The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-12-02
Through The Wire.

Little Miss Myers was seated al q sewing
machine working over a dress. Mrs. Runkie
AMI her daughters had gone on TO see a
military parade, and she had time 20 cream
~ the past.
She was Southern girl whose family
hal been ruined during the war. II had
also deprived her of her lover, Henry Dean.
whom she mad not seen in years
In the midst OF her reverie there was
call at the telephone. and being alone IL
the house she went to answer 1t.
The voice was a mans. WHO are you?"
she asked.
Henry Dean. Is that you, Aunt Jane?
I'm down al the depot Start for Balt-
more in ten inmates, and thought Ia say
How do you do and good-by.' Have found
another clew. Pray heaven it may lead
to something. Have you any message for
the Carrolls?"
There was a pause while Miss Myers
stood there at the instrument. clutching
the ear piece II ii haG been rope that
was to save her from drowning. BY
supreme effcr: of viii she had recovered
from the shock the mention of that name
had given her, and now her brain was reel
ing with doubt, uncertainty, and longing.
what ought she to do? Should she reply
and tell who she really was or not? 1t
was evident that there was something
wrong with the wires, and that Mr.. Dean
imagined himself To be talking to his aunt.
What claim had the little Miss Myers" on
him now, after ali these years? Very Exc
" he was happily married, and therefore
was 1t not Miss Myers plain and simple
duty to say that she was not Aunt Jane"
and then go back to her work? At this
instant a peculiar clicking in the instru-
ment warned her that the wire might be
switched off at any moment and her cp-
portun:ty be lost.
Harry" she called out softly.
It was the name he had asked her to
give him twenty years ago. and now It
came to her lips and passed from them
into the instrument almost before she real
lied II was spoken.
Agnes, is it you? Where are you? Street
and number instantly before the connec-
ton
She heard no more, but with gasp cali
ed out the Runkles' address, then flung UP
the ear piece and dropped into her chair
with face as white snow. Yet even
now the instinct to work was strong within
her, and not many minutes had elapsed be-
fore Gler feet were again on the treadle
and the whirr Of the machine once more
filled the room. Now, however, its accom-
panying rythm in her brain was not all
in the past tense, for Ibid he hear me?
VIII he Gomez" kept up its ceaseless throb
till II seemed as if the words must be
stitched to every seam of the shirt she
was making.
But as the time went by the little dress
maker tried to prepare her heart for the
disappointment.
Il may have dreamed it all while listen
ing TO the playing Of Marching Through
Georgia so many blocks away she said
to herself. IT'S twenty years since We
parted, and he was 20 then and 1 1e. Alb
sence, they say, is the tomb of love, and
though, of course, with me- Here Mss
Myers sprang up with the second little
scream she had given that morning
Il must open il myself There's no.
body else" And she hurried out to the
stair. Il dare say it's only the milliners
boy with Miss Helen's bonnet"
But was 1t for the sake of the milliners
boy that little Miss Myers paused to give
her hair smoothing before the hatrack
mirror in the hall? And surely no MILL
ner's boy was ever so received on his bus
mess rounds as this one when the door
was opened and closed-nobody remember
ed how or by whom-on a tableau that
would have delighted the soul Of gossipy
Miss Rickett over the way could she have
seen 1t.
Yes it was Harry" 20 years older. to
be sure, but handsomer, IL possible, than
ever, with not a gray hair in his head nor
wrinkle on his face, and with such a
passion of love in his deep blue eyes that
little Miss Myers was fain to hide her own
from the dazzle of it and nestle close in
those strong, protecting arms.
And have you really been looking for
civ, raI
"Yes, ever since / came back from Eu-
rope, ten years ago." was the reply Il was
sent there by the doctors to recover from
the effects of wound and 1 wrote you
nearly a dozen letters then. ! knew,
though, 1t was only because you never
received them that they were not answer
ed. But when 1 came back and found all
traces of you lost 1 sometimes thought you
had hidden yourself purposely, because
because L had done my duty to my coun-
try. Yet / never abandoned the resolve
to find you and have the truth from your
own lips, and now, thanks to the gale,
have done so, and learned how blessedly
l was mistaken"
THE gale." repeated Agnes questioning
ly, and then he goes on to explain how the
wind entangled the telephone wires, and
that 1t was by the merest chance they had
been enabled to speak to one another.
And 1 have interrupted your trip says
Agnes few minutes later, looking up,
with smile.
Not for long" responds, he, adding,
land when ii Is resumed IL must be we'd
ding journey.'-Exchange.