The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-03-02
THROUGH THE WIRE.

A166lo MISS myers was S6a5eQ at sew
ing machine working over a dress. Mrs.
Runkle and her daughters had gone off to
see a military parade, and she had time to
dream of the past.
She was southern girl whose family
had been ruined during the war. 1t had
also deprived her of her lover, Henry
Dean, whom she had not see n in years.
In the midst of her reverie there was
call at the telephone, and being alone in
the house she went to answer it.
The voice was mans. ''Who are you:"
she asked
Henry Dean. Is that you, Aunt Jane?
I'm down at the depot. Start for Balti-
more in ten minutes and thought I'd say,
How do you do ano goodby.' Have found
another clew. Pray heaven it may lead to
something. Have you any message for the
Carrolls?''
There was a pause while Miss Myers
stood there at the instrument clutching
the ear piece as if it had been a rope that
was to save her from drowning. By su-
preme effort of will she had recovered
from the shock the mention of that name
had given her, and now her brain was
reeling with doubt, uncertainty and long
ing. What ought she to do? Should she
reply and tell who she really was or not?
1t was evident that there was something
wrong with the wires, and that Mr.. Dean
imagined himself to be talking to his
aunt. What claim had the little Miss
Myers on him now, after all these years?
Very likely he was happily married, and
therefore was it not Miss Myers plain and
simple duty to say that she was not Aunt
Jane and then go back to her work? AT
this instant a peculiar clicking in the in
strument warned her that the wire might
be switched off at any moment and her
opportunity be lost.
III arry,'' she called out softly.
It was the name he had asked her to
give him 20 years ago, and now it came to
her lips and passed from them into the
instrument almost before she realized it
was spoken.
"A gnes, is it you? Where are your
Street and number instantly before the
Connection
She heard no more, but with a gasp
called out the Runkels' address, then flung
up the earpiece and dropped into her chair
with face as white as snow. Yet even
now the instinct to work was strong with
in her, and not many minutes had elapsed
before her feet were again on the treadle
and the whir of the machine once more
filed the room. Now, however, its accom-
panying rhythm in her brain was not all
Will he Gomez; kept up it's ceaseless throh
till it seemed as if the words must be
stitched to every seam of the shirt she was
making.
But as the time went by the little dress
maker tried to prepare her heart for the
disappointment
Il may have dreamed it all while listen
ing to the playing of Marching Through
Georgia so many blocks away" she said
to herself. Its 20 years since we parted,
and he was 90 then and 1 16. Absence,
they say, is the tomb of love, and though,
of course, with mel Here Miss Myers
sprang up with the second little scream
she had given that morning.
This time, however, it was not the tele
phone, but the front door bell that had
startled her.
Il must open it myself. There's nobody
else And she hurried out to the stair
Il dare say it's only the milliner's boy
with Miss Helen's bonnet
But was it for the sake of the milliner's
boy that little Miss Myers paused to give
her hair smoothing before the hatracE
mirror in the hall? And surely no mil
liners boy was ever so received on his
business rounds as this one when the dOOl
was opened and closed-nobody remem
bered how or by whom-on tableau thai
would have delighted the soul of gossipy
Miss Rickett over the way could she but
have seen it.
Yes, it was Harry, " 90 years older, tt
be suro, but handsomer, if possible, thar
ever, with not gray hair in his head mol
a wrinkle on his face, and with such pas
sion of love in his deep blue eyes that lit
tie Miss Myers was fain to hide her owr
! from the dazzle of it and nestle close IL
those strong, protecting arms.
! "And have you really been looking fol
| me ever sincef' asks Agnes presently.
Yes, ever since 1 came back from Eu
rope, ten years ago. is the reply. II wa:
| sent there by the doctors to recover from
| the effects of a wound, and I wrote yoU
nearly a dozen letters then. I knew
though, it was only because you never re
ceived them that they were not answered
| But when I came back and found all traces
| of you lost I sometimes thought you hac
hidden yourself purposely, because-be
cause l had done my duty to my country
Yet 1 never abandoned the resolve to fine
you and have the truth from your OWL
! lips, and now, thanks to the gale, I have
done so and learned how blessedly I wa:
mistaken
1.-The galer' repeats Agnes questioning
| ~, and then he goes on to explain how thu
wind entangled the telephone wires, ant
| that it was by the merest chance they hai
been enabled to speak to one another.
''And l have interrupted your trip, ,
says Agnes few moments later, looking
up, with a smile.
mot for long" responds he, adding
'and when it is resumed it must be {
wedding journey. New York Journal.
Soldiers Poor Cooks.
In those Crimean days our soldiers hat