WHY HE CHOSE HER.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5166, 10 March 1888, Page 6 (Supplement)

WHY HE CHOSE HER.

Why isit that such unequalportionsof good arc iiieti.'d out to different perrons P "Was it not enoujrh that my f-i.-ter Bella shouldhave had a fortnno loft her by her {rod-mother, while lain the 'poor Mi.ss Wliitou, , (I quote from f>. Hjn'cch I chanced to overhear) that sho sho\ild lie tl\o beauty of the family, ulsor , I would not mind bi'injf plain lookiujr if I oould have rctiiincd t;lie nymmotry which dwells even in n honielv face. l?ut wheti v child of eight, I was kicked upon ono check by a refractor}' colt my father was trainin;,', and owiup (,o ;i lack of sidll in dressing the wound, the disiururement became a pormaneiit ono. BuTl will net complain. ; The bright side shall be resolutely turned uppermost.

A sweet, ringing voice calls : ' Sfflta ." ' What is it, Bella ?' I responded. ' Come to the inusie'-room and try ovei that now duet. You know I ptomised Mi Reynolds to siiig it for him this evening' and I rely upon your rich contralto to briug out my piping treble.' Little thinks Bella that her words an again rousing within me the evil spirit ] have been trying to banish. Charles Roynolds was my little knight-errant years asrc \yheu ho was in knickerbockers and I was a tiny maid in pinafores. His parent* woni abroad before my poor faoe received the imprint of Zephyr's hoof. He has not forgotter hie little playmate, for Bella says lie was asking her about me at the Degnbys' fete TIIK NEXT DAY. Alas for the blighting sorrow which luu come tp us ! Charlie Reynolds 13 with us, and he is at the point of death. Ho had made an engagement to accompany Meta foi a ride, and then to take dinner with us and spend the evening ; but just as ho entered our grounds a band of village urchins came marching along, and the sudden tattoo of the drum frightened his horse, which reared and fell backward upon hit rider. Bella and I have given up our boudoir for his sickroom, a« it is the pleasante.st place in the house ; but at present ho might be in n dungeon for alltnathe knowsof his surroundings. His injuries are mostly confined to his head, and he is unconscious. If mamma were his very own mother, she could not be more attentive to his wants. She lias constituted herself chief nurse at his bedside and if mortal help or solicitude can avail ho will have the benefit of it. A I'EVf DAYS LATKE. _ Mamma has sent for mo to come to the sick-room. What can sho want of me- , Shi'meets me at the door. Her eyes show that she has been cryiuyr. 'jtfota,' .sho myt>, in a low whisper, 'ho thinks'l am his mother, riml you know slm died years ago ! It is so piteous to hear him. And lie wants me to sSig. That is why I sent for you, for lam sure (hat I should lose control of my voice if I tried. I fear tho end in very near.' _ I resolutely choke down the tears wliiuh rise to my eyes, and go to the suii'erer's bedside. He is grasping aimlessly at the air, as though in search of soinoll'iiup-. 1 take the pale, nerveless hands in mine, and commence to t>ing softly the words of a hwcol, old hymn. The hound acts like inajric upon his restlessness. He quiets down, and t>loll ! falls asleep. 7 stiind in the same i»isiii,,ii sf-areely d:tiin;v U, move, list 1 :.|inii)d wa ken him. At last J am so weai'v of the eonitraiuc'd attitude tliat 1 M iw Diuin-l, j should iaint, and fall upon the floor, .s,, ( release liis hands and sink upon my knees, ready 1o take them if he becomes restless. It must be ii-ue I hat there is a mesihVrism in my hands, as I have been often told; for I felt the strength pass away from me as poor Charlie irrew quiet, and now my liii"-irs seem cold and lifeless. . ° He- still .-.li.'eps, and mamma say::: ' Thanks, dear for your help. You huxv done my poor patient mure <roud \h;m his mi.-uieine, Jam sure. Now a-i> :;nd n;sl 1 may neeil you a.ifairi.' lint 1 was n<>i ;iiruin called h> Hi.; .winkrooiii until about; the same hour the .l'.>i!« ( w ing day. Then came a similar restlessness and delusion, and again I held his hands and

sang for him, with the same beneficial re-

Hisroom is darkened to that twilisrht gloom which is so grateful to an invalid's eyes.

Objects have a sort of visionary look to me as I enter it, and when I emerge again into the full glare of daylight I feel like one who has been seeing visions.

. T"KEE .WEEKS tATHR. .. Uiir invalid i S convalescing slowly, ar.d the doctor says ho can be wheeled into the sitting-room for a. little while .»very day, and that sunlight must no longer bo excluded from his room.

So I must expect now to retire and give place to Bella. I feel a keen pang as I think of it—as a child might who was to be doprxved of a pleasure. My voice helped to soothepoor Charlie's pain—l call him Charlio to myself by force of habit, but do not think any one has hoard me place thus at defiance ;-ho laws of etiquette,—but melody doea not make up for physical ugliness. Let me study my glass for the first time m months. Am I hideous ? Bolla comes in and finds me standing before the mirror. Why, Meta." she says, with a light laugh, what has come over you P Take ca ™ ! Remember tho fate of Narcissus.' Bella, I reply, earnestly, ' tell me truly: Am I as ugly as T imaoine?' Bella looks at me an instant with unfeigned Hurpriso; then she cays: 'I wish that every one looked as lovely to me as you do. .

'But that horrible scar!' I say, and I lay my finger upon it shrinkingly." ' T ™?' l had forgotten that. Lot me see;' and Bella stands a little away and studies my face with the look of a eomiommir. V\ ell, it isn't a beauty spot, but one who is used to it doir t mind.'

' Ones who are not used to it would shudder at it, wouldn't they ?' ' Why, Meta, what has got into you this rooming: . Are you going to bo sick*?' } , 1:lu = h nt Bella's look of anxiety, and with that laugh my norbid fanciesfleeaway, and I am again like tho usual self which it is my habit to put into the background, so completely that sinco Charlio Reynolds' advent into our sphere of action I have seemed to he changofing, I have thought so much more about my deformity and how he would regard it. I forget all but pity when I come into the room and see his poor, palo face propped amid the pillows of his huge invalid chair. Mamma and Bella ire there beMdo him, but, (is mamma says, < Meta, come here,' ho puts out one thin hand, and says feebly, as I place mine within it:

'Miss Metn, I belie.'c I owe to you a good sliare of ray getting thus far on the road to health. Let me think you for your sweet hymns. They soothed my troubled brain when all else failed.

'I am glad,' I ssy timidly; for tho pleasure his words give me cnuse my heart to thrill. with a strange happiness whioh almost takes away mj power of speech. ' We aro very proul aud thankful for our Meta's gift of song, , says my mother, with a gentle pride in htr youngest duckling. Like tho bird in the story, her 'black' nestling is as 'white' as the whitest.

' But you are to be very quiet and not talk much,' the doctor says. 'By and by the restriction will b« removed. Then you can chatter away much as you like.' A few weeks later, and our patient, fully restored to health, is tauutering slowly along by my side through the garden. It is Juno, and the roses aro in bloom.

' Please pick me a rose, Miss Meta,' my sompanion asks.

I give him a hnrdful of tho blushing beauties.

Ho looks at thorn critically, and at last selects ono for his button-hole. It is not tho prettiest one, and I say : 'Why do yon bike that homely little rose? I thought you had better taste.' He looks at me with an expression which I do pot quito understand.

' Beauty is not evary thing, Miss Mota,' he answers. ' This little rose is so fragrant that it is my favorite. It reminds me of a young girl I knew. It is so modest and uu - assuming that, wero it not for its sweetness, one would pass it by.' I raise my eyes wonderingly, and meet the full splendor of his dark, lustrous ones. I begin to tromble, for his meaning flashes into my mind.

' Will that little girl accept tho devotion of ono who loves her so dearly that, without tho hope of securing her gentlo companionship, tho world would eocm but a desert V And sho did. ;