Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-08-12

wrong 70 aay SOL and even nanaGe 70
! get out his namc a. the person who
once recommended them to me. That
| proves An "open sesame" however,
Tor Mrs. Brown beams with smiles on
the instant, and begs me to walk ur
stairs, which fortunately the rooms
are vacant. and just as they was when
Mr.. Meredith was there hisself, for
times and again he'd said to me: Now,
Mrs. Brown, don't You do nothing to
these rooms; for comforbler couldn't
be, and il ever / returns to London
| it's back to them shall come and mo-
where else And, by the way, ma'am,
if so be you're friend of that dear
gentleman's, perhaps you can give me
his address. There's letter been ly-
| ing ere for him this ever SO long. It
come about six months after he left,
inclosed in note to the owner of the
'ouse, saying as whoever posted it had
dropped it into gap between the
postbox and the inside of the wall, and
there it had stuck, no one finding it
till few days before"
1 am standing there in Dicks room,
Thereon where he sat and worked and
wrote many and many letter to me
in the happy days of old; the last
room, perhaps, in which he ever ate a
meal or rested before he sailed away
from me and England together; and
yet cannot look at it. Icannot think
of it. A haze has come before my
eyes, and q numbness over my brain,
for there on the table before me lies
my letter, the very letter, blotted with
tears and soiled and crumpled with
age, which 1 posted with my own hand
two years ago, and which-ah! see
it all now, how could / think him so
hard. so unforgiving. who ought to
have known his nature better-which
he never received at all.
must be very weak, or the shock
is too great; for as Mrs. Brown leaves
the room / sit quietly down and faint
away.
1t is only for a minute, however.
The sunbeams which were shining on
pot of yellow crocuses in the window
have not moved hairs breadth; and
family on the clear cool air can still
hear the bells from some distant
church which were calling the people
to a saints day service when 1 came
in.
There is a step af the door; but
though L know it is Mrs. Brown can
not look up, or raise my head from the
hard deal table where it is, bowed.
All my long self-restraint, all my pain
full, pitiful efforts at womanly retic-
ence and bravery have broken down at
last in burst of childish grief; and
the tears so long held back break
forth in binding rain, and my face
is hidden in my hands. So it hap
pens that some one coming in sees
me before 1 see him, or can so much
as dry my eyes, and utters an excla-
nation of surprise.
81 beg your pardon" he adds very
quickly, II only came in because my
old landlady has been telling me some
thing about letter, and lady"
And there he breaks off, for 1 have
lifted my head, and as our eyes meet
there is a cry.
"CecilY! Cecily! Is it you? Oh,
my darling, my love, what good angel
brought You here to give me the sight
of you!" and somehow, somehow, in
one moment, all the pain and grief and
WEAKNESS, all the bitter bravery of
days when ''the burden laid upon me
seemed greater than L could bear" are
gone, blotted out like breath from a
glass; and there is nothing but Joy
and peace and rest, rest perfect and
serene to mind and heart and body;
for 1 am in my lovers arms, and my
tired head is drawn down upon his
breast; and 1 hear his voice, the dear,
tender voice Of old, murmuriug
prayere for forgiveness mingled with
such words of love and fondness as L
never thought would greet my ears
again on this side of the grave.
The bells have ceased to chime.
The yellow crocuses bend and shiver
before the sharp cold breeze, but we
two stand in the April sunshine, and
the light, which falls on Dicks
bronzed head and kisses the crushed
white hyacinths in my breast, is no
brighter than that which brightens
our two hearts on this the sweetest
springtide of our lives. All the Year
Round.