Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1872-01-18

/ still restless. The dear girl made me
my tea, and as the shadows n the old
courtyard heightened l said | would
go across to the church to speak to Sim
monds There had been afternoon
service, but we had none in the even
ing, so the door was closed already,
but not fastened and 1t yielded to my
touch The dusk had already begun
to settle on the dark side of the build
ing, which lay all in shadow; but
through the windows next the grave
yard there came a golden glory, that
chequered the pavement before the
altar and made path of light
from the vestry door to the pew in
which | always sat-a pew near
one of the windows, through which [
could see the grave that held the one
secret of my life. / stood, up to look
at it now, as the waning light cast
fickeriag patches on some strange OBJ
ject lying on the graye-the figure of
man who, with his face hidden in his
hands, prayed or wept there. Before
/ could cry out, and while | held to
the oaken sill to keep myself steady,
there was q sound of footsteps in the
weed-grown path, and two other people
came upon the recumbent figure on
their way toward the church Was it
possible one of them was Alchemy
own girl--with only a hood thrown
loosely over her head. as though she
had come out hurriedly, as, indeed,
she must have done; and by her side,
man, tall, stalwart, sunburnt, who
bent and whispered as he held her by
the hand.
Almost before they saw him the man
at the grave had leaped up with a great
cry, and in another moment had seized
the younger by both hands | knew
him, though he was trimmed and
shaved, and had exchanged his sordid
dress for decent suit OF black cloth.
1t was the bird fancier Of the day be-
fore, and with the hungry look gone
from his eyes, as though he had at last
found what he had sought Right in
the centre Of that golden glory-fainter
now they stood, the three together
and in a moment | knew them-knew
both men. that is. | saw, in the elder
of the two, the husband of the woman
| had loved i'll the other, my own boy,
my own long-lost Alick. His arm was
round her--round my girl-and his
other hand was stretched out to me as
he hurried on, and she, how she chung
to him
They led me home. There, in the
old room, looking over the tops of the
plane trees to the silver blue of the
summer sky, we sat far into the night,
for there was much to tell How. in
the wild land to which he had gone
under another mana, Alick had found Il
friend and comrade IN Richard -.
How my boy had worked and found
gold, and traded and prospered, and
was now partner In an Australian
merchants house of London city. How
the man whom | was trying hard to
pardon-as if my poor pardon could
aid or mar him-had been a wanderer
and fallen into terrible straits had
gone forth from Australia to the other
golden colony in California; had lived
III lone prairies and on drear lagoous
had been held captive by Indians in
Mexico; had been in prison and con-
demned to death, and yet had escaped
and come home, to hear no tidings Of
the wife whom he had left How again,
and yet again, he had returned to make
new search. All this and more [ lis
tened to, until the Ginning Of the
clocks ard silver streak far out to-
ward the edge Of dawn forced us to
part till the following evening.
As | lay sleepless, waiting for the
morning in my little bedroom, | Won
dered whether | had any further bust
ness in the world. But yet, to tell you
the truth, am no way anxious TO get
ont of it-at all events not till after
the wedding; and then shall take my
approximation from the Twidlers, and
only go to the old hall now and then
because l can't quite bear to part with
it altogether. THOMAS ARCuER.