The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-06-14

| caused her SO much trouble. At all
| events she followed May into the ante
room and said to her, in voice which
| sounded unlike her own: You MAJ
| leave my mail alone after this. You
should have known better than to take
| it on Saturday." Then relenting as
she looked at the pale, grieved face,
she added, more gently: you are too
young anyway, l know you didn't
mean any harm, butt made such
| difference
Miss Dorian opened the letter, and
as she read tears came into her eyes
and dropped on its pages 1t told her,
of course, when and where Mr.. Allen
had wished her to meet him on Satur-
day.
Hes gone, and he'll wonder why /
didn't come" she said to herself. May
watched her in silence. When the
| teacher told her that she could not get
the mail any more she felt that moth
ing worse could happen-the pride of
her life was gone: but the words:
You are too young, anyway" added a
sting which was sharper at the
CllOuRIlI VI ANNA. anu now MI
Dorian was crying! 1t was more than
May could bear to see. Quietly she
went back to the schoolroom and sat
down in her place. The children
looked at her and whispered to each
other. And Anna shall not try to
give words to the passion of resent
ment against Anna which added to
poor Mays misery. But she did not
cry. The teachers tears seemed to
have awed hers away. Some thing
dreadful must have happened be-
cause she took the letter-if she
could only run away somewhere. was
her thought.
Just as the clock struck the noon
hour there was step outside the door
and some one entered. Miss Dorian
started and gave a little cry as Mr..
Allen walked quickly through the room
and came to her. May heard the
teacher say: II never got the letter
until this morning." but she did not
hear Mr.. Allen answer: 1T is just as
well, for you would have had your trip
for nothing" If she had heard it
might have made no difference; for
when May saw Mr.. Allen come in. an
unreasoning fright took possession of
her. He seemed to have appeared as
an awful judge coming to avenge some
dreadful thing which she had done. and
her only thought was fight. Miss
Dorian's words, Il never got the letter
until this morning." confirmed her
fears that they were talking about her.
AS some of the children were going
out to play May left the room unob-
served If she had glanced back she
would have seen that the teacher and
her friend were laughing together and
seemed very happy, or if they had no.
ticed the little girl going away Miss
Dorian would certainly have called her
back TO make sure she grieved no more
over the letter. Indeed, j. was hardly
five minutes after May had disappeared
that Miss Dorian said: The poor lit
tie thing felt badly, and fear | was
harsh with her because felt so badly.
| shall ask her to forgive me and to go
for my mail now. to show her | do
trust her as much as ever" But May
could not be found. and when Anna
came up and said, very pleasantly: Il
am going for your letters now, Miss
Dorian the teacher answered: NO,
Anna, please do not trouble yourself"
so coldly that Mr.. Allen looked at her
in surprise.
When May did not return to school
for the afternoon session the teacher
felt somewhat uneasy, and wished to
send to the child's home to see if she
was there; but Mr.. Allen said: ''Oh.
don't worry. She just ran home be-
cause she didn't like to see me after
got her into trouble. Wen call on
her after school and make friends
But when Miss Dorian and Mr.. Allen
went to Mays house they found that
the little girl had not been there since
she started for school in the morning.
Then the teacher went in to stay with
the now distracted mother, while Mr..
Allen hurried away to tell Mr.. West,
who was blowing in field near the
house. of his daughters disappearance.
While her friends were thus looking
for her and distressing themselves be-
yond measure with vague fears of harm
and danger, foolish, frightened May
was finding out what the world was
like away from home. When, without
being noticed by anyone, she had
slipped out of the yard at recess and
run down the road a fear lest some one
in the village should detain or take her
home had turned her aside into path
which wound through woods and fields
and led out at last into a lonely, unfa
miliar road. Hardly noticing her sur
roundings May trudged on, often near
ly mired in some muddy places, often
stopping to rest, until, after two or
three hours wandering, she found her
self at railroad track. A little fur
ther on was a small station with few
houses clustered around, and May, be-
ginning to feel lonely, perhaps, went
on toward the little depot. train
was just drawing in as she reached the
platform, and several people came out
of the waiting-room. Here was just
what was needed-a train to take her
far, far away. With the other passen-
gers she mounted the steps and took a
seat; and as she sped into an unknown
country the heart of our little traveller
gave a leap of mingled eXultation and
fright, then sank down, down, with a
weight of loneliness. She turned her
face to the window and watched the