The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-05-26
IT CAME TOO LATE.

Two women stood in a low, rafter-
ed kitchen, the red glow of the fire
behind them one old and guant, her
1ank, gray hair struggling from be-
meath a rusty black cap, her keen
black eyes glancing with hawk-like
vigilance above thin, hooked nose /;
the other, young and comely, chest
nut haired and gray-eyed, with a
finely nodded figure and beautiful
poised head. the simplicity of the
peasant in her spotless print gown,
but peasant with the carriage of a
queen.
AS Ralph Wroughton entered they
looked at him in silence for a minute
or more, and he looked back at them
hoping, perhaps, they would speak
and make his hard task somewhat
easier, but if so he hoped in vain.
"I-have come back" F" he said at
length.
"I see thee hast, lad," the old wo-
man assented brusquely. "Hast thou
come back as poor as thee went?"
"Poorer I-have failed.
IT never looked for thee to do
aught else. Well, we'll and after
thy big words and all ! Thy school
ing has not done much for thee, be-
yond giving thee notions above thy
station in life and a sinful pride that
would take none of Gods good gifts
without thou couldst pay for them,
and put down shilling for shilling !;
hors, hadst drawn thy first breath in
the workhouse p
She broke off, and, with a keen
glance at the silent woman beside her,
clattered out, closing the door as she
went.
Since that first look on his en-.
trance, he had not once glanced at the
younger woman, but her eyes had
never left his face. They were fixed
on her now with curious intent
gaze that he might have found it hard
to read.
"Ralph-not word for me ?"
'Not one-that you would care to
hear. 1 have failed"
"But, thou hast done thy best p
"Phoebe, 1 did my best but to
starve and struggle is not enough ;
and that's about all am good for. If
one day 1 seemed to gain step in
the race for wealth, I lost it in the
next. 1 went under in the crowd.
1 am broken man broken in body
and mind and I have good hope
now that soon, very soon-"
"What, Ralph ?"
"My wife will be a widow, and-a
free woman"
"And you think l shall be glad !"
she said, in a dull, toneless voice,
most unlike her own.
"Think? know it; and 1 do not
blame thee for it. I blame none but
myself. Thy father did thee an i'll
turn, Phoebe, the day he married my
mother, and brought such beggarly
brat home to be a brother to thee"
"Thy mother has been a good
mother to me-" The woman voice
recalled him as he raised his head to
listen. "Twas my father came be-
tween u.s."
''Nay, nay; twas he threw us to-
gether. Thou wou1dst never have
thought to do with such ne'er-do-
we'll, and that set thee to spite him. "
The tired voice sank in silence.
He was too weary to say more.
ralph, lad-Oh, deserve it all I!
Thou didst right to blame me p
'Blame thee?" he looked at her in
a bewildered sort of way. II didn't
think to blame thee"
The woman flung herself on her
knees beside him, and took his vast
ed hands in her strong warm clasp.
"Oh, lad, forgive me. l have been
beast to thee, but I-loved thee.
loved thee through it all. 1t angered
me that thou vast poor, but folk
should think-Oh, lad, speak to me-
| Day, L lOlSlNS tuCC'
She clung closer to him, dawnine
terror in her great gray eyes.
Another sound broke in on the pat
tering of the rain-the sound of pat
tering feet along the passage, anc
then a child's happy laughter
"Hist, Ralph !" and she sprang tc
| her feet "Dost hear2 Thou will
hear him-my sonny little boy
whom I have so longed to show hin
to his father! o, thou wilt forgive
me now and love me, and-Ralph
Ralph p
She threw herself on the grounC
beside him and fell to violent weep
ing. Yes, she had been pleading tc
deaf ears.
1t was too late for love or for re
morse to avail her anything here
Ralph Wroughton, the failure, wa
dead.
And without laughing child triet
vainly to raise the latch.
THE WOMAN who can write disa
greeable things, but cannot say them
is always the one who keeps ser
want just because she is afraid to dis
charge her.