The Bondage of Ballinger | Page 7

wife, and with each fresh
purchase of books her heart would leap and words of reproach would
come to her lips. And then she would remember how kind and gentle
was Thomas, and her mind would go back swiftly to the old days when
they were children, and to the time when he shielded her from all the
simple griefs of childhood, and the gratitude for the past and the love of
the present drove away all remonstrance and killed the words that rose
in reproof.
It pleased her, even in moments of loneliness and fear, to know that
Thomas had gained a reputation and a standing among wise men of
books and letters; that he was sought out for the value of his opinions
and for the extent of his knowledge; and when poets and romancists
came to their rooms to talk with Thomas of his possessions, and to
speak to him of the giants he had met in boyhood, her foolish little
heart would swell with rapture, and she would wonder how so learned
and great a man could have been attracted to so weak and insignificant
a woman. Thomas Ballihger was not the first hero in this pleasant
humbug of a world who has blossomed into greatness through the
memory of some childish chivalrous deed or the magnified recollection
of a sympathetic word. And, haplessly, all heroes, wife-made, do not
have his gentleness and amiability to speak in extenuation of the
delusion.
Again the restlessness of spirit stirred Thomas, and again he wearied of
his environment, and the round of drudging duties. He said to Hannah:
"Our life is monotonous and changeless, and we have no chance to
know the world that is so beautiful. We are wasting ourselves and our
opportunities. The city is so great, so sordid, so given over to the roar
of commerce and the pursuit of money, that every noble impulse is
crushed and every better feeling is repressed." He took Hannah's hand,
just as he had taken it in the happy days of early love, and he smiled
that same old persuasive, irresistible smile as he added: "Come, Hannah,
let us renew our wedding journey. Thee will find how much of the old
lover is left in me. Let us go to the South, where we can be young and

foolish once more, where everything is new and everybody is strange,
and where sweethearts, like thee and me, Hannah, find fresh inspiration
for their love,"
Hannah listened rapturously, for she was still young and foolish, and
she believed in Thomas and trusted in his great wisdom. And as the
tears came to her eyes at the gentleness of his voice and the reminder of
the old days she answered: "Let us go, Thomas" and then, with a little
blush at her own boldness "let us go where there are no book-stores,
dear."
So they journeyed southward, lingering now a week, now a month, in
cities and towns, while Thomas, pursuing his trade, made money
necessary not only for their expenses, but for the accumulation of
literature. The beginning of the second winter found them in the
loveliest of spots, the land of perpetual summer, a fair town, where the
people lived in the laziness of dreamland, a land green with the
palmetto and the magnolia, where the birds sang all the year, the roses
bloomed perpetually, and the breezes languidly waved the moss on the
old trees and barely stirred the ripple of the sparkling river. Here
Thomas worked diligently and saved sums of money for the future, and
here Hannah found the realization of her dreams of a honeymoon in the
hours they spent together. It seemed to her that they had come at last
into life and happiness that must never end, and great was her sorrow
when one night, wandering home along the riverbank, Thomas said:
"Hannah, I have bought the tickets, we must go to-morrow. '
She clutched his arm nervously as she asked: "Why must we go
to-morrow, or the next day? Where can we find so beautiful a home as
this? We left behind us the ice and snow I dreaded, and the great cities
that so displeased thee, and we have come here to find everything that
speaks for the life we love. Why must we go?"
Thomas turned away his head and did not answer. She touched his arm
again, and said, "Have we not been very happy, dear?"
"Yes, very happy, but..."

"There is no 'but' in my happiness, Thomas."
"I was going to say, Hannah, that you do not understand. In fact, you
see you know I was going to say"
"Well, Thomas?"
He laughed, guiltily. Then he drew her toward him and kissed her. "I
know I am asking thee to make