The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-09-07

wv and we'll formed, with wavy
brown hair and large brown eyes and a
rich brown skin. and, a fitting sup
plement to all these charms she wore
a brown silk dress. She was not a
plain woman; ind eed some would have
counted her pretty, as she stood there
at the gate half undecided whether to
go forward or back, watching the
stranger who was coming slowly down
the lane. The stranger was tall and
broad shouldered, with gray eyes, and
gray hair and whiskers, and he wore
gray clothes with a broad brimmed
gray hat to match. He was gray
enough for sixty, and such you would
have voted MIN had you not chanced
to catch sight of his clear complexion
and almost youthful face. Then you
would have said he was not a day over
forty.
This was just what the little woman
In brown remarked to herself as she
stood there by the gate Besides it
seemed to her that there was some
thing strangely familiar abou. the big
man in gray. Away back in the past
before her life became so lonely and
sad, she had known some one of whom
the stranger reminded her. But that
was a tSA6 Willie o6o, c1Lu pSI dpS oLt
was mistaken; at second thought she
was almost certain she was. At any
rate 1t was foolish of her to stand
there staring curiously at a man she
had never seen before.
Then why did she do it?
The lane in which the big man in
road; it was private property, and be-
sides, at the further end was posted a
placard which warned the public not
to -trespass thereon. The father of
the little woman in brownw had nailed
it there the morning after the village
boys had made a raid on his peach
orchard. That was thirty years ago;
the author of the placard lay at rest
in the old churchyard, the boys who
stole his fruit now had children of
their own, but still 1t stood as a warn
ing to all passers-by. Perhaps, thought
the little woman in brown, the big
man in gray did not notice the placard
he might be a stranger who by acci-
dent had wandered from the public
road. She would show him the way to
the hotel and then go back to the
cottage.
But just then the big man in gray
came up to the gate, and raising his
hat to the little woman in brown, said
II beg pardon, can you tell me who
lives in Deacon Gllkenson's house over
yonder?''.
Deacon Gilkenson! Why. he has
been dead for years."
Eyes, I know, but what became of
his daughter, Alice? She was only a
young girl when ( went away"
"I am Alice Giikenson," said the lit
tie woman in brown, in a half inquir-
ing, half startled way.
"You are Alice Gilkenson, and you
do not remember me?" And the big
man in gray stopped down and looked
eagerly into the face OF the little wo-
man in brown.
Five minutes later they were seated
on a bench by the side Of the gate
The little woman in brown had out her
handkerchief and was crying in it
softly, while the big man In gray was
wiping his eyes suspiciously, and say
ing: "And so you have not forgotten
the old min under the hill and the
black-haired boy who used to work
there? That was 4 lcrg time ago."
ages ago," said the little woman in
brown.
But the boy did not find the work
hard or tircsome," the big man in gray
went on. Twice in each week there
was an old gentleman who came to the
mill bringing with him his little girl,
and while the grist was grinding, the
boy and the girl used to play together
and he thought her the prettiest, dear
est Creature he had ever seen, and the
days when she and her father came
to the mill were the brightest, sun
niest spots in all his life. After a time
the girl stopped coming to the mill.
She was fifteen then and the boy was
eighteen. But the old gentleman used
to ask the boy to his house for dinner
on Sunday afternoons, and after din
ner was over the old gentleman would
lie down on his sofa in the little par
or and take long nap. while the boy
and girl would talk together for hours
at a time. What they talked about
would have interested no one but
themselves. yet they were interested,