Miriam's Lover Page #2

"Miriam's Lover" is a poignant novella by Lucy Maud Montgomery that tells the story of Miriam, a young woman grappling with the complexities of love, desire, and societal expectations. Set in a small community, the narrative explores Miriam's deep emotional connection with a man who is both charming and elusive. As she navigates the challenges presented by her feelings and the constraints of her environment, the novella delves into themes of passion, longing, and the quest for self-identity. Montgomery’s lyrical prose creates a vivid portrayal of love’s complexities, making "Miriam's Lover" a thought-provoking exploration of the heart.

• Short story

								

looked at me with a sudden contraction of her level brows that
betokened vexation.

"'I wish you hadn't spoken to me just then,' she said. 'You
interrupted the message I was receiving. I shall not get it at all
now.'

"'Miriam,' I implored. 'I so wish my dear girl, that you wouldn't talk
so. It makes people think there is something queer about you. Who in
the world was sending you a message, as you call it?'

"'Sidney,' said Miriam simply.

"'Nonsense!'

"'You think it is nonsense because you don't understand it,' was her
calm response.

"I recall another event was when some caller dropped in and we had
drifted into a discussion about ghosts and the like--and I've no doubt
we all talked some delicious nonsense. Miriam said nothing at the
time, but when we were alone I asked her what she thought of it.

"'I thought you were all merely talking against time,' she retorted
evasively.

"'But, Miriam, do you really think it is possible for ghosts--'

"'I detest that word!'

"'Well, spirits then--to return after death, or to appear to anyone
apart from the flesh?'

"'I will tell you what I know. If anything were to happen to
Sidney--if he were to die or be killed--he would come to me himself
and tell me.'

"One day Miriam came down to lunch looking pale and worried. After
Dick went out, I asked her if anything were wrong.

"'Something has happened to Sidney,' she replied, 'some painful
accident--I don't know what.'

"'How do you know?' I cried. Then, as she looked at me strangely, I
added hastily, 'You haven't been receiving any more unearthly
messages, have you? Surely, Miriam, you are not so foolish as to
really believe in that!'

"'I know,' she answered quickly. 'Belief or disbelief has nothing to
do with it. Yes, I have had a message. I know that some accident has
happened to Sidney--painful and inconvenient but not particularly
dangerous. I do not know what it is. Sidney will write me that. He
writes when it is absolutely necessary.'

"'Aerial communication isn't perfected yet then?' I said
mischievously. But, observing how really worried she seemed, I added,
'Don't fret, Miriam. You may be mistaken.'

"Well, two days afterwards she got a note from her lover--the first I
had ever known her to receive--in which he said he had been thrown
from his horse and had broken his left arm. It had happened the very
morning Miriam received her message.

"Miriam had been with us about eight months when one day she came into
my room hurriedly. She was very pale.

"'Sidney is ill--dangerously ill. What shall I do?'

"I knew she must have had another of those abominable messages--or
thought she had--and really, remembering the incident of the broken
arm, I couldn't feel as sceptical as I pretended to. I tried to cheer
her, but did not succeed. Two hours later she had a telegram from her
lover's college chum, saying that Mr. Claxton was dangerously ill with
typhoid fever.

"I was quite alarmed about Miriam in the days that followed. She
grieved and fretted continually. One of her troubles was that she
received no more messages; she said it was because Sidney was too ill
to send them. Anyhow, she had to content herself with the means of
communication used by ordinary mortals.

"Sidney's mother, who had gone to nurse him, wrote every day, and at
last good news came. The crisis was over and the doctor in attendance
thought Sidney would recover. Miriam seemed like a new creature then,
and rapidly recovered her spirits.

"For a week reports continued favourable. One night we went to the
opera to hear a celebrated prima donna. When we returned home Miriam
and I were sitting in her room, chatting over the events of the
evening.

"Suddenly she sat straight up with a sort of convulsive shudder, and
at the same time--you may laugh if you like--the most horrible feeling
came over me. I didn't see anything, but I just felt that there was
something or someone in the room besides ourselves.

"Miriam was gazing straight before her. She rose to her feet and held
out her hands.

"'Sidney!' she said.

"Then she fell to the floor in a dead faint.

"I screamed for Dick, rang the bell and rushed to her.

"In a few minutes the whole household was aroused, and Dick was off
posthaste for the doctor, for we could not revive Miriam from her
death-like swoon. She seemed as one dead. We worked over her for
hours. She would come out of her faint for a moment, give us an
unknowing stare and go shudderingly off again.

"The doctor talked of some fearful shock, but I kept my own counsel.
At dawn Miriam came back to life at last. When she and I were left
alone, she turned to me.

"'Sidney is dead,' she said quietly. 'I saw him--just before I
fainted. I looked up, and he was standing between me and you. He had
come to say farewell.'

"What could I say? Almost while we were talking a telegram came. He
was dead--he had died at the very hour at which Miriam had seen him."

Mrs. Sefton paused, and the lunch bell rang.

"What do you think of it?" she queried as we rose.

"Honestly, I don't know what I think of it," I answered frankly.
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