The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-09-27

| it have bcCnE she wondered. her old
bewilderment at his conduct, her whole
being longing to comprehend it, re-
viving with something of the old. old
force. Could it have been? Could
it have been---y And an old guess, an
old theory, one she had never spoken
to anybody, but had pondered much in
silence. again presented itself interrog-
ativcly to her mind.
| The door opened; the butler mumbled
a name, and she saw tall. white.
haired. pale old man smiling at her and
holding out his hands. 1t took her a
\ little while to realize who 1t was. With
an unthlnking dlsallowance for the ac-
tion OF time, she had been expecting a
young fellow of eight and twenty.
brown-haired and ruddy.
Perhaps he on his side. was sur
priscd Il little by meeting middle
aged lady in II cap.
After dinner he would not let her
leave him, but returned with her to the
drawing room, and she said that he
might smoke. He smoked odd little
| Cuban cigarettes, whereof the odor was
delicate and aromatic. They had talked
of everything. then had laughed and
sighed over their ancient joys and sor-
rows. We know melancholy wanders
hand in hand. She had cried little
when her husband and her brother
were first spoken OF, but ut some comic
"Reminiscences of them u moment after
wards she was smiling through her
tears
| do you remember so and SOP and
| What has become of such a one:"
were the types of questions they asked
each other, conjuring up old friends
and enemies like ghosts out of the
past. Incidentally he described Porto
Rico and its natives and It's Spaniur,ls
Its climate, its fauna and its flora.
In the drawing room they sat on
opposite sides of the fire and were 81
lent fora bit. Profiting by the permis-
sion she had given him, he had pro
duced one of his Cuban cigarettes.
opened II at its ends, unrolled II, rolled
1t up again, and lit It,
Now the time has come for You to
tell me what | most want to know"
she said
What is it?'
why you went away"
"Oh!' he murmured
She waited minute. Then
Tell me- she urged.
DO you remember Mary Isona:" he
asked
She glanced at him suddenly as If
startled
Mary Isona? Yes, OF course
We'll, | was in love with her"
You were in love with Mary Isona ?''
Il was very much in love with her.
nave never got over it, I'm afraid"
She gazed tiXedly at the fire. Her
lips were compressed. She saw a slen-
der girl in plain black frock, with n
sensitive pale face, luminous, sad, darl,
eyes, and mass of dark. waving hair
Mary lsona of Italian parentage. a
ilttle music teacher whose only rela.
ton to the world Theodore Vellan
lived in was professional She came
into 1t for an hour or two at n time
now and then, to play or to give Il
music lesson
yes he repeated, II was in love
with her | have never been in love
with any other woman. 1t seems ri
diculous for an old man to say it. but
am In love with her still. An old
manE Are we ever really old? OuI
Dody grows old, our skin turns white
but the spirit, the heart? The thing
we call l| Anyhow, not n day, moi
an hour passes, but | think of her.
long for her. | mourn for her Yo
knew-yOu knew what she was. D(
you remember her playing? Her won
derful eyes? Her beautiful pale face
And how the hair grew around tn,
forehead! And her talk her voice. hel
Intelligence! Her taste, her instinct
III literature, In art-it was the fines
l ever met"
Yes. yes. yes" Mrs. Kempton sait
slowly. 'She was rare woman.
knew her intimately than an,
{ one else. | think. | knew all the un
! happy circumstances OF. her llfe he
3 horild' vulgar mother; her poor
/, dreamy, inefficient father their power
3 ty; now hard she had to work. Yol
l were IN love with her Why didn't yol
marry herr
D "She wouldn't have had me-"
Did you ask herY'
. mo. 1t was needless. 1t went with
o out saying
Q you can never tell. You ought Il
. have asked her"
/ 1T was on the tip of my tongue
' of course, TO do so hundred time,
i My life was passed In torturng mysel
!. with the question whether | had an
4 chance, in hoping and fearing. But a
G often as l found myself alone with he
k | knew 1t was hopeless. Her manne
h to me Is one of frank frIendlines,
# There was no mlstaklng it. She neye
q thought of loving mer
e "You were wrong not to ask her. ON
RI never can be sure. Oh why didn't yo
ask herr" His Old friend spoke wit
d great feeling.