, 1900-12-04

i'n'i was "hIe'ilnk lneI lily. VII NV
mountain side In the clearings the
sunac and the golden rod cleaned
gaudily from among the somber gray
o! drying grasses n weeds. Among
the trees the gay banners of autumn
haunted among the duller colors Of the
leavea already dead. In the under
brush the crickets sung a sad requiem
for the season just drawing to a close
"a chant for the dying summer. The
sky was blue, a deep turquoise, such as
only the skies in a mountainous coun-
try show in November. All nature
was gorgeous in crimson and yellow
and gold, as though dressed for the
final review of summers glories.
Only one more mile, Every stone
and tree was now familiar to him.
every turn and brook was fraught with
some happy remembrance. His heart
began to beat wildly. Would she meet
him at the gate. and be glad to see
him? She had told him she would.
when she last came to the prison, years
before. OF course she woodland the
children, they void run to meet him
and kiss him as they did In the olden
days.
1t was Just around the turn, only a
few steps further. and he would see the
little home with its vine-clad piazza,
and the flowers growing in the yard,
and-her standing at the gate. waiting.
For fifteen years he had long.d for this
moment, and now that it had come,
he dared not go around the bend of
the road-his heart was torn with
doubts and fears.
He sat down to rest and collect his
thoughts. He was faint and sick, he
had eaten nothing all day and the long
walk up to mountain had almost ex-
hausted him. Pulling all his energies
together, he staggered around the bend
OF the road. He was afraid to raise his
eyes until he had reached the gate.
Then he did so.
There was no house there.
Only a heap OF rubbish and ruin, and
a tangled thicket of blackberry briars
and bushes and decaying weeds. He
leaned against a fence post and in a
daZed sort of way tried Il understand.
The house was but a pile OF rotting
logs. the fences were gone and his
family-God only knew where they
were. He staggered to the waste OF
weeds and briars and sat down on the
block Of stone that once had served as
a doorstep.
The afternoon waned and the shad-
ows grew long. The sunlight came
slantingly down and gilded and glori-
fed everything 1t touched. A rabbit
hoped timidly les and gazed at the
silent. bowed figure in tremulous won
derment. A lizard lay Upon one OF the
logs Of the house. and basked its gilt
tering sides in the mellow rays Of the
sun. Longer and longer grew the
shadows, and at last the god Of day
sunk down beyond the western noun
tain tops. Night slowly crept over
earth, and the noon rose in autumnal
brightness and threw its rays upon H.
lonely figure sitting with bowed head
amid the gloomN Ir."s a.
home. A whip-poor-will began to sing
u loll'l1 ool6 lloLl a uloldll Illl-luD
and an owl hooted ENORMOUSLY from a
nearby thicket,
At last the man arose. There was q
little stunted marigold growing neal
the doorstep. He picked one or two Of
the blossoms and put them in his
bosom, and as he bent over the stone
where he had been sitting a teal
dropped from his eyes and FLASHED
upon the insensate rock. He gave one
more look at the ruins. and her start,
ed down the mountain. On and on he
went. never stopping, never looking
back.
The village lay in darkness below
Through it he passed, never once turn.
ing his head. When the moon was
hanging like a silver globe in the far
wan west, a railroad train came rush
ing through the darkness like some
fiery serpent. and stopped a moment a,
the little station. A black figure got
aboard and o o a sea In a dim cor
ner Of the car.
At last the train arrived in the city
The figure skunk away through the
gray dawn toward the prison. The
warden was awakened by q fain,
pounding upor the grim door. He
went down and opened it. A man lay
prone upon the doorstep.
Who are you?" asked the warden.
Il am Number Twenty-three. Take