Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1872-12-27
THE CHRISTMAS OF SIR GALA.
HAD.
BY ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS.

From the Woman's journal.
Did YOU ever know lost knight
to be found until a woman tracked
him? Is it, therefore, surprising
that if it had not been for Rebecca
Rock, Sir Galahad Holt would have
escaped recognition completely, and
the modest number of men and wo-
men now admitted to the secret OF
the discovery have gone the hun
grier and the sadder for the loss.
1t was always a matter of deep
scientific speculation to Rebecca
Rock why, when she came 10 town
to find work in the necktic factory,
she should have chosen lodgings in
the second back corner of l6t Prim-
rose Court. She would say: "lf |
had hit on the western side, or, if
had been able to pay the rent OF
that room opposite the factory! or,
how near l came to settling on the
little south attic of l7!'
And she sat and unused upon it
with puzzled face. II, indeed
What an if it was. Such an if as
there would have been in the world
| if that other Rebccca had taken the
wrong road and missed of meeting
Isaac in the desert at the set of the
SIN, or, if Eve had lost her way in
the shrubbery of Eden, and just
happened not TO find Adam till no.
body knows when!
Perhaps, too, such an if as there
would have been if Heloise had nev-
or gone TO school to Abelard, or
Di Rimini had never seen her low
er's face? The world would have
lost grand temptation. So much
as that, Rcbccca Rock, cutting foun-
dation into strips for the public
neck, eleven hours day confusedly
felt; but she had never heard of
Hcloisc, and ii she had been obliged
to sit beside Francesca Di Riminl
in the necktic factory she would
have shrunk in the wounded won
der of snow.drift from a foot
mark
How long it was before Galabad
Holt, coming home from the organ
factory at 7 O'clock, to his solitary
ground-foor lodging at l64, noticed
the tall woman in the blanket shawl,
who came in a little later and pass
ed his door in going up stairs; how
long before n sense of anything
more than tallness and shawl oc.
cured to him; how soon he noticed
the outline OF her arm when the
shawl fell from it, as she laid her
large, strong hand upon the banis-
tiers; when he first observed the
regular, calm echo which her step
left upon the creaking stairs; when
first he met her carrying Il pail of
water from the court, and instead of
being moved TO carry it for her, on
ly thought how evenly she carried
it for herself; when first she smiled
at suddenly observing him; when
first he gravely joined her if they
chanced to meet on the same side
of the street in passing to and fro
from work; how first he gravely
learned to discuss with her the fall
in wages, and the wind we had on
Saturday, the rise in coal, and tie
sunset there would be tonight; and
when first he gravcly came to feel
that wind and fuel, sun and payday
were no longer common matters for
the common world in consequence,
but heritage Of his and her dis
covcry, ownership and wealth,-is
not accurately known.
Strictly speaking, he himself
knew accurately nothing. He Ia
bored, he ate, he slept; he shut him
self in his lonely lodgings tit was
singular, said all the court, in Sir
Galahad to board himself); suns
rose and set; she smiled and came
and went, but lie knew distinctly
nothing. Nothing-until once up
on q Sunday afternoon he followed
her to n little mission church they
knew, sat on q wooden bench and
watched her sing; but he left in
the middle Of the chorus and went
abruptly home. He shut and lock-
ed the door; he stood in the middle
of the room.
"God bless hcr!" he said, aloud.
But he sat down and covered his
face with his grim, princely hands,
and flushed as if he had done her q
deadly wrong.
Had he the right to take woman
into his swept and garnished heart,
even long e6ough to bless her -
Gods nanse and let her gof =