The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1889-12-27

/ 1870 n" t""trr ~ tcutnfy~ut,
Guy iioibrook-with the same voice and
IN" same eyes and the same lips that
had once told her that-oh. dear me.
dear me- She just sank right down in a
little heap on the floor, and dropped her
face IN her hands and burst out crying.
HESS my soul. what's the matter?r
cried the poor man. suddenly smitten
with contrition. What brute I've
been 70 be sure' 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 IL doesn't make
particle OF difference anyway. SO dry
your eyes. my good woman. and be 20
Kind as 70 call servant. and III rid you
Of my unwelcome presence a. once.r
| 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 Holbrook's chair, and put 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 novel; and 1t was very lndi-
crons and unromantic-very. very unro-
mantle,
| There was once girl named Nellie
~ she began, with a catching laugh
in her voice. quite like the girl-langh Of
that same youthful Nellie.
| "Nellie? Nellie?~ said the old man.
ponderingly. rs though he were recall
ing an elusive memory.
| '-Who lived in this house. which
wasn't boarding-house then. but .
home" went on the smiling woman.
'and was rich and happy. And there
was a boy named Guy-a slender boy
with curling hair and roguish eyes-who
was supposed 10 live in the other half OF
the house. but was always in this. and
who whistled and teased from morning
70 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 10 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 Ncllie'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 NJ under
the caves and lived there confentedlv:
but she could not forget. And she heard
that he mad married wife in the West.
quite late in life. And one dav he
brought the wife and troop OF chill
drcn back 10 the old home: but IL was
never the same Gny ID Nellie. lie 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 70 sit in her
room and listen 10 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 ono 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 lcnged to tell /
him she was sorry for him. but She did !
not dare. And whenever Christmas
came she longcd TO tell him that the |
fault had all been hers and beg him to
forgive her; but she remembered that
he had forgotten IL all and held her
peace"
Forgotten IL all. forgotten il all, Yes.
men do forget, and no doubt he had
forgotten; but nor-why did the hand
that pulled the white beard fremble
like the hand Of an old. old man? And
what were those bright drops altering
down among its silvery strands? Sure
" II could not be this simple tale OF a
boy named Guy and girl named Nellie
that so moved and shook him.
'MyGhild." no said at last. quite
simply-as though he were really the
aged saint and she the youthful Nellie
u those days he had forgotten--"my
:hild. kncel down here where l can look
II YOU"
When she was kncelfng in front OF
linn he tool Ter face between his hands