The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1899-09-07
name of the Lard"

| to Elijah, and the residence of Ethni
| Harman took a reflected glory from
the fact that it was but stones throw
| from that of her sultan.
! 1t was g wet summer, and there came
| four wet Sundays, one after the other.
| Vainly did Dorcas try to fix her mind
on the streets of jasper, while all the
time she was straining her ears for the
sound of the little voice that never
chimed into the stiffness. Shesgrew
to hate the patter of the rain on the
path outside; even the fact that the
canal, for once, was full, and three
barges passed in one week, did not con-
sole her. The gingerbread animals
grew stale and crumbly between two
plates, and the gorgeous mug: "A Pres
ent from Fairford," was put back on the
top shelf of the dresser again.
| The weather changed, and there came
a lovely Sunday. Elijah set off to the
Scat and Compasses" as usual; Dorcas
BUSTED about with pleasant sense of
expectation and went and stood on the
towing path. her eyes fixed on the
distant bridge. Some boys went by TO
battle beyond the second bend, with
laughter and shouting. Then the only
sound was the hum of bees settled on
the purple scahlous growing atop the
crumbling cottcswold wall.
On Monday Dorcas could bear it NO
longer. 'I be that tewey and narvous,
l don't know what l be about" she re-
Z Il . - La
Blue house and hid the key under the
mat Should barge come-well, it
must manage somehow. Barges were
never in a hurry. She had come to a
momentous decision. She was going
to inquire after "her little gentleman"
Whether he was i'll or gone for a holi-
day, or was merely forgetful, she would
find out and end this dreadful suspense.
She was very supplemented woman,
but in her heart of hearts she felt
little sore with the grand vizier, for
she had q notion that he was by no
means ignorant of what these Sunday
visits meant to her.
81 believe ed ave come afore this
if ed "a been let. "A be that meek
'earted "a wouldn't 'urt vlo, let alone
'oman," she said to herself with
half sob. She was convinced that her
sultan could not forget so utterly the
humblest of his slaves. So she put
on her best clothes sad tight elastic
sided boots, with lots Of little white but
tons adorning the fronts.
At the Blue house, Dorcas was never
either self-conscous or shy; but when
she reached her sultan's palace, having
timidly pushed open the drive gate, she
became aware that the new boots
creaked horribly, and that perspiration
was dropping from her eyebrows into
her eyes. Having mopped her face,
and generally pulled herself together,
she managed to reach the front door,
though her knees trembled and her
heart fluttered like a Gagged bird.
Never was such noisy bell! 1t
changed and echoed in most alarming
fashion; she wished that the stone
steps would open and swallow her up
What would they think of her for dar-
ing to make such a clatter? Besides
and at the dreadful thought she nearly
cried out-7of course she ought to have
gone to the back door.
For full five minutes she stood on the
steps, listening to any sound inside
the house, but all was perfectly quiet.
She turned and went into the drive,
meaning to go round to the back door,
when it occurred to her to look back at
the house; she had been far too nervous
TO do so as she came in. The lower win
dows were suffered, and all the blinds
were down.
They had gone, then! and it was
empty. "And they never didn't bring
i'm to say goodby to me-"
Life's little tragedies generally hap
pen to the lonely. What in full and
happy life ranks but as an episode be-
comes an epoch in the sad-colored days
of lean monotony. Dorcas wiped her
eyes more than once on her way home,
and wept heavily for many days. Eli
jah saw that she was fretting, and
tried to distract her by news from
town and occasional suggestions that
she go over land see sister law" in
an adjacent village; but beyond her
necessary journeys to town to buy such
stores as she could afford, Dorcas never
left home. She scrubbed the kitchen
table till she grudged to sully it's white
ness by SO much as yellow bowl, and
she made herself a warm new winter
dress, but, for all her industry, the
time hung heavy on her hands, and she
never forgot her ''little gentleman"
The wet season was followed by an In
dian summer of exceptional beauty.
1.-THE spirit of October, mild and boon,"
was in the air; the tottering of Cottes-
void wall, which laid its wayward
length on the far side of the footway,
was covered by sprays of crimson
blackberry, mingled with the fluffy
grayness of ''old mans beard" Dor
cas- no longer started hungrily down
the towing path on Sunday morning,
but she did not forget; and, in token
of her remembrance, the twenty-frst
chapter of the Book of Revelation was
marked in her Bible by.sa little wooden