The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-09-06

memory; and the cutters where he had
learned to slide, and the shop where
he had trod, and the ratings In which
he had ratified his clachan as he went to
i school: and all those thousand and one
nameless particulars, which the eye
sees without noting, which the memory
keeps indeed yet without knowing, and
which, taken one with another, build
up for us the aspect Of the place that
1 we call home: all these besieged him,
as he went, with both delight and sad
ness. n.
His first visit was for Houston
EWho had house on Regents Terrace,
kept for him in old days by an aunt.
The door was opened ito his surprise)
upon the chain, and voice asked him
from within what he wanted.
want Mr.. Houston--Mr. Alan
Houston, said he.
And who are yer said the voice
This Is most extraordinary !. thought
John;sand then aloud he told his name.
Not young Mr.. John ?" cried the
voice, with a sudden increase OF Scotch
accent, testifying to a friendlier feel
ing
! The very same, " said John.
And the old butler removed his de-
lenses, remarking only, II thought We
were that man" But HIS master was
not there: he was staying, 1t appeared,
at the houge in Murrayfeld; and though
the butler. would have been glad enough
to have taken his place and given all
the news Of the family, John, struck
with a little chill, was eager to be gone.
Only, the door was scarce closed again,
before he regretted that he had not ask
ed about that man.
He was to pay no more visits till he
had seen his father and made all well
at home; Alan had been the only pos
| sible exception, and John had not time
to go as far as Murrayfeld But here
he was on Regents Terrace; there was
nothing to prevent him going round
the end Of, the hill, and looking from
without ON the Mackenzies' house. AS
| he went, he recollected that Flora must
now be a woman OF near his own age,
and 1t was within the bounds OF posi-
bility that she was married; but this
Idishonorable doubt he damned down.
There was the house, sure enough;
but the door was OF another color, and
what was thistwo door plates? He
drew nearer; the top one bore, with dig
Inified simplicity, the words, Mr.. Proud
foot" the lower one was more explicit,
and informed the passer-by that here
was likewise the abode of Mr.. j. "a.
Dunlop Proudfoot, Advocate,
The Prondfoots must be rich, for no
advocate could look to have much busi-
| ness In SO remote quarter; and John
hated them for their wealth and for
their name, and for the sake 81 the
house they desecrated with their pres
ence. He remembered a Proudfoot he
had seen at school, not known: a little
whey faced urchin, the despicahle mem
Der Of some lower class. Could 1t be
this abortion that had climbed to be
an advocate, and now lived In the birth
place Of Flora and the home Of Johns
tenderest memories? The chill that had
first seized upon him when he heard of
Houston s. absence deepened and struck
inward. For moment, as he stood
under the doors OF that estranged
house, and looked east and west along
the solitary pavement Of the Royal Ter
race, where not cat was stirring, the
sense OF solitude and desolation took
him by the throat, and he wished him
self in San Francisco.
And then the figure he made, with
his decent portliness, his whiskers, the
money in his purse, the excellent cigar
that he now lighted, required to his
mind in consolatory comparison with
that OF a certain naddened lad who, ON
certain spring Sunday ten years
before, and In the hour Of church
time silence, had stolen from that city
by the Glasgow road. In the face of
these changes, II were i1npious to doubt
fortunes kindness. All would be well
yet; the Mackenzies would be found,
Flora, younger and loyelier and kinder
than before; Alan would be found, and
would have SO nicely disseminated his
behavior as to have grown, on the one
hand, into valued friend Of Mr.. Mich
olson's, and to have remained, upon
the other, OF that exact shade Of jovial-
ity which John desired In his compan-
ions. And so, once more, John fell to
work discounting the delightful futuresss
his first appearance In the family pew;
his first visit to his uncle Greig, who
thought himself so great financier,.
and on whose purblind Edinburgh eyes
John was to let in the dazzling day.
light of the West; and the details in
general of that unrivaled transforms
ton scene, In which he was to display
to all Edinburgh portly and successful
gentleman in the shoes OF the derided
fugitive.
The time began to draw near when
his father would have returned from
the Office, and 1t would be the prodigaPs
cue to enter. He strolled westward by
Albany Street, facing the sunset en-
hers, pleased, he knew not why, to
move in that cold air and indigo twi-
light, starred with street-lamps. But