Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-02-08

Laid beside these mysteries the life o
Miss Denny was an open book that even the
children could read. Its lessor was pur.
and simple. Even that missionary of per.
sonal intelligence, who had taken upon her
self the responsibility, of being mother u
the shock-headed boy, could find no broker
letter or distorted chapter in it that venom
would lie upon. "know Janet Dennyt' she
would have answered you, We'll, should
say SO. She was 81 last December. 10th
beheve-perhaps the 9th-it was Tuesday,
anyway. Her father gave up and died ten
years ago-didn't amount to mnch, with his
readin in the haymow, and a sermonizin' at
the woodpie. Her mother has been gone.
too, goin' on five years Smart gal. Takes
boarders, and her folks didn't even leave her
the house she lives in. She taught school
once, in the seminary at MayfieId, but gave
1t up to nurse her mother. Reads poetry
hot that L can see the good of
1t, but spect she does, or she
wouldn't do it. She always says what she
means, does her own work like the rest of Us.
and makes her own bonnets Heard she had
the chance to marry a jabbering Dutchman
one OF them professors over at Mayileld, but
don't believe it. Twould take a braver man
than little Dutchman with a long name to
make love to her. Sac had beau oncr
when she was II or Is, but he died fore any.
thing was said, and Janet kept kinder quiet
for few years. No, she'll live and die an
old maid. I've always said that But see
here! What did that dodgin' fellow in the
speckled suit mean by tellin' my Bill that hs
come from the Land of Nodi My man says
there amt no such place in these diggings;
and my old man has travelled"
Janet had indeed answered his question
with honesty, but she was too much of the
woman To confess that when the argument
/ began to take shape between them some
weeks ago, her position had been assumed
for that arguments sake. But by dint OF
much repetition, and the searching of all
the moo IS and corners of her heart for pleas
In support Of her theory, she had uncon-
sciously become her own first and most
steadfa't convert, and burned with all the
zeal of che martyrs Of old
Had she known-had she dreamed for a
moment-of the love that had sprung up il
the heart of the stranger who had halted for
rest at her gate, and that he was only hiding
1t until such time As confession should be the
most certain to win success, not all the
eloquence and all the challenges that his
lips could utter would have led her to
promulgate or defend the faith to which she
had given her discipleship.
one khe" IL all week later. For the
first time IN his life he called her by th
name her mother had given her And a.
she looked up with flush, in which there
was no touch of anger, be took her hand,
and, turning toward the western sky, sale
gently: Janet, there may be glory and
there may storm behind that bank of clouds,
God sends his burdens and his gifts as he
chooses, and we must take them as they
| haye had m bar ~ j.,
years behind me. | had thought the way
was plain ahead-that l was approaching
the summit of the hill, and in a few
years would begin to go down the other side,
new, a sudden, blessed light has shone
into my heart, and | bless the road that led
me here. l love you, Janet. VIII you be |
my wifei'
1t came with the lightning stroke of ar |
absolute, a binding surprise
though, In looking once, she might have |
seen 1t IN his eyes, she might have heard il |
In his voice and felt it in his presence, she |
had been blind and deaf, and had not un |
derstood.
l Will not chronicle the answer she gave
him There are some things so simple in
their honesty, and yet so sacred, that they |
cannot be written She opened her heart tc
him and laid it bare in his presence: and
as he heard the tale of sweet and
lonely life, he felt as though the white Mary
of an altar shrine had made confession tc
him. and the tears stood in his eyes, and he
was better man and nobler man in that
hour than he lad been in all his life before.
She made one condition. 1t was simple
but from 1t no entreaty could move her.
"Iou must leave me for three months IL
that time do not see me. Do not write tc
me. II You find that you have misread yom
heart shall know it and hold YOU IN nc
blame, and you will not come back to me
If see you here when che day Of banish-
ment has ended, you will have my answer
When the clerk, the schoolmaster and the
superintendent of tanners came to breakfast
on the following morning, one chair was
vacant, and all the answer Miss Denny
could give, had no consolation in it-for
they had come to like the fellow, and to de-
fend him stoutly against the insinuations of
batfled curiosity. He babe me goodbye
last night" she said, land left on the VI
coach at dawn. He did not tell me where
be was going, and he may never come
back" And then a wave of speculation
swept over the village for nine days, and
was still
There never was scalpel sharp enough
FOR the dissection Of true womans soul
This blunt pen dare not, then, attempt it. Ii !
Is sufficient to know that there was not
day, and not an hour, in which some vision
or some question that touched upon him was
not in her mind. At times she looked at the
that by chance had thrown
hem together, and said to herself: 1T was
he passing fancy of a moment He will not
return" But again she saw the light that
hone in his eyes when he turned that night
owaTd the western sky, and heard the
remor in his voice, and her soul asserted it.
elf as it never had in the old days of love
ess peace, and she whispered so that even
he air could not hear it: He loves me, and
le viii return" But not for moment did
he qu sstion the judgment that put him tc
he test
The shock-headed boy was at the postoffice !
vhen the night coach dashed up, and when
he man from Nod alighted, it was the boy :
Who took his smallest sachel with the uncon-
cious commandery Of old acquaintance; and :
was the boys sturdy legs that of their ,
wn vOlitiOn started the brief procession .
oward Mrs. Denny's house. But as the man )
md the larger sachsl meekly followed, it is )
0 be presumed that on this occasion the
juvenile instinct was not in fault At the
ate the guide was feed and handsomely dis
Kissed.
The man from Nod was certainly not asleer :,
his time. Dropping his sachel on the >
rass, he passed through the empty and un- :
GIFTED parlor, went into the dining room
My 70 find it deserted, and passed from
hence on into the kitchen, where he heard
Sell-beloved voice singing softly to itself
If, as he afterwards told her, his heart =,
lad grown hungry for her." it must have y
aan fans tod fad tla, ,f
len Her white arms were bare to the :
bows and a huge apron hung as a shield :,
etween the dishpan and the spotless lawn 4
bout her, there was blue ribbon at her :,
lroat, a flush on her cheek-and in her eyes =
lere flashed a sudden light, that the dullest \
aggard in love" of all the land could have
anslated.
The China teacup in her hand was in =
anger, when he closed in upon her. If he y
nd not kissed her then, or had felt that his :
lty was done in kissing her once, all the -