Omaha daily bee., 1899-04-09

ne ulItN q IbOlu Win W WltlA'NN 'ti''N 'N-''N
out on the high road. In one cf these win
dows he sat all day. watching for Frederick,
who had gone further UP the road.
But no Frederick appeared, and with
vague misgivings, for which as yet he had
no name. he left the window and set out on
foot for home.
1t was now dark, but a silvery gleam on
the horizon gave promise Of the speedy ris-
ing Of a full moon. Otherwise he would
not have attempted to walk over road
proverbially dark and dismal.
The uhurchyard in which they had Just
laid away Agatha lay in his course. AS ne
approached he felt his heart fail and stop
ping a moment at the stone wall that sep,
agated it from the highroad, he leaned
against the trunk of huge elm that
guarded the gate of entrance. AS he ala
so he heard a sound Of suppressed sobbinS
from some spot not very far away ani'
moved by some uudefnable Impulse
stronger than his will, he pushed open the
gate and entered the sacred precincts.
Instantly the weirdness and desolation of
tho spot struck him. He wished, yet
dreaded to advance. Something in the
grief of the mourner whose sobs he had
heard had seized upon his heartstrings, and
| yet as he hesitated the sounds came again,
and forgetting that his intrusion might not
prove altogether welcome he pressed for
ward till he came within few feet from
| tie spot from which the sobs Issued
! He had moved quietly, feeling the awe
! OF the place, and when he paused it was
with sensation of dread not to be en-
/ tirely explained by the sad and dismal sur
roundings. Dark as 1t was, he discerned the
/ outline of a form lying stretched in speech
less misery across a grave; but when i'm
PEELED by an almost Irresistible compassion
he strove to speak, his tongue Glove to the
roof of his mouth and he only drew back
/ further into the shadow.
! He had recognized the mourncr and the
grave. The mourner was Frederick and the
grave that of Agatha Webb.
A few minutes later Mr. Sutherland re-
appeared at the door of the inn and asked
| for gig and driver to take him back to
Sutherlandtown. He said, in excuse for his
! indecision that he had undertaken to
walk but had found his strength inade~
Quate to the exertion. He was looking very
| pale and trembed so that the landlorc,
! who took his order, asked him If he were
| i'll. But Mr. Sutherland insisted that he
was quite WE'LL only in a hurry, and showed
| the greatest mpatience till he was again
! started upon the road.
For the first half-mile he sat perfectly
| silent. The moon was now up, and the
| road stretched before them, flooded with
! light AS long as no one was to be seen
on this road, or on the path running beside
! it, Mr. Sutherland held himself erect his
! eyes fixed before him. in an attitude of anx-
ous inquiry. But as soon as any sound
came to break the silence or there appeared
| in the distance ahead of them the least ap-
| pearance OF a plodding wayfarer he drew
/ ~
vehicle. This happened several times.
| Then his whole manner changed. They
had just passed Frederick, walking, with
bowed head, toward Sutherlandtown.
But he was not the only person on the
road at this time. A few minutes
previously they had passed another man
walking in the same direction. AS Mr..
Sutherland unused over this he found him
self peering through the small window a,
the back of the buggy striving to catch an
other glimpse of the two men plodding be-
| hind him. He could see them both, his
sons form throwing it's long shadow over
the moonlt road followed only too closely
by that other whose unganly shape he
feared to acknowledge to himself was grow
ing only too familiar in his eyes.
| Falling into a troubled reverie, he beheld
| the we'll known houses and the great trees
under whose shadow he had grown from
youth to manhood fit by him like phan-
toms in dream. But suddenly one house
and one place drew his attention with a
force that startled him again into an erect
attitude, and seizing with one hand the arm
| OF the driver he pointed with the other at
| the door Of the cottage they were passing,
| saying in choRed tones:
''See, See Something dreadful has hap
pened since morning. That is Grape,
| Samuel, Grape, hanging from the door post
yonder!"
| Eyes, it is Grape" answered the driver,
! jumping out and running up the path to
! look. philemon must be dead; the good
p; Philemon"
Here was a fresh blow. Mr. Sutherland
bowed before it for moment, then he rose
hurriedly and stepped down into the road
beside the driver.
Get in again" said he, land drive on
Ride half-mie then come back for me-
l must see the Widow Jones'"
The driver, awed both by the occasion and
the feeling it had called up in Mr. Suther-
| land, did as he was bid and drove away
Mr.. Sutherland, with glance back at the
road he had just traversed, walked painfully
up the path to Mrs. Jones' door
| moments conversation with the woman
! who answered his summons proved the
drivers suppostion to be correct. Philemon
had passed away. He had never rallied
| from the shock he had received. He had
! joined his beloved Agatha on the day OF
her burial, and the long tragedy of their
mutual life was over
'It is a mercy that no inheritor of their
misfortune remains" quoth the good
woman, as she saw the aifiiction her It'd
ings caused in this much reyered friend.
The assent Mr. Sutherland gave was
mechanical. He was anXiously studying the
| road leading toward Portchester.
Suddenly he stepped hastily in.
"Will you be so good as to let me sit
down in your psror for a few minutes?"
he asked 81 would like to rest there for an
instant alone. This final blow has up
set me-"
The good woman bowed. Mr.. Sutherland
word was law in that town. She did not
even dare to protest against the alone which
he had so pointedIy emphasized, but left
him after making him, as she said, COM
| Portable, and went back to her duties in
| the room above.
1t was fortunate she was so amenable Ia
his wishes, for no sooner had her steps
ceased to be heard than Mr. Sutherland rose
from the easy chair in which he had been
seated, and, putting out the lamp Widow
Jones had insisted on lighting, passed