Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-02-08
CHAPTER XIII.
ROSE HAS AN ID


It neat. Outside the rain poured. A
Blk months drought had broken, and
the thirsty plain was drenched with
water. What it could not swallow
ran of in mad rivulets to the great
"sloot that now foamed like an angry
river across the fat. Even the little
furrow between the farmhouse and the
kraals was now stream, knee deep,
which almost bore away the Kaftir
women who crossed it. It had rained
for "a hours, and still the rain poured
on. The fowls had collected-a melan-
choly crowd-in and about the wagon
house, and the solitary gander, who
alone had survived the six months
want of water, walked hither and
thither, printing his webbed footmarks
on the mud, to have them washed out
the next instant by the pelting rain,
which at IL o'clock still beat on the
walls and roofs with undated ardor.
Gregory as he worked in the loft
took no notice Of it beyond stufing
q sack into the broken pane to keep it
out, and, in spite of the pelt and patter,
Ems clear voice might be heard
through the open trapdoor from the
dining room. where she sat at work,
singing the "Blue Water
''And take me away,
And take me away,
And take me away
To the Blue Water
that quaint childish song Of the people
that has world of sweetness and sad,
vague yearning when sung over and
over dreamily by woman's voice as
she sits alone at her work. But Greg
DRY heard neither that nor yet the loud
laughter Of the Kafir maids that every
now and again broke through from the
kitchen, where they joked and worked.
OF late Gregory had grown strangely
impervious to the sounds and sights
about him. His lease had run out, but
Em had said: "Do not renew it. need
one to help me. Just stay on" And she
had added: "You must not remain in
your own little house. Live with me.
You can look after my ostriches better
TO-"
And Gregory did not thank her.
What difference did it make to him,
paying rent or not, living there or not?
1t was all one. But yet he came. EN-
wished that he would still sometimes
talk of the strength and master right
of man, but Gregory was as one smit-
ten on the cheek bone. She might do
what she pleased, he would find no
fault, had no word to say. He had for
gotten that 1t is mans right to rule. On
that rainy morning he had lighted his
pipe at the kitchen fire and when
breakfast was over stood in the front
the road till the pipe died out in his
mouth. EN- saw she must do some
thing for him and found him large
calico duster. He had sometimes talked
of putting the loft neat, and today she
could And nothing else for him to do.
So she had the ladder put to the trap
door that he need not so out in the
wet, and Gregory with the broom and
duster mounted to the loft. Once at
work, he worked hard. He busted
down the very rafters and cleaned the
broken candle molds and bent forks
that had stuck in the thatch for 20
years. He placed the black bottles
neatly in rows on an old box In the cor
ner and piled the skins on one another
and sorted the rubbish in all the boxes.
and at IL o'clock his work was almost
done.
He seated himself on the packing
case which had once held Waldo's
books and proceeded to examine the
contents Of another which he had not
yet looked at. 1t was carelessly nailed
down. He loosened one plank and be-
gan to lift out various articles of fe-
male attire - old fashioned caps,
aprons, dresses with long pointed bod
les such as he remembered to have
seen his mother wear when he was a
little child He shook them out care
fully to see there were no moths and
then sat down to fold them up again
one by one. They had belonged to
EMS mother, and the box as packed at
her death had stood. untouched and
forgotten these long years. She must
have been a tall woman, that mother
OF Ems. for when he stood up to shake
out dress the neck was on level
with his. and the skirt touched the
ground. Gregory laid nightcap out
OIL his knee and began rolling up the
strings, but presently his fingers NOV
ed slower and slower, then his chin
rested on his breast, and finally the inn
ploring blue eyes were fixed on the
frill abstractedly. When EMS voice
called to him from the foot of the lad
der, he started and threw the nightcap
behind him.
She was only come to tell him that
his cup Of soup4w ready, and when
he could hear that she was gone he
picked up the nightcap again and a
great brown sun "kapje," Just such a
"kapje" and such a dress as one of
those he remembered to have seen a
Sister of Mercy wear. Gregory's mind
vas very full Of thought. He took