Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1899-11-30

hand that lay in mine, and knew that
some one was at her old tricks of mind
reading.
You should no; think of such
things, she insisted "but when you
do remember they are none the less real
because you dsn { see them. l think TO
hear-to feel-them Is ever so much
grander l often shut my eyes ON pur-
pose to do this =
That's not the only thing which
troubles me - rejoined almost queru-
lously Its the future-the horrible
uselessness and hopefessness of the fu-
ture
That's rather hard upon me, isn't
itT" she commented.
at would be ten times harder upon
you. | answered, ''if I-allowed you to
throw away your life ON blind man =
Listen to me, Dick. she interrupt
ed, and the words came from her calm
ly and proudly. as if from a conscious
ness Of her own strength, but not with
out the tenderness of her infinite love
and trust understand perfectly why
you speak like this, but You don't quite
know me yet. Whether you get back
your sight or not won't make any diff
ference-only perhaps I'd love You bet
ter as you are. Do you think woman
only marries man for his eyesr Is
there anything the world can give a
woman in exch"nge for her lover
There's nothing, Dick, and you know
it Didn't you tell me once that you
loved me better than your own lifer'
The girl had caught up one of my
hands and now held it between her
own. She had come so close to me that
l could feel the silky touch Of her hair
upon my temples She was very strong
in that which makes a woman woman
ly. My resolutions wavered. | should
not have been made Of flesh and blood
had l not experienced secret sense of
thankfulness in so far as l had done
that which my sense of justice demand
ed and failed to shake the girls con-
stancy.
"I'n tell you what, - l said, lin the
meantime We II leave things just as they
are. In six months or so from now you II
that time I'll either be recovering my
sight or be a hopelessly blind man.
You'll have lots of time to think over
matters before then, so that should you
have come to see things in a different
light you II be at liberty to do just as
you please, and no one will be to blame.
agreed, she cried gladly, with the
confidence of one who has no fear of the
results. and we sealed the compact in
the simplest and best of ways.
And now l will hurry over the in
evitable Parting scene. At Thursday is
land the squatter and she who had be-
come every day dearer to me transsnip-
ped into one of the a. L. S. n. boats
and went southwark Jack and
caught the hcmeward bound mail, the
Dacca, and went westward
"In six months from now Norah and
I'll be with you" said the squatter as
he wrung my hands on parting. "You
see my affairs must be arranged down
south first. Remember, if you have lost
your sight, you've won that which is
ten thousand times more precious-you
know what You've behaved like a
square man in the past, and, what
ever comes of it, I'm not going to in
terfere in the future Norah is like
what her mother was, and I'm proud Of
her. Keep your heart up, my boy. "
As to my parting with her, think it
is one of those things that it is as well
to say nothing about What can one
say? Suffice it that her last words to
me as she held my hands were. What
ever comes, have patience
And the remembrance of these blessed
words kept me patient in many of my
dark hours of trial. In spite of what
misogynists, pessimists, cynics, and all
those belonging to that sickly and short
sighted crew may say, do not think it
possible for any man to gauge to its full
ness and depth the purity of motive in
a true and noble minded woman.
The change came so gradually that at
first it was hardly noted. Then began
to fancy myself the victim of some hal
Inclination. 1t is often as difficult to
convince oneself of good news as to,
realize some terrible misfortune, strange
as it may seem. So, as at first l had
been slow to realize the fact of my lost
sight, l could now scarcely credit the
fact that it was coming back. Then
there was a trying, terrible time of
doubt, when l thought that the feeble
CLEANS of light vouchsafed me We're but
the chickering's of the dying power of
sight ere it went out forever to leave
me in a lifelong darkness. Truly,
wanted patience. No one could have
been more in need of 1t. Looking back
on those days l can see how my punish
ment was merited-for who was l to
set myself up as suffering from a special
dispensation of ProvidenceF
At first it was as if the darkness were
only little less accentuated and com
plete. Then it was as if. l looked from
some marine depths through great body
of Opaque but turgid waters and could
distinguish the sickly, greenish light
the light of day-dimly through it.
But that sickly greenish light. when l
stood in the sunlight became day by day
clearer until, at last, turning my eyes
to where the great orb Of life was,
became conscious of a food of glorious
light. But the doctor of the ship put
stop to such dangerous experiments.
The thought that the power of vision
was not altogether destroyed within me
and that 1 might yet regain it reused
such wild, tumultuous hope in my
heart that often it was as much as l
could do to control my feelings. Had it
not been for Jack and the remembrance
of those dear words of hers, Whatever
comes, have patience, think at times
some Of the passengers might have
thought was losing my reason in ad-
dition to having lost my sight.
CHAPTER XIII
DAWN