The broad ax., 1897-07-31

AoN PAoA1cASA uALu- Ouc oiu lNoluaa
whose son had fallen on the battle
field had cried over him In the place
OF his own mother, whose frail, thread
OF life had snapped In the tension Of
the first few months after he had gone
TO the front.
In the midst Of this tumult of pity
and sorrow he had again had a glimpse
Of Hetty, her gaze withdrawn from
him, calmly penciIing some memoranda
In a little silk-bound book that she
carried, and he had wondered II she
were making note OF some finery she
intended to wear at the next party
or church fes ival or was taking down
the date CT an engagement she had
made for q boat ride or dane, bitterly
contrasting her gay life o. pleasure
with the heavy burden Of care AMI FER
plexity that had descended upon him.
Yet few seconds later there had been
q moment, a strange, bewildering mo-
ment when she had paused before him,
looking into his eyes again with q
mute, beseeching look. striving to
speak, her trembling voice dying away
in broken utterances. One instant she
had put up her little hand to re-
arrange some tr-flng disorder in his
dress, as a loving woman might have
done for her disabled hero; in the next
she had slipped away out Of his life
fortver.
He had taken his place with his COM
rades, behind the wheezy string band
that led the procession, preceded only
by the high dignitaries Of the village
and the carriage containing the orator
of the day. Citizens were grouped on
the platform, watching the line form
while waiting for their carriages. For
the instant, the old soldiers, whose
services we're forgotten for the rest 6f
the year, were the center Of attention.
John Sexton saw Miss Mehitable
Plympton standing on the chureh
steps. He lifted his hat eourteously'
albeit somewhat awkwardly, with his
left hand, and calmly regarded her.
She was really very well-preserVed
woman for her age. but there was
wrinkle forming on her forehead, be-
tween her eyebrows, and her hair was
getting grayer on the temples. The
crows feet that had begun to show at
the corners OF her eyes three years
before were perceptibly deepening.
Thus he deliberately. remarked the
ravages Of time on her pretty face, as
he had invariably done on the rare oc-
casions when he encountered her, for
more than a score of years. Did she
note the small bald spot on his head,
or the slight limp where the rheuma-
tism had laid hold Of him, he won
dered?
John Sexton could not have told why
he made this cold-blooded examination
OF the vanishing charms Of her who
had once been his ideal Of all womaaly
worth and loneliness. 1t may have
been unconscious revenge for the man
ner in which she treated him. 1t may
have been to prove TO himself that his
heart was hardened against her. 1t
may have been the innate savagery
that turks in all men.
Marching along the weary road to
the cemetery, he recalled the rest. In
those days of his weakness and despair
others, men and women. had sought
him and endeavored to cheer him. She
had never come. When he met her at
the houses Of mutual friends she had
treated him with a rigor that had
taught him only too well the changed
relation that he, a cripple, occupied
toward her Other problems confront
ed him. He had found himself a use
less, helpless man. depending upon q
brother, and barely tolerated IN the
house by his brothers wife. He could
perform no active labor, was incapae-
itated for q trade, and had not the
means to at himself for learned pro-
fessjon. He drifted about from one
light vocation 20 another, filling each
indiferently, more and more oppressed
with q sense Of his uselessness-he, a
young, ambitious man, filed with
energy and industry that he could
find no means 20 apply. He taught
himself % write with his left hand, and
to write rapidly and wen, and the gov
eminent for which he had sacrificed so
much al length took pity on him and
gave him a place In the land ofice Of
the district. Withdrawn from society,
with few friends and no intimates. ne
led the life Of reclase- Miss Mehit-
able, on the other hand. kept pace
with the world and all good works.
Years had silenced her gfrlish gayety.
and lent her a certain gravity and Sc
verify Of demeanor that tn no wise de-
racted from the esteem in which she
was held. Sexton watched the growth
Of this tendency as dispassionately as
he had witnessed the fading OF her
youthful bloom.
"She has rounded forty now" he
said to himself soon her eyesight
win begin TO fail When she puts on
spectacles her temper win begin to