The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1877-12-19


tongues gettin' thick Old age, by
Gee This ylre mountain whisky tastes
insipid's water. Can't hunt, can't drink
--nothin' left What's left me?
Women" He raised his nodding head
as il awakened by a sudden thought
"Why, the woman 1 loved best in the
world turned her back on me in this
house"
He bloated face grew shade darker
purple, the small black eye kindled.
Fine woman, Elise Voneida ~ with
n chuckle.
The next moment he stood erect, with
gasp of astonishment. The door was
( pushed open, and Elise stood before him
in the very spot where she had parted
from him, flushed and trembling with
anger, ten years ago. Her face was pale
now, and dropped ON her breast both
her white hands we're held out to him.
The colonel's heart, as he would have
told you, was tender to any of the fair
sex, and the truth was, all the clean,
honest affection of which he was capable
had been given to this woman.
: "Elise have you come back to me 2"
"I-I mover have been lost to you,
Louisp
her. Whatever was the passion that
had bound her to him, it had never yet
been wakened i'll her by her husband !;
but the voice of this eld love reused it
again. It mastered her like fiery poi
son running through her veins. She
said to herself that she was Tom Sewers
wife, and that Gods law
81 only came to ask You to forgive
me, Louis" she amended.
" It's time, by Gee You flung me
hard, Elise" Mrs. Sewer had dream
ed of this meeting thousand times !;
but these were not the kind of words
she had heard in her dreams from her
hero. She looked up at him, and drew
back. This hero's mouth was yellow
with tobacco, and his cheeks were
bloated and pimpled.
Yet the old magnetic power remained
in him still. He took her hands in his
puffy, ringed ones, and they shook as
they never had done in Tom Sewers
grasp.
"That scoundrel Sewer maltreats
yon."
" No, no -
81 say he does Why, your cheeks
are hollow rs ii you were forty years
old. And what kind of shabby dress
is this I'd have hung velvet and dia-
,, monds on you.
> Mrs. Sewer drew up her head. She
was forty years old, but Tom treated hei
, like a girl of sixteen. He would not
, think rags shabby il they were on her.
The colonel was in glow or triumph
He had hated Sewer viciously for twelve
years, the humiliation of'being " thrown
S growing sharper as his rival had sue
ceeded in the world. But here was vic
q tory He remarked to himself that
. she knew how to seize it with al
. oath big enough in his opinion to roun(
q the subject
"You are mine You shall be mine,
: in spite of all the SEWERS alive. We're
. not as young as we once were, but there
Il a good slice of life left us yet. Hush
e here he comes. I'll meet You by tn,
y ford tomorrow morning. You remembe
: the ford p
Yes, she remembered the ford. Sht
went slowly back to the other room, anC
e was standing by the fire when DIR. Keye
3 entered.
"Tom found that one of the horses
O he began, and then stopped abruptly
n looding keenly at her. She had seer
e the ghost He perceived the sEell o
" tobacco from the adjacent room, an
g glanced at the door. 1t was shut
y Turning again to Mrs. Sewer, he foun,
:, her eyes fixed on it with terrified fear o
IL discovery.
II Poor Tom p thought Keyes, as Ii
II beat dreary tattoo on the window.
er Mrs. Sewer sat down and stared i
d the fire, her hands clasped on her knee
Cbo Palf xtarx- much man uhO In
Il passed through an earthquake aud find
N his house, his belongings, his very foot
e hold, a wreck beneath him. What wa
IL this she had promised to doP To NEE
at friend in casual morning walk
'e There was no wrong to Tom in tha
Ia For wears it had been a kind of gospt
III with her, much more forcible than tbs
0, which is heard in church, 10 believe i
u her first love, aud in the man to whol
IN she gave it. She had been used to iste
n, to mou nful music, to find the voice {
n that first love in it, and then to reca
Of Toms virtues with sigh, acknowledI
ot ing to herself that he was the most EN-
nently respectable of men, but that h'
le heart was irrevocably given to man {
higher order. She was cropping aboI
now miserably for this man, bewildere
IN by a cloud of stale tobacco, whisB
and oaths.
s. Meantime. Colonel Chaplin was 10,
k, ing his plans. He had been i'll a force
state Of idleness for long time, al
in now, in the very moment when Ii
e. seemed emptiest to him, the woman
re had once loved was placed within h
Is grasp. Nothing came between them bI
II, a man he hated, and the cOlOnels tale
Sos Nzyao EsVHAnt1OnAI
ut hours reflection, and several drinks b
er yond the hourly average, he went dow
and introduced himself to Tom and ID
5k Keyes.
mt Keyes held him at arms length b