Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1895-08-22
animation and said, for his part, no

$1,000 '''"s ~ " 90 ''' 80
out across the gray, breathlnE' hitting
2NpanS'' ut the fading crimson IN the
west; ana hl'Ie Ia''r IhcN turn'l
back Nben th'y reached th2 1oot OF
the garden ana ne hcIpeu Mary out'
Donald heId h'r mana nara IN MS
moment
on IL mlnG What 1 saio aoouo
mothcr' won YOU AhuLauu you
won go OacN on me nary
she looked hlm straight IN the eyes.
ana her Up qnlVcred. axe care OF
YOURSELF Don she 1aI''red' hut lie
only laughcd' because ne was 100 happy
TO answer her SGrIouS' "
49, nl'SN YOU j" NV 'usd a. ''i 9''''
nv" "c '"'' "'' nv "0ulu C'l''V IT"
fi'cF supper ana t"c| No"l" 10 ~
prayer lhcVuA8'
IL You uoH forget IT, she 'ol" H'lii'
'arCaS.ica "
wen tha' So ne ackhoWIcd%ed,
lunpIT enough u must say IN good
AT forget ing bnt m coming, JUS
Ihc same
CHAPTUR II.
The day after the big thrce-master.
the river. Mary drove down to Mrs.
Hayes with her little cowslsin trunk
strappcd into the back Of the buggy.
IN STAY week" She told her ia
ther. But at the end of week Don
AIDS mother was i'll, and somehow the
week heightened into a month. And
then Mrs Hayes said she felt the lone
illness more than usual. and If Mary
qrouH stav?-.'iust a week or two
longer" She pleaded. A week or two
meant a month or two; and after that.
well. Donald was coming home the
middle of December, so what was
the use Of leaving his mother?
.Shc's not fit 70 be alone" Mary told
her own mother. That was how If,
happened that when the dark Decem-
Der DAYS began to close in around the
little gray house. that chung so close to
the shore. Mary was on hand to fix the
glass at the west window of the kitchen.
so that the old mother might sweep tho
horizon for a sign OF the Samuel p.
Jones soils.
Il don't expect him on time, child"
She would tell the girl, but by Christ
mas day sure" and then they would
smile at each other.
The months of whiting had not been
anxious ones: there had been no heavy
storm, along the coast. and that
was somehow an assurance that there
had been no heavy storms anywhere
else. But Christmas dav came and
went: and the old wear slipped into the
new, and the Samuel p. Jones had not
come. Examinations and excuses null
tiplied; declarations that all was well
grew more insistent; instance. Of DELAY
were repeated over and over: but il
was the first of February before news
came.
Wrecked Off the Azores; il was feared
all hands were lost.
"Feared;" not known. That was
what Mrs. HAYES and Mary said to each
other Eyervbody knew n dozen in
stances of sailors picked m in omen
boats: of desert islands: of drifting
RATS No. flle idea that Dor was dcad
could MOI he accented: thcro are some
peoDle one cannot associat, with dcoth.
ii is not appropriatc. So Don's mother
and sweetheart held on to homo
Those awful. breathlcss dgvs Of dc.
sp3ir. and rcfusiufr to despDir. and then
do,noil. were filled 70 NIor,. vii u
intense and immediate anxiety about
Donald's mother. Mrs Havcs was Very
fail at hest and II seemed ne il mi.
must XIII her; indeed, if Mary had not
kept On hoping fot her, she must have
died. But little by littlc She came bacl;
to life, and TO the acceptance of the
fact that Don was dead: and then one
day. six months later. hope sprang
again into sudden v;gor and certainty;
sailor in Plymouth. who had known
him, was told by man who had lust
come in in a merchant Indiaman. that
he had seen Donald HAYES in the street
in Calcutta. He had not spoken to him.
for he had lost SIGHT of him again. but
he had scon. him. Through one mouth
and another this news came to Seaport.
and was brought down TO the gray
house on the rocks. Mary used to say
afterwards that when she heard it il
seemed to her that she should die OF
iov. Then came the waiting for the