The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1883-12-05
NEVER AGAIN.

so sou, that nigel macpherson nearu
without any of that impatient irritation
which was usually his first feeling
when any human voice came in to
break upon the silence of his solitude.
'Is 90 very lonesome?"
Nigel Macpherson turned his blind
eyes round in the direction whence the
words came to him. He had not heard
the door open; but watt of the outer
air that blew in on him, told him it
was standing wide now.
Perhaps his visitor saw him SILVER;
for she put her sturdy shoulders to the
door, and shut it to, it being five min
utes' work, as she had just learned by
experience to reach the lock a-tiptoe.
us 90 very lonesomeP"
This time it was not over by the door,
but close to his elbow; and the hand
that lay listlessly on the arm of his chair
felt something very like an electric
thrill, as a small velvet-soft cheek nest
led against it.
Ii seemed that she must have her
answer; but it also seemed that it per-
picked her nearer to give one.
He had been sitting bowed together
in his easy chair drawn up before the
hearth, the cheerful blaze upon which
he could feel, if he could not see; but
there had been no cheerfulness reflected
in his face.
Yet neither had ne looked, as the
child said, lonesome, rather, as one
whose life was so benumbed as to be
past the sense of loneliness.
The child could not understand that,
however; it was the bowed figure which
had appealed to her; and she said. still
with her soft cheek rubbing against his
hand and sleeve, in pretty kittenish
way she had:
mamma Milly sits that way when
she's lonesome. think 90 must be-,
too"
''And who is Mamma MillyP"
Macpherson had began to wonder if
he had been lonesome-as one begins
to thaw and then grow conscious of the
cold.
Mamma Milly? Oh, She not Lulu's
own mamma. Lulu's own mamma went
to heaven, and Mamma Milly came to
keep Lulu and papa from being lone
some"
What made him smile? Lulu could
see nothing to smile at, though she
looked around her.
What great bare ugly room it was
big enough to hold all the rooms at
home.
The child's round blue eyes could
not take in the fact that the old-fash-
Toned place was furnished well and
handsomely enough; that it was only
the absence of a woman's loving touch
which made the wide difference between
house and home.
And do Mamma Milly and papa
know where you are, my little one?'
asked Macpherson, laying his hand on
the small curly head, from which she
had pushed back the hood. "And will
not they he lonesome after your"
But the child laughed
How can papa be lonesome when
he's gone to heaven to meet my own
mamma? And Mamma Milly-"
What was that step at the door? Was
this lonely man, who asked no one
across his threshold, to be thronged
with visitors this EVENING"
There was hurried knock; and the
door was hastily opened.
A young woman in mourning came
forward few PAGES, putting back the
Grape veil which the wind had blown
half across her face.
She glanced around, half bewildered.
In her eagerness she had opened the
hall door, and she was startled to see
that she stood in one of those square,
furnished halls one sometimes finds in
old-fashioned houses; and that she had
thrust herself in on some one seated
there.
Pardon me-" she said, "but | have
lost my little girl have no time to
lose, it is fast growing Oakland
thought tracked her little footsteps
through the snow, close by your door"
Mamma Milly, Mamma Milly"
She had not all at once seen the
child, who was standing on the other
side of Macpherson's armchair. twas
not at sight Of her, but of the man seat
ed in the armchair, that she had broken
short her speech
She did not seem 10 see the child,
even now She was standing with her
eyes riveted on the man, every trace OF
color banished out of her fair face.
Lulu had come round to the other
side Of the chair. She still kept one
soft little hand upon Macpherson arm
while she reached out the other to the
new conner.
''He was lonesome Mamma Milly
Lulu was sure he was lonesome. Lul,
just peeped in the door, and saw chin
sitting So"
Suiting the action to the word, sh,
dropped her pretty head upon he
breast.
But the new conner did not answe
her with so much as glance.
| She stood, pale and trembling, look