Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1889-12-21

first time in quarter Of a century-he,
Guy Holbrook-with the same voice and
the same eyes and the same lips that
had once told her that-oh, dear mel
dear mel she just sank right down in a
little heap on the floor, and dropped her
face in her hands and burst out crying.
"Bless my soull what's the matter?"
cried the poor man, suddenly smittep
with contrition. ''What a brute I've
been, to be surel You see, my knee al
most drove me frantic for a moment
there; but it's all right now, just as
good as new, and it doesn't make a
particle Of difference anyway. So dry
your eyes, my good woman, and be so
kind as to call servant and I'll rid you
of my unwelcome presence at once"
''My good woman" did dry her eyes,
and was on her feet again, the same
shabby, unromantic figure of little
gentlewoman that she had ever been;
and had come walking straight over to
Guy Holhrook's chair, and put a frank
hand on his shoulder, and looked him
squarely in the face with her true blue
eyes, that were always the honestest
eyes in the world. For she was not
heroine in a novel; and it was very ludi-
crous and unromantic-very, very unro-
mantic
"There was once girl named Nellie
-" she began, with catching laugh
in her voice, quite like the girl-laugh of
that same youthful Nellie.
"Nellie? Nellie?" said the old man,
ponderingly, as though he were recall
ing an elusive memory.
''Who lived in this house, which
wasn't boarding-house then, but a
home," went on the smiling woman,
"and was rich and happy. And there
was boy named Guy-a slender boy
with curling hair and roguish eyes-who
was supposed to live in the other half of
the house, but was always in this, and
who whistled and teased from morning
to night, and was happy, too"
"And they grew up and loved each
other, as they always had" went on the
narrator simply "and they would have
married each other, but they quarreled;
and both being as proud as Lucifer, they
parted without forgiving each other-he
to go out West to ranch, she to spend
six weary months in foreign travel. She
came back to the old home, but month
after month went by, and there was
never word from the ranch in the
West. And year after year went by,
and strangers lived in the other house,
and Nellie's parents died, and she lost
her money, and she sold her home, and
was sorely cheated-as she always was,
being very stupid old body-and she
took for home one little room up under
the caves and lived there contentedly;
but she could not forget. And she heard
that he had married wife in the West
quite late in life. And one day he
brought the wife and troop of chill
dren back to the old home; but it was
never the same Guy to Nellie. He had
forgotten, too-men do forget-and when
he met her one day he looked her in the
face and turned away and never knew.
This cut her to the heart; but when she
went back to her little room she looked
in the glass and saw that she was old
And she used to love to sit in her
room and listen to the little voices
laughing in the other house; or to sit In
her window and watch the fragile wife
going out to her carriage and the flock
of little children frisking in and out; or
she would stop and speak to them, for
they were friendly little creatures, with
bright, beguiling eyes; and one day,
while she sat in her window, the funeral
carriages drew solemnly up to the
house and the wife was taken away for
the last time. And she longed to tell
him she was sorry for him, but she did
not dare. And whenever Christmas
came she longed to tell him that the
fault had all been hers and beg him to
forgive her; but she remembered that
he had forgotten it all and held her
peace"
Forgotten it ALL forgotten it ALI Yes,
men do forget, and no doubt he had
but nOsO-why did the hand
that pulled the white beard tremble
like the hand of an old, old manP And
what we're those bright drops hltering
down among its silvery strands? Sure
ly it could not be this simple tale of a
boy named Guy and girl named Nellie
that so moved and shook himl
'My child" he said at last, quite
simply-as though he were really the
aged saint and she the youthful Nellie
of those days he had forgotten-''my
child, kneel down here where can look
at you"
When she was kneeling in front of
him he took her face between his hands