Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-03-29
let it stop at that. hear Tom coming

let it stop at that. I hear Tom coming
back
When Tom stood over her, proffering
the bromide all mixed ready for tax
ing, she looked up into his pale and
worried face with one of her sweetest
smiles. Suddenly she put out hand
and drew him down on the sofa by her
side.
tom, dear, you are entirely too good
to me. ! have worried you straight
through this day. have made you
hogribly uncomfortable. Please for
give me like the dear old generous
friend you are"
And Tom, out of sheer gratitude for
her tardy recognition of all he had
suffered that day, bent his head with
the stately grace of an old time cav
alier and kissed the little hand that
still rested on his arm
He felt himself going hot and cold,
red and white, all in minute. ooh,
Ollie, if you would only always be like
this to me, what could I not make of
| myself for your sweet sake!" he stam-
mered.
Upon which her father, with kill
JOY air, advised her retiring before the
bromide should be made of no effect.
u shall finish the night on couch
In your room, my dear, so that you
shall not be imagining things again.
And 1, said Tom, with a brilliant
smile, shall stay down stairs to give
/ lon rnio
pany manners"
A lightsome heart makes TESTING
easy. Ollie had been her sweetest self
| in the past few minutes, and Tom
walked on air. He held the door open
and watched her disappear up the
steps leaning on her father.
In his haste to reassure her he had
| lighted both the library and his IA
theirs study in the rear of it. He
stepped into the smaller room to extin-
guish the light There, on his fathers
desk, was an object which only his pre-
occupation when he was hastily light
ing the room could have prevented his
seeing Oh entering it before.
| An open Bible, large print, lay I'M
l
marked a passage. He stopped to
read it:
ut is better to trust in the Lord than
to put confidence in man."
Tom read, the passage twice over
and then brought the lids of the book
together to identify it. He was quite
sure he had never seen that identical
In osl&
back he found the initials rs. r. b.
MY mothers Bible" he said in an
awestruck whisper. He opened the
1 book again. and once more read the
passage upon which the white ribbon
had been pressed.
4 As he read "Iother" Spillman's
strange words seemed to trace them
selves over the warning passage:
Though one We're to come back
from the dead, you would not believe"
/ He shook himself violently, as if to
] arouse his dormant common sense fac
4 ulties. He closed the book reverently
i and put it under his arm. 1t should
!. henceforth go with him wherever he
went.
AAS AOiSoI aAl uOOul LIS JSSLluS DTOIl-
ise to Olivia. He mounted the steps
and closed the door Of his own room
softly. For long time he sat ponder
Ing that strange message by the light
OF his dying candle:
ut is better to Trust in the Lord than
to put confidence in man"
+ Whose tender spirit was grieving
over his earthly chances? The morn
ing star shone brilliantly in upon him
through the drawn curtains. He watt
ed message heavenward by that IA.
dis.ct herald:
/ Father, mother, trust me. will
walk worthy of your living examples
SO long as breath prolongs my be-
ing"
F Beforeslong he was sleeping sweetly
and dreamlessly. His nature was too
essentially healthy to harbor perplexi-
ty or distrust for any length Of time.