The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-10-08
Drvtwood.


| wearily. TIN tired" She sat
down on a log at the edge of
the wood and looked off at the lake.
She was not in her first youth-Janet
Long. Her eyes showed experiences
and sorrow: yet in society she passed
for brilliant woman. Her critics
accounted her somewhat too exclusive.
But her critics were few in compare
| son with the number of her friends.
This day, with the chilly autumnal
wind announcing that the summer
was at its close, she had walked into
the woods with Elwin Walker, one Of
| the men who had made up her BROTH
er's house party
| "Ive been careless, Miss Long" he
confessed. ~ ought to have remem-
bered that such a jaunt would wear
you out. You look chilled, too
II am" she said. I'm cold and
and lonely"
"You look as If you were-though for
you to say that you are lonely is not,
perhaps much of compliment to me-"
II didn't mean it for a compliment
or a criticism. It's the truth"
He looked at her with sudden flame
coming into his eyes.
ut you are lonely" he cried, 'its
your own fault. If you would let
me"
"The human soul is always lonely,
suppose she replied. But I'm stu
pid! Please forgive me- 1 said was
tired-but I was mistaken. I'm really
cold. Come down to the beach and
build fire of driftwood.'
He couldn't follow her mood-but
that was nothing strange. She had
baffled and perpleXed him for a long
time. She ran down the embankment
like girl, and began tuggng great
pieces of driftwood and broken branch
es of trees to one spot. He helped her.
saying nothing, but noticing the grace
of her tall, slender figure; the beauty
of her tossing hair beneath her slouch-
ed gray hat: the insouciant gayety of
her laughter, and her mood made her
more charming to him than she had
ever been before. They heaped the
driftwood high and sat down before it
together and as the flames leaped up,
surprising the dun sand and the gray
water and sky she fell to talking.
"Old ships, old wharves, old trees"
she said musingly, looking into the
heart of the fire.
"Old loves, old memories, old pains"
he said, musingly, too.
81 can imagine the time when the
ships sailed the lake triumphantly and
when the wharves We're stanch and of
much service to men, and the trees felt
the sun and the wind in their
branches" murmured Janet Long.
81 can remember when the love was
full Of hope, when there We're more
anticipations than memories, and when
there was no pain said Elwin
Walker.
A silence fell between them. The
lake made a melancholy murmnr on
the shore. The flames leaped and
cracked. The wind stirred through the
dead, coarse grasses In the sand.
we'll be back in town presently"
said Janet with a brisk reopening OF
conversation. IT shall have new
gowns. and you'll make visits. to your
tailor. I'll see people and hear music,
and go dancing, and will repeat poetry
at teas, and commit other SINS"
"And / shall never see you except
for moment when you are talking
airy nothings. I call on you at the
opera for moment, or troop in with
dozen Others at your evenings. You'll
have on all manners Of furbelows-
and they won't become you half so
much as that rOughing outfit you have
on now. You'll pretend you are INTEL
lectpal-and you know you aren't
particularly. Y6u'll affect heartless
gayety-and you know you are neither
heartless nor gay. I'm saying goodbye
to you today, as a matter of fact"
YOU'RE saying goodbye to my sum-
mer SELF NY winter self Is far more
improving"
1.-THE flames are getting low. We
might as we'll be going home"
you are in a hurry?"
Yes, for If we stay here any lon
ger I'll tell some things which I would
rather not say"
Say them"
"You have forbidden me to do So"
"But | now give you permission"
"You give me permission? You mean
that / may tell you that my whole
life is being embittered by your re-
fusal to let me tell you how love you?
You realize that when l leave here to-
morrow ] leave all that makes life at
tractive or even endurable? My whole
life has become centered in you. There
is something haunting and subtle
about your personality which has
bound me as with an enchantment.
You are the core of the world to me.
1t is mysterious, ! confess. Why, out
of millions of human beings should you
be the only one who can give be any
joy? Why must l read a book with
your eyes and listen to an opera with
your ears. and care only for beauti- |
full morning because l think the ra-
dance of II shines on you? can't tell. |
But II is so."
She got up and heaped more pieces |
of driftwood on the flame. Then she |
sat down by 1t again. folding her arms |
about her knees.
II am not young" she said. "nor
beautiful. nor gay, nor of the best |
am inclined to ask questions
Of life. II l We're married / might be |