The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-04-22
The Pr0digal'S
Return.

"Yes, mother, he will come. O
course, he will como !" and tho gir
turned her drawn and anxious young
face toward the cottage door, just aS
if her blind mother could SOC the &C
tiOn.
1t is probable that the old woman
dlviLtd tho longing glance from the
change in the girls tone, for she, too
half turned toward the door. It was I;
habit these two women had acquired
They constantly looked toward tho
door for the arrival Of one who never
came through the lOGE Summer days
or through the quiet Winter evenings
moreover, they rarely spoke Of other
things; this arrival WIS tho topic OF
their lives. And now the old wOman'
life WAS drawing to Il close, AS some
lives do, without its object. She her.
self felt it, ard her daughter know it,
There was in both Of them Il subtle
sense Of clingiug. IL WIS hard to die
without touching tho reward Of /;
wondrOus patience. 1t was cruel to
deprive the girl OF this burden, for in
most burdens there is Il safeguard, in
ttll a duty, and in some the greatest
happiness allotted to human existence
Ii was no new thing, this waiting for
The scapcgrace son; the girl had grown
up to it, for she would not know her
brother should she meet him in the
street. Since sight had left tho o!d
moahcrs eyes she had fed her heart
upon this hope.
He had left them eighteen years
before in Il tit Of passionate resent.
mcnt against his father, whose only
iault had been too great an indulgence
for the son OF his old age. Nothing
had been too good for poor Stephen
hardly anything had been good
enough. Educated at Il charity school
himself, Tic simple old Clergyman
held the mistaken view that no man
can be educated above his station.
Stephen LuHch's father, having
risen by the force Of his own will and
the capabilities Of his own mind held,
as such men do, that he had only to
give his son good education to insure
even to the old PARSONS sense OF right
and wrong--Was sacrificed to the cdu-
cation Of Stephen Leach at public
school and university. Heln he met
and selected for his friends youths
whose futures were insured, aud who
were only passing through the formula
OF an education SO that no one could
say that they were unit for the snug
government appointment, living or in
hclitancC Of 4 more substantial sort
That might be waiting for them. Ste
phcn acquired their ways Of life without
possessing their advantages, and the
consequence was something very nearly
approaching ruin for the little country
rcctory. Stephen Leach had eXpen.
slVc tastes, and he unscrupulOusly
traded on his fathers ignorance. He
was good-Iooking, and had {; certain
Drlillancy Of manner which "goes
down" well vt the VARSITY. Every
thing Was against him, and at last the
end came. AZ last the rector's eyes
were opened, and when IL narrow
minded minded mans mans eyes are once opened he
usually becomes stony at heart.
Stephen Leach left England, and
before he landed in America his father
had departed on IL longer journey. The
n'cr-do-weli had tho good grace to send
Dack the little sums OF money saved by
his mother in her widowhood and
gradually his letters ceased. 1t was
known that he WAS in Chlii and thcre
was war going CD there, and yet the
good Old lady's faith never wuvcrcd.
lie will come, Joyce," she would
say, he will surely come"
And somehow it came 10 be an un-
dcrStOod thing that he was to come in
the afternoon when they were all
ready for him-Whcn Joyce had clad
her pretty young torn in 4 dark dress,
and when the old lady was up and
seated in her chair by tho fire in
winter, by the door in Summer. They
had never Imagined his arrival at
another time. 1T would not be quite
the same should he make a mistake
and come in the morning, before Joycc
had got the house put right.
Yet he never came. A greater in
trinity camc instead, and at last Joyce
suggested that the mother should not
know what this meant. but the episode
passed as others do, and Mrs. Leach
was bcariddcn. Still she said
lie will come, Joyce He will
surely como -
And the girl would go to the window
and draw aside the curtains, looking
down the quiet country road toward
the village.
"Ycs, mother, he will comc," was
nor usual answer; and one day she
gave " little exclamation Of surprise
and almost Of fcar.
" Mother" she exclaimed, "thcre is
some one coming along the road"
Ihe old lady was already sitting w
In bed, staring with her sightless Orbs
toward the window.
opposite the cottage, and tho two wo
men heard tho latch of the gato. Then
joyce, turning, saw that her mother ad
tainted. But WAS only momentary
by the time sho reached tho bed he,
mother had recovered consciousness
"Go," said the old lady, breath
lessly, "go let him in yourself"
Down stairs, on tho doorstep, the
girl found a tall man of thirty or there
abouts with q browncr faco than En-
glish suns can account for. He looked
down into her eager eyes with q strange
questioning wonder.
"A Am | too late ?" he asked in 6
voice which almost secmed to indicate
IL hope that it might be 80.
"No, Stephen" she answered. "But
mother cannot live much longer. Yor
are just in timo."
The young man madc q hesitatinp
little movement with his right hant
and shuIllud uncaEily on the clear
st0nn StpD IIe WAS an actor cal LED