, 1885-07-12
A LOVERS GALE.

" - So - NV AhAaN ~ VIZ il
haps We had better net GO and Mrs
Runkel turned away from the window
and paused in the process OF drawing on
her gloves.
III, b, mother, demonstrated Belle.
You don t mean to say that you'd be
willing TO miss seeing the procession for
fear OF having your hair blown about a
Bit She isn't at all patriotic, is she,
Miss Myers
Little Miss Myers looked up ard her
lips moved, but no words came. How
ever, nobody noticed the dressmaker's
unusually pale face and evident agita-
ton, and Goodbye. Miss Myers, the
three called out gaily five minutes later
rs they started of for the Haines build
ing, on Broadway, where n window had
been reserved for them.
Good bye, - responded Miss Myers,
and tried to smile as she spoke; but
when the door closed and she was alone
she bent over the machine with a very
grave face and a mind that was not so
much absorbed in her work as in the as
sociations and recollections this solemn
holiday never failed to awaken.
Panoramawise there passed before her
mental vision tho old homestead in the
south, the honored father taking up
arms 10 defend his all, the sanity
mother committing her child to Gods
keeping, when, home and husband both
snatched from her by wars cruel red
hands, she sank beneath the blow.
Then came tho image of the handsome.
happy hearted young northerner, Henry
Dean, who twenty years ago had been
visiting at the next plantation and
whom the firing on Sumter had called
away from the girl he had loved the
day after he had spoken, and
she, when the spark OF rebel
lion had Jared up into the
fierce blaze OF civil war, and her father
had enrolled himself among th forces
sent TO resist those other forces with
her lover in the ranks-then she
smothered every lingering hope OF a
possible union, and set herself the task
Of forgetting. But she never could for
get and o gave up the endeayor, and
as the years passed by and no word
camo to tell her he had escaped the fate
SC braYely mel by 20 many thousands
Of his co~untry-men, Agnes loved to
think OF him al lying in a soldiers grave
in a sunny cemetery, where birds came
to sing and mate in the springtime, and
beside which a mother often sat.
No n knew her story; that is, moth
ing beyond these bare facts in that sadly
familiar tale of the impoveri hment and
scattering of families following in the
footsteps of the war. Everybody was
kind TO the quiet, demure little dress
maker, and although ight-hearted girls
like Belle AM Helen Runkel sometimes
rallied her for refusing the offers they
were sure her fair face and amiable dis
position must have brought her, Agnes
knew there was no malice in the words,
only thoughtlessness, and soon forgot
the sting of them.
IN the 30th of May, then, the past
twenty years back was being revived in
her memory with more than usual dis
tinctness. Outside the unreasonable
wind moaned drearily around the o r
ner, o and then banging n shutter
and always whirling ahead of ii little
clouds of dust. But the sun shone
brightly and the sidewalks we're filled
with holiday throngs on their way to
view the procession. The servants had
all been given leave of absence, so that
Miss Myers was alone in the house. But,
timid though she was by nature, she
was now rather inclined to take comfort
in the feeling that there was nobody by
to break in upon her thoughts.
Up and down, up and down, went her
feet on the treadle, and the work glided
steadily out from under the needle, and
all the while the worker was silently re
calling that last day with him in the
sunny south, that walk home from the
neighhors $, that promise to sec him
again on the morrow-a promise never
kept, for Sumter came between.
"Ah-hl What was thatf' Miss Ny
ers gave n little scream as she sprang
up from the chair. She had quite for
gotten the present, and thought for an
instant that she actually heard the firing
Of the guns that had separated her from
her love. But it was only the ringing
Of the telephone call over her head.
81 suppose | ought to answer il. -
She decided then, and taking down the
ear piece she put her mouth 10 the
transmitter and called "Hellol'
In spite Of her recent solemn thoughts,
indeed, in view of them, Miss Myers
could not forbear smiling as she spoke
the homely word; with no one present
and visible TO whom it could be ad-
dressed il seemed like mockery to her
self. She had only used the new in
yention one or twice before, and when
presently the sound of martial music
came to her family but measurably clear
through the phone she stood listening
as il entraneed.
Some window must be open where
the parade is passing" she reflected.
perhaps it is at the Haines' and they
want to send a message to me"
At this moment Hello" was called
out at the other end of the line. 1t was
a mans voice, and remembering how
she had heard the girls respond, Miss
Myers answered again, "Hellol who are
are youf'
Henry Dean. Is that you, Aunt
Janef I'm down at the depot; start for
Baltimore in ten minutes, and thought
I'd say how do you do and good by Q.
Have found another clew. Pray Heaven
1t may lead TO something. Have you
any messages for the Carrolsf'
There was a pause, while Miss Myers
stood there at the instrument, clutching
the ear piece as IL il had been a rope
that was TO save her from drowning.
By a supreme effort Of will she had re-
NSNNAt0 nun INC ouotk lnt mtlilOu Oh
that name had given her, and now her
brain was Keeling with doubt, uncer-
tainty and longing. What ought she 10
dot Should she reply and tell who she
really was, or not 1t was evident that
there was something wrong with the
wires and that Mr.. Dean imagined him.
self to be talking TO his aunt. What
claim had the little Miss Myers" upon
him now, after all these yearsi Very
likely he was happily married and
therefore it was not Miss Myers plain
and simple duty to say that she was not
Aunt Jane, aud then go back to her
work.
But n sentence respecting a clue
he was following up held her fast.
Could it be herself he was looking fori
Baltimore was in the south, so why not
Bringing Gladness
IN EH