Part 38 (1/2)

The young man seemed a little surprised at this communication, and Mary evinced a momentary confusion when it was made. He said, however, very promptly and pleasantly, turning to Mary--

”I suppose you have a good reason for it, Miss Mary.”

”I think I have, Mr. Martin,” she replied, smiling. ”We cannot live, and educate James and William, unless we have a regular income; and I cannot shut my eyes to the fact that what we have cannot last long--nor to another, that I am the only one in the family from whom any regular income can be expected.”

”And you are willing to devote yourself to incessant toil, night and day, for this purpose?”

”Certainly I am,” Mary replied, with a quiet, cheerful smile.

”But it never will do, Mr. Martin, will it?” Mrs. Turner remarked.

”Why not, Mrs. Turner?”

”Because, it is not altogether respectable.”

”I do not see any thing disrespectable in the business; but, with Mary's motive for entering into it, something highly respectable and honorable,” Mr. Martin replied, with unusual earnestness.

Mrs. Turner was silenced.

”And you really think of learning the business, and then setting it up?” said Mr. Martin, turning to Mary, with a manifest interest, which she felt, rather than perceived.

”Certainly I do, if mother does not positively object.”

”Then I wish you all success in your praiseworthy undertaking. And may the end you have in view support you amid the wearisome toil.”

There was a peculiar feeling in Mr. Martin's tone that touched the heart of Mary, she knew not why. But certain it was, that she felt doubly nerved for the task she had proposed to herself.

As Mr. Martin wended his way homeward that evening, he thought of Mary Turner with an interest new to him. He had never been a great deal in her company while he boarded with her mother, because Mary was always too busy about household affairs, to be much in the parlor. But what little he had seen of her, made him like her as a friend. He also liked Mrs. Turner, and had from these reasons, frequently called in to see them since their removal. After going into his room, on his return home that evening, he sat down and remained for some time in a musing att.i.tude. At length he got up, and took a few turns across the floor, and again seated himself, saying as he did so--

”If that's the stuff she's made of, she's worth looking after.”

From this period, Mr. Martin called to see Mrs. Turner more frequently, and as Mary, who had promptly entered upon the duties of a dress-maker's apprentice, came home every evening, he had as many opportunities of being with her and conversing with her as he desired. Amiable accomplished, and intelligent, she failed not to make, unconsciously to herself, a decided impression upon the young man's heart. Nor could she conceal from herself that she was happier in his company than she was at any other time.

Week after week, and month after month, pa.s.sed quickly away, and Mary was rapidly acquiring a skill in the art she was learning, rarely obtained by any. After the end of four months, she could turn off a dress equal to any one in the work-room. But this constant application was making sad inroads upon her health. For two years she had been engaged in active and laborious duties, even beyond her strength. The change from this condition to the perfectly sedentary, was more than her const.i.tution could bear up under, especially as she was compelled to bend over her needle regularly, from ten to twelve hours each day. As the time for the expiration of her term of service approached, she felt her strength to be fast failing her.

Her cheek had become paler and thinner, her step more languid, and her appet.i.te was almost entirely gone.

These indications of failing health were not un.o.bserved by Mr.

Martin. But, not having made up his mind, definitely, that she was precisely the woman he wanted for a wife, he could not interfere to prevent her continuance at the business which was too evidently destroying her health. But every time he saw her his interest in her became tenderer. ”If no one steps forward and saves her,” he would sometimes say to himself, as he gazed with saddened feelings upon her colorless cheek, ”she will fall a victim in the very bloom of womanhood.”

And Mary herself saw the sad prospect before her. She told no one of the pain in her side, nor of the sickening sensation of weakness and weariness that daily oppressed her. But she toiled on and on, hoping to feel better soon. At last her probation ended. But the determined and ambitious spirit that had kept her up, now gave way.

Martin knew the day when her apprentices.h.i.+p expired, and without asking why, followed the impulse that prompted him, and called upon her in the evening.

”Is any thing the matter, Mrs. Turner?” he asked, with a feeling of alarm, on entering the house and catching a glance at the expression of that lady's countenance.

”Oh, yes, Mr. Martin, Mary is extremely ill,” she replied, in evident painful anxiety.

”What ails her?” he asked, showing equal concern.