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    40 ,NOTES OF BYWAYS.

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    It Lias Been Remarked That, In Soine Res...

    end , and seemed to have , attained an altitude so serene , that her haughty visitor gradually softened a littleor at least ceased to

    , speak of the sufferer ' s past misdoings , and vouchsafed an occasional smile . Smile ! Mrs . Norton smile ? Well , I do not know how

    otherwise to designate it . It was a motion of the features without the motion of the heart . The smile was dictated by the will in accordance

    with the judgment . The frown was the dictate of nature in accordance with the heartand so the frown was generally present . Nature will

    mould the features , . Some for certain reasons may try , and perhaps succeed in deceiving superficial observers , but if the counterfeit be

    examined , its baseness will be apparent . It was an awful night . The roar of the wind swept along , now

    lapsing into a dismal wail , and now rising to a fearful shriek , as if naturewere in affright . The streets were deserted . Now and then

    a cab mi , ght be heard struggling along , or a policeman might be discerned by his shining capepacing slowly and laboriously onward .

    Chimneys were being dislod , ged , the debris rattling along the roofs and then falling on the pavement with a startling crash .

    On this memorable night—memorable not to myself only , but to many a widow , and many a bereaved mother , whose treasures had

    been engulphed in the deep—I was surprised by the ajypearance of good Mr . Joslyn . Miss Keyworth was dying . She had a commission

    with which , owing to the presence of her not over welcome visitor on the preceding day , she had not had an opportunity to charge me .

    Scarcely were we in time . The messenger would not stay . She had just power to utter two or three short sentences , then there was

    a long inspiration , a few labored breathings , and then they became shorterfainter ; the features relaxed into an expression of perfect

    , repose—Miss Keyworth was no more . There is more meaning in the ashes of some than in the living

    presence of others . There was a beautiful peace inscribed on the still features , as though the spirit leaves a message with the clay .

    It was pitiful to witness the unrestrained grief of the bereaved child . It was " a time to _weej _3 . " Mr . Joslyntooand his wife were

    , , extravagant in their demonstrations . And indeed they had contributed not a little to the comfort and sustenance of the deceased .

    Never even had her room lacked flowers ; they had also observed with an intuitive _percejDtion her peculiar tastes , and found a

    pleasure in gratifying them .. -. • And in the midst of the scene of tears , poor Jemima appeared .

    She had just returned from a ball , and wore a tinsel-spangled muslinand a profusion of other finerywhich , though of an

    inferior descri , ption , must have been expensive , . She looked appalled . It was indeed a change from the low revelry she had been sharing .

    Poor thing ! there was something in her aspect which betokened the presence of an insidious disease . The change of scene overpowered

    her , she sank into a chair and fainted .

    40 ,Notes Of Byways.

    40 , NOTES OF BYWAYS .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1860, page 40, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091860/page/40/