The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-06-08
CHAPTER XXI.

This father forgot his injured pride.
When old Gilbert was informed that
Nicholas would be coming home in a
few days he exclaimed, with triumphant
thanksgiving:
81 knowed hit! Bless GIoryw
''Hukkom you knowed hit?" sneered
Glory-Ann. SIS you tryin' ter mex out
you is Solomon en- de prophets?'
What l done tel you. Missy?" pur-
sued old Gilbert, serenely Indifferent to
this taunt Put yo' 'pendence il Mawse
Gn'ral Fletcher"
"He had nothing to 90 with it!'' cried
Missy indignantly. "Brer Nicholas wrote
o his own accord; he said never a word
q your 'Mawse G,n'ral Fletcher. I won't
be indebted to Capt Fletcher. We've
returned all he did for Brer Nicholas,
an there's an end OF him"
Is dasso" said Old Gilbert regretfuIly.
"VelIl well! Tube sho!'
Hukkom you is so sot beginst de
caen al Of a sUddent?" Glory-Ann re-
nnstrGted. Times I is hec a you say
Cney can'3 mex wales fifteen fur him
tat, en- now you talk lax he WIZ good
riance! You is Jes' ez Onsartin ez a
&c, Missy; dat you is,
wish were a child" Missy sighed,
u vague, unwilling apprehension of
truth OF her Aunt Elvira'5 declara-
that the old JOY could never come
IN. AS the day for her brothers re-
drew near she had discovered in
lelf, to her sorrow and confusion, an
;plicable shrinking from that long
ged meeting, a feverish eagerness to
the agony of joy over and done
her anxiety to eliminate as much 10
i5le OF the cioIncnt Of pain and en-
hssment that she could not but feel
ed upon this fri meeting, she es-
ii to coax her father to his best be-
b.. "you viii not look stern, my
tr?" she entreated, with smile that
ggled to express a confidence she did
ieel. For the cll time Is over; for
rforgct tac past.
o colonel frowned impatiently; but
lie time ago this same inordinate
fired had declared that to forget was
il.
have written Nicholas to come
,e; | havo made no conditions" he
q little coldly. 4 never do things
lalvcs, and shall not behave in
lDer Unbecoming Thorne."
.issy sighed and said no more.
was a dark and stormy night when
.holas rode away from Thorne Hill, !
ing. buoyant, arG ut, defiant; he re-
ned on 4 bright ring day, broken,
5ered and Saddened. And he came
alone; he brought with him not onl
wife and child and the redoubtabl-
oxanna-he brought with MIN also
.e shadows OF the long, cad years Of alb
nee and arrangement. They wrapt /
I'M about as with a mantle; they made |
themselves visible il his hair, prema- |
ureIy gray; In the deep nucs rnaU nIurn-
d his handsome face. in the sadness Of |
lis eyes, in his dropping figure, and in
he carelessness with which lie wore his |
shabby, threadhare clothes. Missy would |
never have known hun, and the shock of |
finding him SO changed went nigh to |
break her heart.
1t was meeting in which sorrow in
evitably outweighed Joy. The colonel |
would have preferred to see his son first |
alone, but his pride and his shyness made /
him shrink from exaCting this; and when !
the carriage that brought Nicholas drove |
to the door he stood or the piazza erect, |
composed, with Miss Elvira trembling on
one side Of him ard Winifred trembling
on the other, while old Gilbert and Glory
Ann, in jealous rivalry, maintained a re-
spectful distance in the rear. But at the
sight OF Nicholas, as he came up the
steps, this father forgot his injured pride,
bis anger, his disappointed hopes; he re-
membered only that this. his son who
was lost, was found again, and he took
the exile in his arms.
And there was . great silence, broken
at last b. old Gilbert's devout eiacula-
ton, Praise be ter Glory for which
rebubed him with q vigorous
thrust of her elbow, and the inquiry:
''Is you plum forgot de manners you TUX
away fun 1horne Hip
DOSlt, ECtGlllti sui. WIN 3 certain
majestic grace, in spite of her poor and
faded dress, stood apart, proudly shy;
for at this supreme moment no one
thought Of her or the boy, whom a Cqunt,
grim Ciantess held In her arms with an
,ir of determined proprietorship.
To Missy her brother looked like
stranger. but when he turned TO her she
threw herself into lis arms with a pas
ionate burst Of tears that had, alas! lit
lie kinship with iov. This was not the
brother she had lost. Tie past was never
70 return,
The colonel gave his sons wife a more
gracious welcome than Missy had dared
o hope, and he took his little grandson
n his arms and kissed snd blessed him;
nut for Roxanna White his only greeting
Tas a stiff bow.
Time had made his mark upon this
rigorous amazon since the day she at
4oked the COLONEL aatsee Eaadk6as >alt |