The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1874-07-25


these thirty years, and we never getting
on together anything to speak of -
But 1t was only Reuben himself, fol
lowed by his wife.
After this Della might have been free
to go back to her old home AMI Paul
unly he did not need her any longer
| He had found another sweetheart, she
! kept repeating to herself, hugeing hel
grlefs closer day by day, till it seemed
to her as If, all at once, she had become
something superhuous on the face oi
the earth. In the meantime, hints OF
the wedding preparations reached High
gate Caiiy. One could almost catch
the odor OF brides cake and the rustic
of wedding garments.
It's we'll for him." Aunt Hitty was
fond of assuring her-s'it's yell for him
that he give over waiting for an old
love in dead mems shoes, seeing that
Reubing has come TO fill them hisself.
However, could you hev afforded a veil,
Della, aud all the fixings ?"
1t was June, and the world was at its
hravest, with blossoming and bird song.
hntserfT a TIE 7g hfnEt titH st tTsRsT eT r 5tll
womanish gray bodice, allowed her
self to remember the red roses that
nodded in at the windows of the sleep
ing-room at Carruthers Farm, and made
the June air as sweet as love itself; al
lowed herself TO recall youth and all its
lost possibilities, TO yearn wildly for
the sight of her one lover, before he
should belong to another-just for one
glimpse of the comely, sunburned face
that had been her iode-star.
Chance threw fulfilment IN her way.
Aunt Hitty had heard of the new doc
tor over at Hampton. whose touch was
healing. Somebody must fetch him.
Della volunteered, and took the after
noon stage, that set her down at the
crossroads leading into the village. No
body remarked the dusty little body, in
her old poke bonnet, pausing TO look
with misty eyes over the low stone wall
at the smart new church and the moss
grown graveyard at " the children just
let loose from school, playing catch"
on the green, although the clouds were
gathering for a shower, and careful
house eTives we're closing their scuttle
windows and hurrying the weeks wash
on the lines. Delia's thoughts were not
in the clouds she did not even observe
that the sun had gone behind them
She walked on toward the Carruthers
Farm, thinking to reach it by dusk,
W 41l8GI AltaL VII lllG 1dulDS were
lighted and to steal the ole thing
she coveted-the sight of her low
sr's face. AS she walked, the wind be-
gan to freshen, the darkness to deepen;
the rain fell fast and blinded her. She /
stepped beneath an elm tree for shelter.
Just under the outermost bough of a
tree, like a tower of /
leaves, with birds twittering among its |
branches. She stood there, looking
)ut at the storm in all its angry magnif- |
senee, when suddenly the thunder I
seemed to shake the planet assunder, /
,nly Della did not see the blue bolt /
hat split the elm tree in all its green
trength and left il blackened ruin.
Somebody, looking out of the window
If the farmhouse near, saw it and shud-
Tered.
"Sorry luck, Tom, said he. "The
lightning has blasted my elm tree I"
:" The duce !" cried Tom, going to the
loor to look out 8" 1t might have
truck nearer with more harm. There's
plenty of elms in the world.
60 But no elm like that one, Tom.
NasIz beaI4.l ilzc ss1ixis-sSI t1s.zleo..sT
"; aud when II began 20 grow felt as
miracle had been performed, Tom
as il it meant to tell me, in every
-reen leaf and shoot, that Della loved
ne, in spite of all. I'd sooner the
lightning had hit anywhere instead"
" If you'd been bred sailor" said
7om, smiling at his brothers sentiment,
: You'd have forgotten Della in dozen
weethearts before this. Halloa % as
mother fash corruscated across the
Lea7ens, somebody had taken shelter
Inder your elm, Paul, as I'm a sinner.
there's heap on the ground yonder
hat looks nightly like a woman
overy !" and he rushed toward the
pot, followed by the doubling Paul.
To be sure, they found Della p1os-
rate and brought her in called up the
erving woman and the nearest neigh
'ors, and fetched the doctor that Aunt
Iitty had sent for. And when Della
pened her eyes, after long persuasion,
aving been only stunned, she saw the
Id familiar room, the chintz-covered
OUNCE, with its wilderness of palms
nd peacocks, and, dearer yet, the fond
nxious eyes of Paul watching beside
er.
You knowsthat Aunt Hitty needs
ne" she murmured, taking up tue
bread of fifteen years ago. "And the
wins are getting old enough-to help
your mother ;-and-oh but you
re going to be married, Paul? ?" coming
Jack from the past, in confusion of
ongues.
eyes, Della, we can't afford to wait
much longer, you and l" He assured
er, later. "WeIl have a double we'd
ing, if you don't mind for maybe
ou've heard that Tom came home to
marry Squire Thorne's daughter, and
he cake is all baked and the wedding
ready. But as for me, Della,
-ou see the folks have so set their
earts on my being an old bachelor,
lereabouts, that, if it hadn't been for
he elm tree and the lightning, sweet
leart, l doubt if I'd had the face to
IiSappoint them.