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“My brother has forgiven, and my sister. I would ask, will yon be less merciful? — but that you have more, far more to forgive.”
“Through all these weary months,” says the listener on the hearth, — and his head sinks lower at the cold, dead tones, — “through all these weary months, there has been that within which told me you would one day know the wrong you did. Whatever there may have been to forgive, it is forgiven, long ago. The ring which you crushed is here. I have kept it for you; will you take it?”
“Oh, Mary, hear me! I am changed —changed. Your lip says, ‘ For- given,’ but your voice denies it. Mary —”
But the hand trembles which he takes in his; he sees that her face is pale, and tears are shining in the blue eyes. All these weary months, all that cruelty, all those false accusations, have not crushed out from her heart its great love for him.
On the hearth they stand toge- ther, before the friendly fire; into that fire drops the crushed and bat- tered pledge of a broken betrothal; let its memory melt away with its form. A change has passed over the sombre face of the dark man; a ray of beauty from hers brightens it as he looks down tenderly upon her and whispers, “Is it a happy Christmas, Mary?”
“It is happy.” Then a bright glow starts up in the old grate, and the two cannot hear it perhaps; but there is a cho- rus amongst the little spirits of the Christmas fires, as they clap their hands and sing out, “We are here; we see it. A Merry Christmas!”
Louis Sand.
POSTSCRIPT.
The present Number, the Twenty-sixth of its Series, concludes the First Volume of “Once a Week,” which is now ready for issue in a complete form; and Two such Volumes will henceforth appear Annually.
The Projectors have ample cause to congratulate themselves on the reception of the Work, for, if its Circulation up to this point is an adequate test, its Commercial Success is decidedly established.
They are, nevertheless, too clearly conscious of its rising promise to rest satisfied with the result thus far obtained, and are taking measures for its further advance to the standard indicated in its Prospectus. Arrangements are in progress for the improvement equally of its Literary, Scientific, and Artistic features. Engagements have been made with Novelists of celebrity, and an important Serial by a Popular Author is already in the Artist’s hands, and will appear before the end of January, and be succeeded by other attractive Fictions.
As the Work proceeds, its resources will come more fully into play, until the capacities of the enterprise are fairly tested, and the difficulties incident to its organisation, under peculiar circumstances, are surmounted. Its Plan has been already ratified by popular acceptance; but this encouragement will only stimulate the energies of everyone connected with it to make the most of
the increasing opportunities for its further and complete development.