Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1891-09-01

solupferosi female beggars and flower
sellers, each with the inevitable babv faa-
tened to her back by gay hued robozo.
policemen, workmen, dogs, horses. car.
rlages and the great mass Of idle popula-
ZION crowded the main avenues and rem
uered locomotion necessarily deliberate,
EDWARD Payson made his way to his
room In a quiet street, and for the TWEEN
tieth time read the letter he had received
the day before
GREENFIELD, Va, June - ISs-
MY DEAR-Why do you not come back2 Why
40 you stay away so long from the old home?
~ rs ven years mat you have been away, and
Oniy round out last week where you were
what made you go away so suddenly without
saying goodby to anybody | ought not to
forgive you, but do. You should have thought
that perhaps the trouble which made Won 90
might not have been 80 bad after all, and that
PcoPle may not have meant all they said. No
one knows that | am writing you this letter
ana perhaps ought not to do 1t, but am long
ing to see my boy again and do no NOT care
what tolks may say. Do not wait to write, but
come. CuIop u /. yao,J
week later Edward Payson stood In
the grove OF sycamores, oaks and naples,
looking at the stone mansion of which he
had been thinking so sadly amid the heat
aust and noise of the Mexican amphithe-
ater. 1t was just such morning of which
he had dreamed. The sun was shining
brightly, and the low hum of insects min
gled with the shiver Of the leaves over his
mead, as II trying to soothe him and quiet
the fierce beating Of his heart.
How natural the old house looks. What
a little change has been made here in ten
years. 1t looks the same as it did yester-
day. wonder what my uncle will say TO
me. | wish Chloe had said something
about him. We had rather serious quar-
rel, remember, the day before left him.
Perhaps he will tell me to go back again
and resume the vagrant life that know
he thinks | have been leading. No. he
would hardly say that to the son OF his
only brother, after his sacred promise to
that brother to be as father to me as long
as we both lived
Besides he was always hot headed, and
no doubt forgave me almost before was
out Of the room. All, well, | shall soon
know, and what do | care SO that Chloe
has welcome for me2 1t was near this
spot that she spoke to me so kindly, and
yet, oh, so coldly, when she told me that
we-cousins-could never be lovers. Ahl|
There she is surely"
His breath came short as he caught sight
of a white dress at one of the open win
dows under the veranda roof. He could
not see the face Of the wearer because a
tangled mass Of creeper hung in the way,
but he knew it could be no one else save
the girl, as he loved still to think her,
whom he had come thousands of miles to
see. The white dress moved away, and he
walked slowly across the lawn, noting on
every hand familiar objects that brought
back his youth in flood Of fragrance
How weak he felt as he assembled the
steps to the veranda. Where was ChloeY
Would she come to the door'
He pulled the bell hand die and heard the
clang that he remembered so well resound-
ing through the house. He could see it In
his minds eye swinging near the rear of
the long hall that ran straight through
from the front door to that opening on the
yard at the back, where the old cooks cab
bages and tomatoes were carefully tended,
and where it was as much as one of the
kitchen girls life would have been worth
to trespass. He remembered how the old
bell had, TO his youthful imagination, pos
sessed ghostly attributes, and how he used
TO fancy it moved of itself in the dusk Of
the evening, shaking its head In mockery
and threatening to swallow him up into
its rusty throat.
Listen! There is a step in the hall
Somebody is coming The door opened q
little way, and the flutter Of white dress
caught his eye Impatiently he pushed the
door wide open and put out his hand TO
take that Of Chloe.
"Why, Mas'r Ed'ardl Eff | didn't think
you'd come back to 20 poo oil auntie,"
and two black hands, in white sleeves.
were placed on Edward Payson's shoulder,
as pair of hornrimmed spectacles fell
with a crash to the floor.
Yes, auntie l got letter, and / came
right back to the old place. How are you,
and how is my uncle, and how is-is"-
His voice faltered, but the old woman
did not appear TO notice IL as she answered;
"Dey is all WELL honey. Dere have been
few changes roun here. Come in and let
me give you something to eat. I've got
some hot con cakes, like yer useter git
when 20 was boy. Come along. 70
uncle's done gone away for all day"
ooh, Auntie, | want you to- said a
child's voice, and little girl with sunny
golden hair came running along the hall
Just AS Edward Payson used to run some
thirty years before. She stopped when she
saw him and chung close to the fustered
old woman while she looked inquiringly
at him.
"Yo know, Ed'ard, l did not know where
20 had gone, but a colored man what
works for Mr.. Sherwood, the butcher, he
was here and he toll me he heard as 20
was in Mexica. And | thought yo'd had
a little quarrel with 20 uncle, and p'raps
you'd be too proud TO come back IL he wrote
TO you, and so | got young Miss Mabel,
over to Raleigh's place, who Is just as good
as a angel to col'ed folks and who writes
splendid, to write to you, and"-
"And was the letter from your gasped
Edward Payson, as he looked Down at the
golden haired little girl, while a terrible
thought ran through his brain.
Course it was, honey. Want 1t signed
Chloe Payson, and amt dat my namep
"And-and-who is this little ohildP
THAT Why, Miss Chloe's, of cou'se.
She was married five years ago to young
Mr. Willard, who, dey say, will be jedge
next year. He is away today with yo'r I'M
Gle. But come up stairs and see Miss
Chloe What a fool | Is to keep 20 here
with my chatterin, and you been away
from her for ten years"
But Edward Payson, with some excuse
he never knew what-managed to get away
from the house and into the sycamore and
maple grove, where, with the stones Of the
old house Just visible between the trees,
and the fragrance Of the syringa lowering
like a half forgotten melody around his
bowed head, he threw himself on the
ground and nerved himself to bear such
heart wringing as fortunately comes to but
a portion Of poor humanity.
When, an hour later, he took her hand
he felt sure she understood and pitied him,
though not word on the subject of his
~. Laa a1 har lAVxa-