one day , " do you ever think of Hokitika ? " Thinkindeed 1 of the lace where father and mother lie
" , — p . " " But of the time when you and I used to fight it out for them ? I used not to think in those days , Kate , that you would ever be over here , —mistress of Warriwa . " "No , indeed , nobody would have thought it . " " But Kate " It was clearly necessary that she should put an end to these reminiscencesdifficult ,
, as it might be to do so , " John , " she said , " I think you'd better make a change . " " What change ? " She struggled not to blush as she answered him , and she succeeded . ' "I was a girl in those days , but now I ' m a married woman . You had better not call me Kate any more . "
" Why ? what ' s the harm ? " " Harm ! no , there ' s no harm ; but it isn't the proper thing when a young . woman ' s married , unless he be her brother , or her cousin at furthest ; you don't call me by my name before him , " "Didn't I ?" " No , you call me nothing at all . What you do before him , you must do behind his
back . " ' . " And we were such friends ! " But as she could not stand this , she left the room , and did not come back from the kitchen till Peter had returned . So a month went on , and still there was the word Kate sounding in her ears whenever the old man's back was turned . And it sounded now as it sounded on that one day when her finger was trembling at his throat . Why not ive way to the sound ! Wh
g y not ill-treat the man who had so foully ill-treated her ? What did she owe to him but her misery ? What had he done for her but make a slave of her ? And why should she , living there in the wild prairie , beyond the ken of other women , allow herself to be trammelled by the laws which the world had laid down for her sex ? To other women the world made some return for true obedience . The love of one man , the strong protecting arm of one true friendthe consciousness of having one to buckler
, her against the world , one on whom she might hang with trust 1 This was what other women have in return for truth;—but was any of this given to her when he would turn round and leer at her , reminding her by his leer that he had caught her and made a slave of her ? And then there was this young man , sweeter to her now than ever , and clearer !
As she thought of all this she came suddenly , —in a moment , —to a resolution , striking her hand violently on the table as she did so . She must tell her husband everything . She must do that , or else she must become a false wife . As she thought of that possibility of being false , an ecstasy of sweetness for a moment pervaded her senses . To throw herself on his bosom and tell him that she loved him would be compensation almost sufficient to the misery of the last twelve months . Then the word wife crept into her ears , and she remembered words that she had read as to woman ' s virtue . She
thought of her father and her mother ! And how would it be with her when , after a while , she would awake from her dream ? She had sat silent for an hour alone , now melting into softness , and then rousing herself to all the strength of womanhood . At last a frown came across her brow , very dark ; and then , dashing her clenched hand down upon the table , she expressed her purpose in spoken words : " I will tell it him ad ! Then she told him all , after her fashion . It was the custom of the two men to go forth together almost at dawn , ancl it was her business to prepare their meal for them before they went . On the first morning after her resolution had been formed , she bade her husband stay awhile . She had thought to say it in the seclusion of their