The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1896-09-19
A WEDDING DAY.
BY MARY T. EARLE

ulAISH vi JUS VI Sllht4 ~ pltSS0llll I
and through the woods where brown
pine-needles carpeted it, up to the Hill
dreth garden. The crape-myrtles stood
stiff as scntinels beside the gate, but
the walk led up between its borders
in confident welcome TO a blank open
space, all gray and p~owdery, as if it
lad never seen the sunlight or felt moist
ure. The girl stood breathless, gazing at
il. The last of the spring roses scat
tered their petals iavishly around the
beds. and added their fragrance to the
sweetness of the cape jasmine and the
tiny fluffy balls of the a~cacias, but the
IIildreth house was gone. The holly
hooks ard the high shrubs seemed to
be lifting themselves on tiptoe TO look
down at the scar where it had been.
The breeze sighed n little through the
great live-oak which had spent wears
in spreading wide and generous TO shade
the whole south gallery, and the mock
ing birds fitted in and out of its
branches with that swift spreading Of
their wings for fight which makes the
white bars in them always a revelation.
After she had seen these things with
widening eyes. the girls hand went up
to her throat, and she gave 4 little sob.
rs everything to change?" she asked,
half brokcnIy. Something in her mood
stood between her and natural sur
prise. She felt as if she had been pre-
pared 10 find the place ike this, but the
tears rose in her Eyes as she looked, for
each familiar beauty of il was some
thing bercaved. She opened the gate
and walked between the rose bushes
toward the spot where the house had
been. but when she reached it she
turned away. She threaded all the
IOwery paths, and each seemed to hold
something which she must turn away
from. too: but when she stood by the
acacia tree she put out her hand and
touched il timidly. Soon, rs it did not
forbid her. she lifted her hand, drew
down a branch. and picked just one of
the tiny yellow tufts which breathe all
the swectneSsof the test daysofloye
held it against her cheek for 4 moment,
and then. with trembling fingers, hid il
in the dark braids of her hair.
\ faint ''yo-heave-o." like the sailors
hauling up an anchor, was waited
through the garden, and the girl raised
her face and looked about her dosoIatc-
~. Tar down Live Oak lane. between
the rounded trees. she saw the Hill
dreth house. 1t seemed TO have picked
up its doorsteps and started out across
the village: there was an excited CLEAN
in its windows. and the sunlight, fall
Eng more freely on its roof than it ever
mad done in the garden. gave it the
look of some tenderlv shielded old per
son that has stolen bareheadcd away
from loving children, who do not re-
member that age has lis rcst!cssness.
The girl could notice nOw that d way
had been cleared for the house to travel
backward out of the garden. leaving the
flowers ~courtcously, as if they were i
ROYAL presence. and she followed in its
path through the opened panel of fence
and on into the lane, where the blue
simmer of the gulf ended tie vistas Of
light on either side Of the house. She
walked eagerly, and her face dimpled
into smiles, yet even as she smiled she
put her hand up 10 her hair. anI the
depths OF her eyes still kept their sor-
row. Il don't see how Mrs. NIildreth
could leave her flowers" she saIG oncc.
with q sigh.
\ band of creole workmcn wer" pry-
ing the house along or its clumsy roll
crs, and shouting and singing resonant
" AT each slow forward lurch. Their
voices had the sweetness Of a summer
land and knowledge Of the sea. and they
worked at ~leisur" and gracefully, their
red or blue shirts shining out against
the greenery which still clung to tn"
Hildrcth house, for it had not laid aside
its vines. but was CARRYING their root.
l~aintily clear of the ground in baskets.
lust as another dear old fugitive might
lift her skirts.
\ woman with rOsy checks and
smooth brown hair vas sitting ny the
window, and as the girl approached she
reached down to help her take the long
step from the road TO the dOor-sill.
Connie Bainbridge." she said, Il dom
know of anyone | would rather have
come walking in like this TO act as
bridesmaid or my wedding day" and she
drew her visitor into a Dom that was
Startlingly unchanged except for the
glory of flowers with which the garden
had said good-by. 1t was hard to re-
member that in the garden they had not
been missed at all.
The girl sank into a chair and looked
about her YEARLY. \ long string OF
gulls eggs, creamy and softly tie"ked.
hung near her on the wall. She o
hold of them as she so often had before.
and PASSED them through her fingers
like a rosary. Your wedding day."
She said.
anniversary. of course. | mean"
Mrs. Hildreth answered, looking out
through a window that gave a glimpse
Of the beckoning sea. She smiled mus
ingly rs she looked. There was always
something OF generous content abOu-
her. as if life grew swecter and broader
with the afternoon sun: and Connie
cambridge remembered that when the
house had stood in its garden she herself
had never lifted the gate latch and
walked in between the roses without
leaving every care behind. But now her
heart had learned a different way. She
took down the great rosary so that she