Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-09-04

open, IN nrisR ana active Exercise and
sunlight and iress air were TO him as the
very breath of his nostrils. But here he
was. day after day, week after week.
chained to these dismal tasks in solitude
with the far white dream of ambition be-
coming more and more distant aud oh
scured and with Il terrible consciousness
ever growing upon him that i'll coming
away from even the mere neighborhood
of Meenle, from the briefest companion
ship with her, he had sacrificed the one
beautiful thing, the one precious possess
ion, that his life had ever held for him or
would hold. What though the impalpa-
BILE barrier of Glcngask and Orosay rose
between him and her, He WIS no snnt-
mental Claude Mclnotte; he had common
sense; he accepted facts. Of course
Meenie would 20 away in due time. OF
course she was destined for higher things.
But what then? What of the meanwhile?
Could anything happen to him quito so
wonderful, or worth the striving for, as
Meenie's smile to him us she met him in
the road What for the time being made
the skies full of brightness: and made the
pulses of the blood flow gladly: and the
day become charged with kind of buoy
ancy of life And as for these vague am
billions for the sake of which he had bar
tered away his freedom and sold himself
into slavery--toward what did they tend ?
For whom The excited atmosphere the
Americans had brought with them had
departed now alas this other atmos-
phere into which he had plunged was dull
and sad enough, in all conscience: and
the leaden days weighed down upon him ;
and the slow and solitary hours would
not 90 by.
One evening he was coming in to the
town by way of the PUlloshaws road he
had spent the afternoon hard at work
with Mr.. Weems and was making home
again to tho silent little lodging in the
north. He had now been II month and
more in Glasgow, and had formed no kind
of society or companiOnship whatever.
Once or twice he had looked in at his
brothers but that was chiefly to see how
the little Maggie was going on his sister
in-law gave him no overfriendly welcome :;
and indeed the social atmosphere of the
Reverend Andrews house was far from
being congenial to him. AS for the letter
of Introduction that Meenie had given
him to her married sister of course he
had not had the presumption to deliver
that: he had accepted the letter and
thanked Meenie for it, for it was but
another act of her always thoughtful
Kindness: but Mrs. Gemmil was the wife
of Il partner in a large warehouse: and
they lived in Queens Crescent: and alto
gethcr Ronald had no thought of calling
on them. although to be sure he had heard
that Mrs. Gemmil had been making suf-
ticiently minute and even. curious inqui-
pe' mem T5p of FeRh hTs rrdfbers MIN nongr OF
cation whom she happened to know. No;
he lived ms life alone wrestling with the
WEAKNESS Of ii us best he might, and not
quite knowing perhaps, how deeply it
was eating into his hclrt.
Well, he was walking absently home on
this dull gray evening, watching the lamp
lighter adding point after point to the
long string of golden stars, when there
went by a smartly appointed dog-cart.
He did not particularly remark the occu-