The Two Elsies | Page 5

table when a
servant came in with the morning's mail.
There were several newspapers and magazines; only one letter.
"From Eric, dear old boy! I was intending to write to him to-day,"
remarked Lester, as he examined the superscription.
"How nice, then, that his came just in time for you to answer it in
yours," said Elsie. "I'll leave you to the enjoyment of it while I give my
orders for the day," she added, turning from him toward the rear of the
house, as they left the breakfast-room together.
"Yes, my dear, and when you have a spare moment to bestow upon
your unworthy husband, you will find him on the veranda," he
answered lightly, bending his steps in that direction.
Only a few minutes had passed when she sought him there; but what a
change had come over him! All his gayety had forsaken him, his face
was pale, and his eyes, as he turned them upon her, were full of
anguish.
"Oh Lester, my dear, dear husband! what is it?" she cried, hastening to
him and laying a hand tenderly upon his shoulder.
"Read," he said hoarsely, holding out the open letter to her,--Eric's
letter, whose sad tidings seemed for the time to have driven away all

the joy and brightness of life.
Glancing down the page, Elsie read:
"My dear brother, will you come to me? I have sore need of you. For a
year past I have felt my strength failing; for the last few months matters
have grown worse, till my days and nights are filled with pain and
unrest; and today I have learned that the time has come for me to set
my house in order, for I am to 'die, and not live.' Nay, not so: I am to
pass from the land of the dying to that blest world where death can
never enter.
"My physician tells me it may possibly be three months ere I reach 'that
bourne whence no traveller returns,' but that in all probability I shall
arrive there in less than half that time.
"And there is much I would say to you, my brother; much in which I
need your kind help. You will be coming North for the hot season; I
would gladly have you, your sweet wife and baby-boy spend it here
with us; and to me it seems that there are few pleasanter places than
this little home-nest of ours high up on the rocky banks of the grand old
Hudson River. We have pure air and magnificent scenery, and it will be
most comforting to me to have your loved companionship as I go down
into the valley of the shadow of death.
"Thank God, it is only the shadow, and I shall go down into it leaning
on the strong arm of my beloved. Jesus will be with me to the very end.
"But I may be asking too much of my sweet sister Elsie; you and she
have, perchance, formed other plans more congenial to your tastes and
wishes. If so, let me not interfere with them; consider my request
withdrawn. Yet, shall I not have at least a sight of your loved faces ere I
go hence to return no more?
"Lovingly, ERIC."
Elsie could scarce see the signature from the fast-falling tears.

"The dear brother!" she sobbed. "But, oh, Lester, be comforted! His
troubles and trials are almost over, the battle nearly ended, the victory
well-nigh won; and we know he will come off more than conqueror
through Him that loved him!"
"Yes, I know, I know it; but he has been a dear brother to me, and, oh,
how can I learn to live without him!" he answered, in tones quivering
with emotion.
"'Twill only be for a time, love, and then you will be restored to each
other, never to part any more forever," Elsie said softly, with her arm
about her husband's neck, while her tears mingled with his, and her
sweet lips were pressed again and again to his cheek.
He folded her in a close embrace.
"My dear, sweet, precious comforter," he said, "I can never be unhappy
while God spares me my wife."
"Nor I, while I have you, dearest," she responded, with an added caress.
"And we will go to poor Eric instead of with mamma and the rest to
Nantucket."
"My sweet one, I could not ask so great a sacrifice from you," he said.
"I can hardly feel it to be such when I think of your poor brother--our
brother; for is he not mine also? We will go to him instead, and I know
it will be with mamma's approval, grandpa's also. Ah, here they both
come!" she exclaimed, in a tone of satisfaction, as the Ion family
carriage