Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1880-12-23


| "Harry!" she cries. But be is gone
gone in fine fury, banging the street
door after him--and it is her father,
white with passion, who stands before
her.
Twice the Christmas tide has come
and gone-twice the JOYFUL anthem of
Peace on Earth, to Men Good Will, ~
has sounded down the stately aisles Of
st. Philips, and the time is here. Once
more it is Christmas eve; once more
altar and pulpit are wreathed with ever
choristers rise to the vaulted roof; once
more the slender, pale-faced, brown
eyed organist sits at her post, her white
fingers evoking wondrous music. from
those pearl keys. But the face has
graver beauty, the dark eyes sadder
light than of old, and for the silk and
sables of other days her dress is deepest
mourning, plain of make and poor of
texture
/ The last piece is sung-something
grand and old, and triumphant; and
''good night, Miss Englehart," one
and all cry, as they futter away
and down the stairs. She smiles
her farewell, but fingers after they have
gone, as is her custom; and as her
hands float over the keys, and her eyes
rest on the music, she is thinking of an
other Christmas eve, three years ago,
and of her father and lover who stood
by her side that night.
| She has lost them both-the lover then,
never to hear of or see since; the father
one year ago. A great financial crisis
had come had involved shrewd lawyer
Englehart, and swamped him. He had
broken down under the blow, and in
less than three months after he was dead
and buried. He had never forgiven
Katie her refusal of Harry Hatton; he
did not forgive her even on his death
| bed.
eff you had not been fool with your
scruples and whims," +" he had said to her,
Utterly, you need not have been
beggar to-day. Harry Hatton is married
long ago, no doubt, to some wiser wo-
man, and when I'm gone you may earn
your living as best you may"
They had buried him, and Katherine
had earned her living bravely and well.
For years she had played the organ of
st. Philips as labor of love. Now it
became labor of necessity. Her salary
as Organist and half dozen piano pupils
gave her all she needed, and lite went
on, somehow, and Christmas had come
again.
She dreaded Christmas-theo old pain
and struggle seemed to come back
afresh. She did not regret what she
had done. Better loneliness and pow
erty than i'll gotten gain-better lose
her lover forever lhan become the wife
of man capable OF wronging the living
and the dead. She had lost him, but
she had not ceased to love him. While
she deplored his sins, her pure prayers
followed him in his reckless wanderings
over the world.
She left the organ at last, and slowly
quilted the church. Unlike that other
Christmas. no moon nor stars shone.
White, soft, ceaselessly, the snow fell
She put up her umbrella and hurried
home the home of boarding house
took her belated and solitary supper,
and ran up to her own little sitting
room. A fire burned in a grate, and her
piano sole relic of former splendor-
stood open with some new music upon
it. Before sitting down to her long
practice she went to the window and
looked out. Ali the world was white
and still and ghostly, and faster and
faster the snow was falling. AS she
stood the tall, dark figure of man
opened the gate and came blowing
through the snow to the front door.
''One of the boarders, she thought,
= debated as | was. How cross Mrs
White will be P"
She left the window snd went to the
piano. Before she commenced her prac-
tice, and half uneonsciousjy, she began
softly to sing the old anthem:
Hark the herald angels sing
Glory to the newborn king.
Peace on earth-and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled.
Then she stopped, conscious that the
door had opened, and that he intruder
did not advance.
"Come inn she said, and shut the
door, please; there is q drau-"
She stopped with q low cry, but he
took her at her word, shut the door, and
came forward.
81 have come back, Katie" be said.
"Will you forgive me and shake
hands P"
He took both hers without waiting
for leave, and held them fast.
81 only reached America yesterday"
he went on. "All these years I have
been in Europe. trying to forget you and
be happy, and / had neither forgotten
you nor been happy. You were right,
and was wrong. | have come back to
tell you 50, and to ask you if you have
forgotten me-"
Forgotten you ?" she repeats. al
most with a sob. ''Oh. my Harry! my
HarrY!"
Il am no longer rich," he says
Rosie and the little ones are at the old
homestead, and the drunken husband
hoC n l~ III - .ol -
palter with my duty, Katie, before ]
went away-I sought out Rose and
protfered her portion of her fathers
fortune She was proud, as you told
me she would be, and refused it with
scorn- Il am poor,' she said, almost
starving, but | will not take IS favor
from you, Harry Hatton, that which is
my right. Keep all, or give ALL kept
ali, Kate. and, if / could have forgotten
you, might have kept all to the end
But love you so well, my Katie, that |
ask nothing but you for the rest of my
life. We will be poor, but we will be
together Say you forgive me, Katie;
you have not said it yet"
She said it then, holding him close,
her happy tears moistening his already
damp coat-collar.
You and I are to spend Christmas
with Rose" he says. presently, that first
transport over. She's jolly little
soul as ever lived. in spite OF all her
troubles, and right glad to have done
with matrimony forever. Who knows
but that, after eight years of it, you may
echo her sentimentm
g think will risk it, though" said
Miss Englehart, looking at him, hand
some, and big, and brown, with adoring
| pvpa st0h Harrvi to think T did not