The Progress. (Shreveport, La.) 1892-1900, 1892-09-10

sorlid. He had lost his only love long
vears ago. Had iiercely denounced her
because he believed she had swallowed
the evil reports of his enemies. and the
good that was possible to him had turned
to bitterness. the wound In his nature
had gathered gangrene and proud flesh.
But these hours had brought VINE
back to him. She seemed to have come
from the pale shades of the other world,
after their long separation, and to be
standing there in the room with her
gentle. beseeching face. He could think
of nothing but Vinie, and her presence
and nearness seemed to wrap him around
in a soft atmosphere of forgiveness and
reconciliation. He remembered her a.
she was when a girl, among the morn
ing glories and tall hollyhocks OF the
old Mayhem garden. with the tender
rose and snow of her pure skin. and the
sun shining on her dark curls. He re-
membered all her little movements, her
smallest words, the chances, half playful,
half loving, she had given him, the
blush that came so readily to her cheek
when he appeared.
How was he ever to approach Ninie
across that impossible gulf of years that
had been dug between them: He had
promised Mrs. Whitcumb never to re-
veal the secret of her pcrfidy. and al
though the woman was viper he must
keep his word. Should he stride boldly
into the old Mayhem homestead and find
Vinie there by the window where he
had known she was sitting all these
years, although he had never looked her
way, and clasp her and kiss her and
claim her for his own? And would she
understand without speech and come tc
him with the confidence of a child?
The man was shut out from all sights
and sounds by the little world of emo
ton in which he lived. He was away
back in his youth, wandering againwith
Vinie in the Pelham woods on spring
morning when the laurel was IN bloom,
and all the intervening. fruitless, with
cred time had dropped away. The day
had sloped to twilight. then melted into
darkness when he raised his head, for d
strange sound had pierced the quiet street
through and through. 1t was the sound
of many feet. the running of men and
boys close pressed, breathing hard, down
the roadway. Suddenly church bell
changed ont. then another and another.
He stepped to tho window. opened it and
thrust forth his head into the still even
ing air. A significant smell of burning
came to his nostrils. the sound of stealthy
cracking and swapping flames greeted
his ear just as wonans shril voice be-
gan to shrek, Fire! Firev'
A snaky red tongue shot up among
the apple trees close to the bounds of
Captain Bligh's garden. He looked
about bewildered for moment trying
to get his bearings. Suddenly it came
over him like blow that the fire was
making Roadway in the l. part of the
old Mayhem house. He heard the en-
gines and hose carts rafting down the
street, but he never knew how he got
out of his house or scaled the interven-
ing fences and walls between his garden
and Vinie's home. He saw at once the
fire was confined to the kitchen and
shed and had not yet attacked the main
building. The night was MINDLESS, and
the flames went straight up against the
sky with dense volumes of smoke and
showers of sparks that hung like lumi-
nous cloud just above the trees.
The firemen i'll their shiny black hats
and coats wero getting two streams of
water to play on the burning roof. Some
of them were mounted on ladders
knocking out windows and cutting holes
through the shingles. At first the stream
of water flew wide of the mark and
dashed in among the branches of the
trees, but presently it took a better aim;
tho fire covered down as the jets like a
million writing serpents Kissed on the
hot embers. 1t is the fashion in Little
field to run" to fire. and Miss May
news lawn was filed with neighbors
who could do nothing but get in each
others way. and were as glad to come as
if it had been a garden party. Ladies
ran out bareheaded and without wraps:
young men and maidens sat on the wall
looking at the blaze, and large COM
pany of boys roasted in the trees in front
of the house. All the house doors were