The Van Buren press., 1896-07-25
THE WANDERER.

Oh Dlue-Dlack clouds hung over the
sunset, The wind walled and died, and
died and walled. In the roadway rusty
leaves leaped suddenly to the air, ed
died and swirled, stroye to unite with
the tree that had cast them, shivered in
the dyke. In the fringe of the cloud
there was star.
style had been fixed at the turning
of the road. 1t had three bars and
step to cross by On either side the
hedge grew thickly; and there also two
trees, like guardians, gaunt in the hor-
rid tight. So the stile was picturesque.
But it had its uses. On the further
side there stretched path across the
meadow; it led to the old house that
had stood among the beech trees for
generations. From the stile you could
see the turrets above the tree tops.
The inheritor of the name of Dalrym-
pie, the squire, lived there. If you
followed the road, you could also come
to the hall, and enter by the great gate.
But the pathway was nearer by far.
On the side of the pathway, in the
angle where it joined the stile, there
lay pond. In the district whereabouts
it was looked on as place of i'll omen,
and back to time out of mind the
children of Dalrymple had passed it at
nightfall with speedy steps and eyes
aslant. Yet not to folk learned in lore,
but to the weirdness of the place itself,
should you go for the reason. The
trees grew close to the margin and met
overhead, save only the center, where
the banks were widest If a stranger
should take stone and hurl it to that
point he would get in return tone so
deep and resonant as well might make
him wonder How the trunks creaked
and whined, and the wind whistled in
the branches. And the shadows were
black on the pond.
A man was seated on the stile. His
back was to the road, and his eyes were
fixed upon the turret tops above the
trees. He had come upon journey;
you could tell it from his boots. He
was hungry; you could tell it from his
eyes. Such man, indeed, as one would
pass upon the further side of the road,
end be glad to get rid of toward even
ing. What hangs to feet one vaguely
calls "boots;" with him it was scraps
of leather. And how thin he was!
! Through the rents of his garments
there peeped out angles so sharp that
ahe coolest, if he saw them, could
scarcely withhold his pity. At the
points they were laeerated by thorns,
but the blood had CONCEALED and lay
matted thickly with the dust of travel.
Ills hands were like claws. Long,
sinewy, toil-stained, they protruded
shamefully from his rags, and clutch
ing the rail upon either side, kept him
fixed on his narrow perch.
There is penury that chills the
blood. 1t was in the face of that man.
Coarse, tangled, thiclIly clotted with
! dust, his hair hung loose and rank upon
his shoulders. A scanty growth of UNI
kempt beard, streaked and tinged with
gray. bristled from the lower portions
Of his face, as weeds grow sparsely on
the arid soil. His cheeks were so hol-
low that the bones above stuck out like
the knuckles on a mans clenched fist
The color Of his skin had come, through
time and sameness of treatment, to ac-
cord with the dull, coarse brown of his
hair and his clothes. His eyes, luster-
less, deep sunk in the sockets, stained
at the margins with blood, weary, wild
gazed at the turrets of the hall.
have seen such look upon the face of a
starving dog.
The wind walled in the branches, and
the clouds massed in the west, but thu
man sat still upon the stile. But when
those who were hurrying from the
storm came by, he moved to let them
pass, yet ever he dropped upon the side
that was furthest from the hall. Such
as were women eyed him askance, and
such as were men with wonder. But
not soul passed him a salutation. Sc
the man remained, and the birds cried
out for the storm. Then two maids re
turning to the hall came to the stilc
end tossed their heads, resenting that
he should soil with his clothes the raj
which their skirts must touch.
Yet the stile was his own. Nor tn,
stile alone; but the grass at his feet
ana the great house at the end of thf
pathway, and the broad acres that
pressed it round. There was warmth
and good cheer at the house. Still tho
man moved not. Had the journey beer
long, and did he linger to rest at the
stile? Or did he wait there for som(
one who tarried?
Then there came the prattle of chill
dren's voices in the road They babblet
merrily as their nurse pressed them OF
from the storm. And they passed thu
man by. Then their voices ceased, ant
their feet sped faster still, and many ;
frightened glance they cast behint
them as they walked, and hurried
again. So they needed not the pond
But the man watched them wondering
ly. And he saw laborer approach
along the pathway, returning from his
work. The pipe he smoked glowed
warmly, and the man shivered. Blu
at the stile he spoke to the laborer; ant
his voice was hoarse, as one that is sci
dom used.
What children are those?' he asked
The workingman stopped abrupt!
and looked at the man in surprise. HI
wondered at the questioner, l doub
not, and, may be, he wondered at TIT
question.
"Them?" he said, at last, in strong
broad accent. "Them's the squire
BARNS"
But / thought that the squire was
81 man 81