Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-08-05

causes Mr.. Barrs to raise his head il
surprise from his employment. while
perfect volley of barks from every dos
great and small, resident on the Del
/ premises resound through the house
drowning even the fury of the wint
and the rain, and rendering old Isaac
voice perfectly inaudible when, a few
minutes later, he puts his gray head il
at the library door.
"'Tis lady, Mr.. Adrian, SIR" h,
eontrives to say, after sundry futil,
I attempts to make himself heard. 81
J told her We never see no visitors hert
IN the day time let alone nine O'Clock
at night; but she was that determined
/ like all women, that | was forced t.
let her have her way. She says she ha:
message from little miss as used tC
come here from the cottage down yon
der, and that she must see one of the
masters. She be half clemmed herself,
do believe, sir, she looks so mortal
baG, and she be dryIn' herself now by
the hall fire.
Hastily putting the old man on one
side, Mr.. Barre steps out into the hall
"a great dreary place vaulted like a
church, and so large that the blazing
tire and the one lamp that Isaac has
deposited upon the square oak table
leave more than half of it still in
shadow.
On the hearth stands slender figure
clad in black gown that falls in straight
heavy folds to the strangers feet. The
woman's face is turned from Adrian as
she bends over the fire in an sattempt
TO pry the dripping fur-lIned cloak of
which she has Just divested herself; but
there is something in the grace Of her
attitude, the pose of the small head,
that strikes him as curiously familiar.
AT the sound of steps behind her the
stranger looks round quickly, and the
two stand face to face.
He recognizes heri In spite of her
wasted bloom, her lost girlhood, Adrian
Barre knows that he is looking now
upon the woman who has always been
the one woman in the world for him,
though twelve years before he flew from
her side full of rage and spite, allowing
a breath of Idle gossip to part them,
and, without considering what he might
be causing her to suffer, settled him.
self down at home. where he has spent
his life since in trying Intellectually to
stamp her image out of his heart.
Ofcourse it is she-Mildred Darrell
when he knew her, but Smith, Brown
OF Robinson now, no doubt, with some
brute OF husband in the background,
and Freda their childl No wonder the
little ones gray eyes and yellow hair
appealed to him so strangely Why, she
was Mildred's very image-Mildred as
he met her first; lovely innocent crea-
lure of nineteen, living her simple life
N the tiny Pyrenean village where he
Vas idling away a month or two before
travelling into Spaini
He has the advantage of her however
If every line of her delicate pathetic
face, sharpened by anxiety, worn with
sorrow, If familiar to him, as he stands
gazing silently at her, he has evidently
become a stranger to her.
In the grave bearded man whose hair
is already deeply streaked with gray
Mildrci Leslie fifrtls nc trace OF the old
love who deserted her so suddenly and
completely, giving no opportunity of
an explanation that would at once have
cleared away the cloud between them,
but leaving her instead with every hope
shattered and all faith in manly truth
and honor gone. Possessed as she is
with only one absorbing idea, one over
dread, Adrian Barre is to-
tally unrecogniZed by her; and it is as
one in a dream that he stands and lis
tens to the sweet familiar voice as she
begins timidly-
''Sir, will you pardon the great lib
erty l have taken in coming here to-
night? | am In great trouble; my lit
lie girl" She pauses, falters, then
begins again-''Ijttle Freda, to whom
YOU and your brothers have shown such
during the winter, lies very
i'll with fever. This afternoon she be-
,ame conscious for the first time since
lelirium set in. She asked to see you.
She is very, very weak, and the doctor
'ays-he says"
Striving yainly TO force the dreaded
words, the poor woman looks up, and
or the first time her eyes meet Adrian's.
The next moment he is holding her,
White and senselesS, IN his strong arms. |
"Freda," whispers Adrian Barre
one two hours later, as he sits, a
trange visitor, beside the small bed at
he cottage which contains a very frail |
md shadowy Freda indeed. 'you must |
make haste and get well as fast as ever
Tou can, for mother has promised that |
-ou and she will come and live with me |
Shen you are strong enough, and | am
n a great hurry to have you bothT'
To this Freda, smiling family as she
.lances up at her mother, who is bend
ng very April-like face over her dar-
ing's pillow, replies that she will try,
nd then asks
"Will mother and the little bear mar
y, and live happy ever after like the
ood prince and princess in the fairy
ale?"