The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-04-14
A Sweetheart of Long Ago,


- OTOCliiCdil VI IiS 'SOt
Tick, tick, tick.
Naomi. will you stop that clock? ]
think it will drive me mad. Is it within
the range of the probable, not to say
the possible, that I should go on con-
STRUNG irregular Latin verbs to the
strokes of that monster? I feel inclined
l TO adopt the modern pronunciation Of the
| immortal orators name and say,
Kik-er-o. o, I beg your pardon. Naomi
was that your foot?A Well. I'm going out.
1 promised TO run up and see Marie
| Leigham tonight. Perhaps when come
back my tormentor will have grown
weary or run down. Do let him run
down. Naomi You don't mind being left
| for little while alone, dear?''
Not at all, dear" answered Naomi
Romer, cheerfully.
Naomi is always cheerful-too cheerful,
| golden-haired little Lilliard says some
| times, petulantly. But then-Naomi is 80,
| and it is years that bring the philo-
| sophie mind
| Eighteen years ago, when Naomi was
r. she had received baby Lilliard her
newly born stepsister, as the legacy from
| the hands Of dying mother mild, !"
! who
Said with accents indebted,
| Child, be mother to this child"
| Anu NdOHl mas Iulull6u lidl trust
well. When, ten years later. their father,
gay, debonair Ernest Romer, LATEST and
most charming of men and artists, had
| followed his wife, leaving her two chill
| dren utterly unprovided for, Naomi had
quietly and misunderstanding Naomi
! does is quiet and natural-slipped into
| the position Of bread winner and house
provider. Then had come a lover, too
| poor to provide for both Naomi and Lii
! lizard; then he had gone away to make a
| fortune in distant lands and for eight
| years Naomi had never heard Of him.
Now Lilliard is able to help Naomi
| in her little school, and the two sisters
are happy enough, only-Lilliard is young
and beautiful, and sometimes she frets.
There comes a ring at the door bell,
and little Alice Sparrow, Naomis maid
of all work, puts in her head to say,
"A gentleman for you. please, miss
Naomi rises in surprise as a tall. well
| built man, with sunburnt complexion
| and a head of tawny hair, enters, and,
striding to her side, takes her hand.
Naomi. have you forgotten me, Martin
Colquhoun?"
For moment the room 'swlms around
Naomi, but the next she has recovered
herself, and is saying quite calmly-how
| it astonishes her to hear her own voice:
How do you do? did not know you
were in Washington"
Il only came yesterday" he says,
eagerly, so you see I have not lost much
time. I found out your address in the
directory-what a grand institution It
is! Naomi, you are not changed.
Am u"
She smiles a little. 'FI would know you
but you are changed"
II shall tell you all by and by he
says, and at that moment Lilliard rushes
in.
Marie is out; is it not a shame?"
Then she pauses, blushng, and Naomi
introduces the two
So you are Lilliard?" says Martin Col
quhoun, smiling. 81 remember you as a
tiny girl in short dresses, who always
searched in my pockets for chocolates
Are you as fond of them yet?'
81 believe 1 am says Lilliard, laugh
ing Then she sits down, and so does
Martin Colquhoun, and they spend a
pleasat, even gay, evening together, Mar
tin telling them all Of the dangers he has
passed through in the search for for
tune-which it seems he has found-and
partaking of the homely little supper
Naomi orders with great zest.
Martin Colquhoun calls again and
again. He comes in the evenings, when
Naomi plays, and he and Lilliard sits in
the window together He calls in the
afternoon and takes them driving in the
park and to Mount Vernon, and he and
Lilliard generally sit together and do
most Of the talking; and occasionally he
takes them to a concert or the opera.
And every day Naomi feels that the trial
Of her life is drawing near.
But why should she grudge it. She
loves Lilliard. She Martin.
She desires the happiness of both As for
her, it only means that her sky will
grow a little grayer, her life a little
emptier; but at 80, she tells herself, one
does not feel the pain so keenly as at
20.
One evening he calls. Lilliard Is out
and Naomi alone He looks strangely
nervous-for him-for Coloquhoun IS one
Of those broad-minded heathy-souied
men whose strong masculine personality
always seems 10 bring an invigorating
breeze into a narrow, feminine household.
Il have called to tell you I shall have
to say good-by." he said, abruptly. 81
am going away on Monday"
Going away" Naomi echoes, family.
Yes, for four years. Ny business re-
quires me. And 1 have come tonight to
to say something that means a great
deal to me-that all my future happiness
depends on, Miss Romer''
Naomrs heart is still. The blow is COM
ing, then.
Il think can guess what It Is" she
says. wondering II her voice sounds
strange and unnatural. ''Mr. Colquhoun,
I viii do the most l can. I desire your
happiness as much as-as Lilliard's."
He seizes her hands.
''Then-you are willing? You have
have thought of it?" he asks, little
unsteadily.
II have no right to be anything else"
she answers, smilingly. "If Liliard Is
willing. that is all that you require"
He looks at her in bewildeTment.
'Lilliard? I do not understand YOU
Naomi. What has Lilliard to do with
it? Don't you understand, dear. that I
love you as much-nay, more thousand
fold more-thsn ever? Naomi. it was not
my fault that I have been silent all these
years; my letter-the last one-was re-
turned, marked Left-no address, But
I have never ceased thinking OF you. and
now 1 want you as my wife Naomi.
Naomi, after waiting all these years. am
I to be disappointed ar the last?"
ooh. stop" Naomi cries. a little Wild
". II thought 1t was Lilliard you
cared for. not me"
"Lilliard"' He grows holder then. and.
drawing her within his arms, lays the
sweet face against his breast Why.
LlHard and I are very good friends. but
she knows the truth. Naomi. Ny darling.
is that why you have been 50 cold 10
me? have sometimes thought the past