THE BLIND BARONET .
- BY H. SYMMES.
"Mr good Saunders," said Miss Sarah King, at the moment of mounting her carriage, " I recommend your master particularly to your care ; and during my short absence, I confide him to your long-tried devotion and affection. I ask from you, for him, care that will be ever attentive, delicate, patient, enduring, full of thought -in short, the care as if of a woman. Always remember that Sir Richard Elrington is deprived of sight, and that our eyes ought to obey his thoughts, as his own eyes formerly did."
"My dear Sarah," said Sir Richard, pressing with affection the hands of his young lady, " Saunders will endeavor to imitate the example you have given him, and he will show himself, you may rest assured of it, the most attentive as well as faithful of guardians during your absence. Go, then, and go without inquietude." "I must depart, Richard ; but to part from you without inquietude, that is impossible, for you know not all that " " I know," resumed Sir Richard, interrupting her, " that you are an angel of goodness and patience. I know that you are young, rich, and full of intellect, have come to bury yourself in a solitude ; and that you have wished to pass the prime of your life in the society of a blind man, that his infirmity makes sullen and morose. All this I know perfectly well ; but, then, I do not know how to pay the deep debt of gratitude that I owe you. Gratitude is but a cold feeling ; and love it is impossible. Why do you disdain the love of a blind man ?" "Reflect on that which it is becoming in me to do," replied the lady. " Do you wish to force me to repeat to you the fact that I am ugly." " I cannot and will not believe it, my dear Sarah. I am certain that you slander yourself. It is the feelings of the heart that cast a light upon the countenance, and therefore you must be most beautiful." “ And you are blind who say this, dear Richard. Ah ! if it were possible, that in your single glance you could embrace the entire universe, and that I alone, like an invisible fairy, might love you ; but a truce to this, it grows late, and I must be on my journey. Adieu ! then, I shall be back in less than eight days. Meanwhile, give me the benefit of your infirmity, and do not see me in your imagination as being too ugly. Again, and again, adieu ! Saunders, as to you, do not forget." The horses started off at a gallop, and when the rolling of the wheels was no longer heard, Sir Richard grasped the arm of Saunders with a vivacity and emotion that made the old servant tremble. 66 Run, Saunders," said he, "run for the Doctor. He is prepared, and only waits to be sent for." VOL. I.- 11
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Saunders quitted the house in haste, and in a quarter of an hour he returned with the Doctor. "I am ready to undergo the operation of which you have already spoken to me, sir," said the patient, " and you will therefore be so good as to begin it at once." " There may," answered the Doctor, "be two means adopted for the purpose of restoring you to your sight. The first consists in an operation that is very simple, and of the success of which, I entertain the strongest confidence. In the event that my expectation should be foiled, then there is another mode of treatment to be adopted : it is more tedious, more difficult, more dangerous, perhaps, but the ultimate cure, in such cases as yours, is beyond a doubt." "Try, then, your first method, Doctor, and all I hope is, that it may be as successful as you wish it." The Doctor took his instruments, and at the end of ten minutes the operation was over. The Doctor said that he had the best hopes, and that he should return at the end of three days, to remove the dressing. In grasping his hand, the baronet placed in it a hundred pound note, and then sat himself down to pass over these three days of expectation as patiently as he possibly could. But when the moment arrived at which his fate was to be decided, his anxiety increased to such a degree, as to be no longer endurable. At one moment the patient fancied he could see the pale reflection of a ray of light, that was obscured by the superincumbent bandages ; and at another that there was only before his eyes those mote-filled glares that are the incessant illusions of a gaze that is lost in profound obscurity. In vain he sought, he struggled to be calm. His hand agitated by a convulsive movement, applied itself to the dressing. Scon reason was overcome the knot was untied- the bandages fell to the earth. Alas ! profound night covered with its dark and dismal veil the sight of the blind man ! He leant his head upon his breast. He closed his eye-lids, a useless protection given by Nature to such as he, and then the tears coursed each other continuously, but slowly down his cheeks. But soon he felt ashamed of his womanly weakness. He slowly raised his head and the lids opened, when oh ! inexpressible happiness ! -an ardent, strongly-colored ray of light, penetrated even to his very brain. It was a ray of the blessed light from a glorious sun of June, that had crept through the crevices of the double blinds, that reached his sight. He stood up greatly agitated ; and in the dim obscurity of the apartment he was able to recognise many objects well-known to his touch. At first he saw them but confusedly ; and afterward in a more distinct manner. At the same instant the noise of a carriage told him of the approach of his preserver. He rushed forward to meet him, and exclaimed with enthusiastic joy, " I see, Doctor, I see !" The folding doors were quickly opened ; it was Sarah
