The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1898-05-13
feel a dawning ioy?

/
III be down in a moment" be said.
He walked up and down the room rap
idly several times. 1t was their anni-
versary. He had remembered and kept
1t so rigidly. 1t was barely possible it
had come over her as stroDgly-the hap
/ piness they were missing from their
lives, the incompleteness of their vapid
/ present-and perhaps she had come to
him. He was almost running down the
stairs in his eagerness. He held back
/ the portieres, and there she stood before
the fire-straight, tense, her slimness
accentuated by her velvet coat, the
whiteness and delicacy of her face
starting out exquisitely from the laces
/ at her throat and from under the big
, black hat. AS he approached her he no.
ticed the nervous tapping of her foot in
the fur of the rug, the tense pressure
of her clasped hands Was it a dream
Alice in her home again, a years mis-
cry cancelled in a moment? He held out
both hands and noticed her eyes in the
mirror they were facing as he said:
"And have you come to me again,
Alice?'
She started visibly and then slowly
turned.
eyes, she answered quietly. I've
come TO you. And you mustn't fail
me-, " she added beseechingly.
Wont you sit down." Witherspoon
asked. She was trembling.
THANK you, she said, and she sat
on low stool, and the man noticed
with a sinking of the heart how she
/ drew her little cloak about her, the
thumbs of the clasped hands turned up
and back. How he TT GFmbered!
81 must come TO the root of the mat
ter at once" the girl began, and grad
ually her voice grew fierce and she look
ed him full in the face with her wide,
sad eyes. He noticed, with almost a
feeling of exultatiOn, that her face was
now the face of the woman who had
! lived and suffered.
"You haven't heard from my father
for some time, have you?' she began.
"No," Witherspoon answered. "It
must be some weeks now."
81 received a telegram this after
noon," the woman went on quietly.
"He arrived in New York this morning
and will be in Cincinnati tomorrow.
He is bound for California, and he
will, on his way, stop in town with
-, his son and daughter.
Her voice had broken. Witherspoon
rose TO his feet and walked to the win
dow. The silence was painful.
"And what will you do?" he said, at
last, turning to her.
There's only one thing to do, ;" and
the girls voice was determined. "My
father has very little longer to live.
He's not had much but disappointment
in his life. and, cost what it may, can
not bring more sorrow to him. You
know how the CHASTITY thing would
shock his old time conventiOnality. F"
She hesitated and seemed to look TO the
man for his help in thought or deed,
| but his fear Of her scorn kept him
silent. At last taking a deep breath,
she went on:
Tomorrow morning must send here
the few things took away. The por-
traits, my piano, my work-they' re cas-
lily put in place and will be as easily NOV
ed away again. I'm sorry to so inconven-
J fence you, but you must see it is un-
avoidable." She stopped again and
looked into the fire. my room," she
asked, sis it much changed?"
The man was kneeling beside her
now, his arms about her. Sweetheart
sweetheart" he almost moaned, "stay
with me, beg of you to stay with me
My life's been a misery since you We
not been-everything is fat and with
out flavor. We've taken year out of
the radiance that is given to man but
sparingly. Don't let's throw away an
other moment of it. love you-oh,
God, how love you"
His head was buried in her lap, and
slowly she took off her long glove and
stroked the hair she remembered so
well.
care you perfectly sure you want
me?" she asked softly.
And so it happened that on the second
anniversary of their wedding Mr.. and
Mrs. George Witherspoon were seen
by party of gay young friends taking
dinner at the st. Nicholas. "Gad!" as
one Of the men said later. "They were
like two children off on lark, and
aren't they quite the best looking couple
in Cincinnati?"-C Post.
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