People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1894-01-12
[CHAPTER V-CoyTIyUED.I


again all the barred secrets of the sea.
Not ripple disturbed the water, and,
save when languid wave broke on
the rocks, not sound disturbed her
dreams Of the pleasures before her.
Judge Gearing was very silent on his
way back to the cottage. At the door
he babe his wife and her son to 90 in;
he would take little walk along the
shore and do some thinking. lie had
had only mOmentsry glance at the
face of this young girl who in some
curious fashion spoke with his dead
wife's voice. What strange repetition
OF nature was it that caused two voices
to be so alike? The face suggested
nothing. He had only seen the girl in
the excitement of the rescue, and there
was nothing in it TO suggest the least
relation, except perhaps the color of
the hair and eyes, between features
and voice-betwecn the living and the
dead
Would it be treason to his present
wife to take this girl, whose every
tone was such an echo 'of voice that
was still, " to his house, even for
visit? Would not the child continually
remind him of the wound in his heart?
No. She was stranger, to whom they
were all deeply indebted, and the
mere accident of her voice would not
draw him from the love and respect of
the woman who was his welded wife.
As for young Mr.. Royal YardsticlIic,
he was entirely coutenteI with the
events Of the night. The girl was to.
go home with them for Il visit of two
or three weeks. In her presence nc
would every day find amusement, and
perhaps an incentive to better life.
IF l could marry girl like that I'd
he all right. Sorry the old man
at the light wouldn't let her stay
more than three weeks. It don't
matter much. l can do a good deal in
that time, if | lay myself out to do it.
Curse that Julie! I'm glad she's taken
herself off. 1t was all the little fool
coald do; and don't want 10 sec her
again as long as live"
Then he slept the sleep of the un-
just and was contention the time.
Aboutthe cottage also rose in stealth
and silence tn tide, hiding the black.
blank spaces where crawl low, strange
things born among dank weeds and
the bones of dead creatures. So in the
young mans life rose the tide of sel-
tishness, hiding the past. He was con.
tent, forgetting that planets turn and
that there is an cb6 to every flood.
And the morrow was fair and calm.
beautiful on sea and land.
At . o'clock there was the usual
gathering to see the afternoon boat for
New London depart. Breeze Johnson
was there with his daughter. sur
rounded by friends and neighbors
offering congratulations on Mails
heroic rescue and loud in praise of the
Judge for inviting her to visit his city
home. Village rumor hadit that Judge
Gearings city house was a palace on
Fifth avenue, riyalling in splendor the
Stewart mansion. Tho barge Fairy
Queen drove down with much wooden
thunder over the planks Of the wharf,
and the Judge and wife and son ap-
peared. There were. pleasant greet
ings, hurried hand-shakings as the
bell Of the boat rang for departure, and
then Mai Johnson found herself alone
with her new friends ON the boat, with
her father on the dock, surrounded by
the friends of her youth, slowly NOV
ing as it were away from her. There
were fluttering handkerchiefS, even a
parting cheer, and then, it seemed
scarcely a moment later, the boat
swept by the two-fathom buoy, black
and silent on the sea.
She saw the light, the olive-green
woods, The white sand-hills, fading in
the distance. She saw the water widen.
ing between the boat and the shore.
If there was a tinge of regret it was
dispciled by hope of speedy return.
The Judge had found comfortable
seats for his wife and visitor on the
upper deck, and the trip seemed to
open most pleasantly. The Judge was
quietly attentive to her every wish,
and seemed to like being with her. His
manner was respectful and yet cordial:
and his wife, in a different way, was
even more gracious and pleasant. In a
certain way Mai Johnson recoc-
nized that the Judge was gentleman
and treated her as a lady, and that she
could and did accept the implied com.
pliment, 1t seemed, and she felt il
with little pang of remorse, as if in
some way she were more like these
new friends than like her father. She
felt it would not be difficult to be a
lady among ladies-that she was a
lady-quite as much a lady as this
Judges wife-and that she could hold
her own in the society to which she
was going.
An hour passed quickly and pleas.
antly, and they began to approach
Fishers Island. The Connecticut
shore came into palmer view. He,
new life of travel and pleasure wa.
about to begin. They would probably
godirect'to New York, and would reach
there late that night or early the mex
morning, She had even begun to won.
der whether they would oo h1- Yo;l .,