St. Landry democrat., 1893-08-19

striving to speak, her trembling woes
diving away in broken utterances. One
instant she had put up her little hand to
rearrange some trifing disorder IN MS
dress, as a loving woman might nave
done for her disabled hero; in the next
she had slipped away, out OF his lie lot
ever.
He took his place with his comrades
behind the wheezy string band that leo
the procession, preceded only by the
high dignitaries of the village ana Tue
carriage in which rode the orator OF the
day. Citizens were grouped on the steps
of the church. watching the line form'
and awaiting their own carriages for
an instant the old soldiers, whose ser
vices were forgotten during the rest OF the
wear. became the centre Of regard. John
Sexton saw Miss Mehitable Plympton on
the steps, lifted his hat courteously, al
! belt somewhat awkwardly, with MS lele
hand, receiving an icy nod IN reCurn' 81 ne
| regarded her calmly and critically. one
was really wellpreserved woman tol
! her age, but there was new "rlnhle
| forming on her forehead, betweA' her
eyebrows, and her hair was getting oe-
cidedly gray on the temples. The CROW
feet that he had discovered about tt
corners of her eyes two years before
| were decidedly deepening Thus he de-
liberately remarked the ravages of time
on her pretty fece as for st score of years
he had invariably done on TIC rare occa-
sions when he encountered het; and ne
| wondered if she had observed the small
bald spot on the crown of his head, or
the slight limp that told that rheumatism
| had laid hold of him.
John Sexton could scarcely HAYS told
why he made this cold blooded examin
alton of the vanishing charms of her who
had once been his ideal'of all womanly
| worth and loneliness. 1t may have been
in unconscious revenge for the manner
| in which she had treated him. 1t may
have been to prove to himself that his
heart was hardened against her. 1t may
have merely been the innate savagery
| that turks in all men.
| Marching along the weary road to the
cemetery he recalled the rest. In those
days of his weakness and despair, others,
men and women, had sought him and
endeavored to cheer him. She had never
come. When they met at the house of a
mutual friend she had treated him with
a frigor that taught him only too we'll
the changed relation that he, cripple, oc-
cupied toward her Other problems con-
frontcd him. He found himself help
less, useless man, dependent upon
brothers bounty, aud barely tolerated as
member of the household by his
brothers wife. He could perform no
active labor, was incapacitated for
trade, and had not the means to fit him
self for learned profession. He drifted
about from one light vocation to an
other, filling each indifferently, more
and more oppressed with a sense of
his uselessness, he a young ambi-
tous man, filled with energy and
capacity for industry that he could
find no means to apply. He taught him
self to write, and to write rapidly and
well, with his left hand, and the govern
ment for which he had sacrificed so
much at length took pity on him and
gave him place in the Land Office of
the district. Withdrawn from society,
with few friends and no intimates, he
ed the life of recluse. Miss Mehita-
bic. on the other hand, had kept pace
with the world and all good works.
Years had silenced her girlish gayety
and left her a certain gravity and severity
of demeanor that in no wise detracted
from the esteem in which she was held.
Sexton watched this development as dis
passionately as he had witnessed the fad
ing of her youthful bloom
s'She has rounded 40 now" he said to
himself "Soon her eyesight will be-
gin to fail When she puts on spec
! tacles her temper will begin to grow
acid.'
The graveyard was on little knoll
crowned with naples which were just
beginning to leave. As they moved up
the narrow avenues of the village of the
dead the sun broke through the clouds
sitting down through the delicate green
foliage and pendulous clusters of seed
pods, heightening the brilliant colors OF
the national flags that mark the soldiers
graves, and kissing the purple violets
and she'll pink anemones that crept
close to the mounds, natures own
tribute. The warmth and rejoicing of a
northern spring lifted the PAIL from each
heart. Ncighbor looked kindly sym
pathy to neighbor. The tragedy and
woe of the great conflict were resolutely
put aside, and valor and glory became
the topics of the hour.
John Sexton remained silent and pre-
occupied. A slight incident had dis
turbed him and aroused in him sense
of anxiety and discomfort that he did
not attempt to analyze. Toiling up the
steep ascent Mehitable Plympton had
stumbled and his arm had saved her
from falling. How thin and wasted the
hand that chung to him for a moment;
how slight the weight he had sustained
With grim satisfaction he had watched
the 81 gns of failing youth in her keep
pace with his own increasing infrmities.
Beyond this he had never looked until
now. She had seated herself on the
bank beside the path, insisting that he
should 90 on. He noted her painting
breath and weary attitude as she leaned
against tree, and nameless foreboding
oppressed him.
A comrade observed his depression
and approached him, addressing him
cordially, touching the scorched hole in
his sleeve, in mute recognition of its i'm
port, then lifting his hand to smooth
down the pocket lapel on the breast of
his old military coat. A paper rustlcd
in the pocket.
"Important dispatches ?" queried he,
with smile, in recognition of the ser
vice in which the old coat had been
worn.
eff they were, I'm afraid their value
would be gone" returned Sexton lightly,
idly thrusting his hands into the pockets
and ,uondarinr what relic of army DAYS