The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-08-17
WHEN THEY GATHER IN THE HAY.

WHEN THEY GATHER IN THE HAY.
Your cousin Helen is coming next
week" Robert Braith's mother said.
when he came in from his work, and
sat down to read for few minutes.
There's her letter on the window-sill,
if you'd like to read it,
He took up the letter and read it
through slowly. One passage he read
over twice, before he laid it down:
II have never spent a pleasanter
summer in my life than the one | spent
with you, and if Robert is the same dear
old fellow that he was then | shall enjoy
this one quite as much, for you know
Rob and | were the best of friends, and
| have seen no one since that | liked
half so we'll"
He sat there in the door, with the
letter in his hands, and looked away
across the meadows where the grass
was crinkling in the wind like the sea
of emerald, and thought about that
summer gone by, and the summer
coming. In that vanished one he had
dreamed such q sweet and beautiful
dream, and its memory had never left
him. But he had hidden il in his
own heart, and no one had ever
guessed what it was. Now she was
coming back, and the old dream must
be lived over again, or crushed down
and kept out of sight, if so be that his
will was powerful enough to do that.
But he doubted his own strength.
There had been times, in the dead
summer, when it had seemed as if his
Il Il l,. ,,,l
But his pride had kept it silent. Here
was he, farmer; and she was the
child of wealthy parents, city born and
bred, and he argued that he had no
right to say anything to her of love,
because their stations in life We're so
different and far apart. If she had
been farmers daughter, or the child
of poor parents, or he had been a rich
mans son, with culture and education
equal to her own, then! But, always
the if in the way came up to stare him
in the face, and so he crushed back the
words he had almost said so many
times, and Helen Hunt had never dis
covered his secret, he felt sure.
He could not help feeling thrill OF
keen pleasure at knowing she was
coming back, but, at the same time, he
was sorry. 1t would only make it harder
for him after she was gone. He knew
that her voice would hold the old dan
gerously-sweet fascination in it, and
her eyes would only make him feel
more keenly what he longed to claim
for his own, but what was out OF reach.
But-and something of that same reck-
lesness which comes to all of us at
times came to him-she was coming,
and he could not help that, and he
would let the future decide its own al
fairs. He would drift. and dream even
if, the waking up at the end OF 1t was
bitter with loss and lifetime's regret.
The next week brought Helen Hunt.
Robert drove down to the depot after
her. She was standing en- the plat
form with her face turned another way
when he drove up. But it did not neeG
the sight of her face to tell him that She
was there. He would have known the
tall and graceful figure anywhere.
81 am glad to see you back, he
said, coming up beside her. His voice
was not quite steady. He had tried tC
make himself appear cool and self-con
trolled, but the presence of the woman
he loved unnamed him little.
Robert" she cried, turning quickl,
at the sound of his voice, with a glad
eager light flashing up into her beauti
full ewes. How they thrilled him! Sh,
held out her hand and there was NJ
installing the genuineness OF her wei
come. Itspokein her words and mad
itself felt in her face.
81 hardly expected to see you bacl
here" he said, feeling that she woul'
expect him to say something, and know
inc nothing else to say. just the
words failed to come readily at hi
command.
Ihave been looking forward to thi
for MONTHS she said. 81 was 5
happy here that / have been longing t
come back ever since | went away.
hope this summer will be as pleasar
as that one was"
81 hope it will, for your sake h
said, and his face had a grave, paine
look in it which her keen eyes detecte
at once.
''What is the matter with you, Rol
ert?' she said, putting her hand o
his arm. "You look as if somethin
troubled you. My coming has nothln
to do with it, has it?''
"How should it have?' he said, wit
a little forced laugh. - haven fe
quite well for a few days, that 5 al
But I'll come around right by and b.
Don't say anything to mother about