Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-05-31

i 6DOOp0Q 10 Oh MOWERS on some
unnamed grave From place to place she
! journeyed seeking the sign that never
came. She grew nervous; sleep and appe-
| tito failed hev but not her couraxs. She
was in Virginia now, and took the train at
| length to come to Fredericksburg. The
| spring was here; the air was full of it.
| She vaguely wondered if it was this
that gave her such a feeling of languor and
made her so drowsy. Occasionally, as she
| lifted her heavy lids, she became conscious
of the watchful gaze of a pair of keen,
dark eyes. She wondered vaguely If any
thing was amiss in her attire to attract at
tention, and lapsed again into drowsiness,
the flush of fever deepening on her cheek.
Presently the conductor passed through
the car, and the owner of the dark eyes,
who was also the owner of an empty sleeve,
touched his arm and engaged him in a
whispered conversation, which, from their
glances, concerned the sleeping lady. In
a moment or two the conductor took the
vacant seat at her side, and, after address
ing her twice without response, shook her
her arm gently, with the result only
| of causing her to open, for moment, eyes
that seemed already too dull for see.Sg.
Another whispered conversation with Tire
dark-eyed gentleman, whom the conductor
courteously addressed as Colonel, and a lit
tie later, when the train stopped at Holly
| Springs, Colonel and conductor together
eler from the train, into a waiting carriage
which presently rolled away into the dusk
| And that was the end of Kate Wilton's
| pilgrimage. It was mid-April when she
opened her eyes languidly upon the room
where for weeks she had mOaned and
| tossed in pain and muttered in delirium.
She looked a moment at the pleasant-faced,
| white-haired lady who sat at work in low
| chair; at a tall dark man with an
empty sleeve, who stood by the lady's
! side; her gaze wandered over the appoint
mentS OF the room, and then the eyes
closed again, and she sank into restful
sleep. The lady, who had watched her in
silence, rose and bent over her moment,
and then, crossing to her son, said: 1.-The
! danger is over; she will recover. When
| she wakes again she will be conscious. l
| truly hope that, all our inquiries have
| failed to discover any friend who was in
| terested in her or waiting her coming, so
no unpleasant results serious shock
may follow when she learns of her long
| sickness and detention" Kate did get
| well, but her recovery was very slow.
| When good Mrs. Gardiner, with kindly in
| donation and many a motherly caress,
| told her how she came to be among
strangers, the tears that flowed were tears
| of gratitude and thankfulness. The kind
ness and devotion shown to her,
| stranger, touched her deeply, and won up
| toned to the coming and going Of " Alex"
| as his mother called him, simply as if he
were yet boy, and received with a glad
| humility the kindnesses that were showered
| on her. Little by little she told the story of
| her life, her love and pilgrimage. The at
mosphere about her seemed so restful; she
| felt such strange content in hee helpless
| ness and dependence that she began to ask
herself if she were too content; if she had
grown disloyal to the dead. 1t was one of
| the things that troubled her, that the past
really seemed dead now; not forgotten, but
dead; and buried as it should have been
| long ago. She had tried to embalm her
dead and keep it with her as a living thing.
| Now it was buried Often she tried to
renew her grasp upon the old, but it eluded
her. 1t seemed impossible, in this new at
| mosphere, to rehabilitate that old life.
Perhaps, she thought, when so away, the
old feeling will return. But did she wish
it to return! Was it not better buried,
since it was deada Often she questioned
herself in this wise after one of the
| Colonels daily visits, visits she had grown
| to look for and expect. There was a
mighty magnetism about the man. He was
! so courteous, so unobtrusive. He seemed
| to divine her wishes and ministered as
| thoughtfully as gently to her wants. One
day he had dropped a bouquet of her favorite
roses on the coverlid of the bed. g How
| did he know the flowers she best lovedl"
But this was the South this man was
one of his murderers. Nay, she
| had been unjust; wrong he may
have been, but never wicked. So she vexed
herself with question and answer as she
strove to reconcile the past and present of
her life. Strange, that we will not be con-
! tent to follow nature without this attempt
at reconciling the differences of her dis
pensations. With her slow convalescence
| came the month of May. She was able to
| rise now and to walk a little, and passed
much of the pleasant morning upon the
cool shady veranda, upon which her win
| dows opened. There, among the climbing
roses, the color came back to her cheeks
and the brightness to her eyes. She began
to talk of the time of her return to the
North, From the edge of the veranda the
large garden stretched away, as yet unex
plored for her, save only when she had taken
q brief tour among the flowers leaning
on the Coloners arm. :" Do you know what
day this isl'' said the Colonel one day,
when Kate was beginning to feel that no
excuse was left her for the Incidence Of
invalidism. at is the thirtieth, isn't itl"
she said. A flush came to her face. It was
Memorial Day. and she had forgotten. The
grave in the village graveyard in the North
rose up before her; - and - she thought,
g sit in the house of the enemy" Yet she
felt the thought was foolish; there was no
enemy. 'Come with me, said the Colonel,
presently, "you have never been to the end
of the laurel walk, and have some thing
there to show you. There was a certain
seriousness in his manner, and he was I'M
usually silent as they walked slowly down
between the laurels. They paused at
the end IF the walk, where was an
open space boreered about with low shrubs.
In the center of this Enclosure two graves
lay close together, the narrow path that led
between alone dividing them She looked
at them in surprise, and then glanced CUES
tioningly at her companion.
90 You WONDER he said, what these
grave, are and why brought you herel
Sit down a moment on this bench and 1
will tell you. I had brother, an only
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