Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-03-20


he did not ring at once, but sat down
upon little bench just within the gate
and masked by lilac bushes.
The narcotic calm of the scene and
hour had Iulled him into serenity, and
night fell unmarked, until, at length, a
familiar voice broke in upon his medita-
| tons He recognized it on the instant
as Alice's, but it was mingled with
deeper tones that were unfamiliar to him.
Although no words had yet detached
| themselves from the tangle of sound, 1t
seemed to him that one voice was urging
and one demonstrating. Presently they
came nearer and stopped by the gate.
ooh, I cannot! | cannot!" some one
cried. 1t was Alice's voice, and although
there was not jot of the spy in Hadley's
nature, something in the information held
| him spell-bound.
"But why not?' said the other voice,
melodious baritone-lcw, persuasive,
thrilling. "But why not? 1t was con-
ditional promise; the conditions have
changed and that is"
"No; it is not that" broke in the
girl. She was speaking quietly, hut a
pathethic little quaver ran through her
words. "Oh, can't you understand! He
is honest and true, and I could not break
his hearth"
Amoisture sprang on Hadley's fore
head and very slowly he opened and
closed his hands. There was pause, and
then the pleasant baritone again:
care there no rivers in Damascus?
What of my heart, Alice?" Hadley
heard no more. Something seemed to
suffocate him. His breath went no
further than than his throat, and the
dusky web of lilac branches danced in
black and shapeless phantasmagoria be-
fore his eyes. He was dimly conscious
of patter of feet, a wave of perfume,
and gush of yellow light as the hall door
clashed open and shut, and then he knew
he was alone again.
Alone! A hideous sense of loss, and
bitter, hopeless desolation, such as he had
never felt and never dreamed of, over
whelmed him. He did not think; he did
not dare to think. He staggered to his
feet, opened the gate and passed out.
To run away, to elude this thing as if
it was some sentient, palpable pursuer,
was the first impulse that possessed him,
and he hurried on, blindly, stumbingly,
he cared not where. How far he walked
thus he had no means of knowing, but
when he stopped it was On a thronging
thoroughfare, before the window great
emporium, aquiver with electric lights.
He drew long breath and pulled him
self together. An illuminated dial that
punctured the gloom of the upper air
marked after midnight, and faintness
began to assail him, a deadly reaction
that turned his knees to water. The
careless, alien crowd Jared on him, the
barbaric spendor of the windows smote
upon his brain; he wanted to be alone,
and presently he saw the open doorway
of a cafe and entered.
A few people sat at tables here and
there, and on one hand were the cur
tanned "doorways of row of little rooms
or stalls. He walked instinctively
toward one of these and drew the
drapery aside. A man within, who was
musing, apparently, over a bottle and
half-eaten meal, turned at the sound,
and the roon-mates looked one another
in the face.
Ashton was the first to recover him
self, and sprang up with outstretched
hand.
"Why, my dear ielow!" he exclaimed,
cam I indebted to insomnia for this
pleasure?'
Hadley took his hand absently, but
did not at once reply. What was there
about that voice, with it's plausible, vi
brating timbre, that thrilled him 500
81 have been little troubled, he
said, hesitatingly, land tried to-walk
it off, "
cha! And came in here, dare say,
to drown it in drink, as the proverb
goes. My word for it, trouble is the
thirstiest thing on earth. | tried to
drown a small sorrow in drink once, and
whenI was under the table there was the
sorrow, sober as judge. But I'll tell
you something, Hadley, it won't stand
feeding. The proper thing to drown
sorrow in is mutton chops and fried po-
tatoes. Suppose we put it to the couch.
Waiter!"
s'Hold!" said Hadley, who burned to
stop this badinage, 81 am not hungry
not in the least. Let me sit down a mo-
ment and think"
He sank into vacant chair and gazed
at the other with sudden, haggard in
tentness. A thought had just occurred
to his distracted mind. Why was not
this man, so bright, so versatile, so self
contained, so en- rapport with the great