The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1900-09-14

memory; and the cutters where he ha,
learned to slide, and the shop wher
ne had trod, and the ratings In whic]
ne mad ratified his clachan as he went t,
school: and all those thousand and on
nameless particulars. which the ey
sees without noting, which the memor,
Keeps indeed yet without knowing apt
winch, taken one with another. built
up Tor us the aspect of the place tina,
we call home: all these besiesed him
as ne went, with both delight and sad
ness.
His first visit was for Houston
VINO had house on Regents Terrace
Kept for him in old days by an aunt
The door was opened Ito his surprise'
upon the chain, and voice asked him
from within what he wanted.
want Mr.. Houston-Mr. Alan
| Houston" said he.
and who are ye?" said the voice.
This is most Extraordinary" thought
John; and then aloud he told his name.
Not young Mr.. John?" cried the
voice, with sudden increase of Scotch
accent, testifying to a friendlier feel
ing.
The very same" said John.
And the old butler removed his de-
lenses, remarking only, 81 thought We
We're that man." But his master was
not there; he was staying, it appeared,
at the house in Murrayfield; and though
the butler would have been glad enough
TO have taken his place and given all
the news of the family, John, struck
with a little chill, was eager to be gone.
only, the door was scarce closed again,
before he regretted that he had not ask
ed about that man."
He was to pay no more visits till he
mad seen his father and made all we'll
at home; Alan had been the only pos
slole exception, and John had not time
to go as far as Murrayield. But here
ne was on Regents Terrace; there was
nothing to prevent him going round
the end of the hill, and looking from
without on the Mackenzies' house. AS
he went, he recollected that Flora must
now be woman of near his own age,
and 1t was within the bounds of posi-
bility that she was married; but this
dlshonorable doubt he damned down.
There was the house, sure enough;
but the door was of another color, and
what was this-two door plates? He
drew nearer; the top one bore, with dig
nifed simplicity, the words, 'Mr. Proud
FOOT" the lower one was more explicit.
and informed the passer-by that here
was likewise the abode of "Mr. J. A..
Dunlop Proudfoot, Advocate"
The Proudfoots must be rich, for no
advocate could look to have much BUSH
ness in so remote a quarter; and John
hated them for their wealth and for
their name, and for the sake of the
house they desecrated with their pres
ence. He remembered a Proudfoot he
had seen at school, not known; little
Whey-faced urchin, the despicable mem
Der OF some lower class. Could it be
this abortion that had climbed to be
an advocate, and now lived in the birth
place OF Flora and the home of Johns
tenderest memories? The chill that had
first seized upon him when he heard of
Houston's absence deepened and struck
inward. For a moment, as he stood
under the doors of that estranged
house, and looked east and west along
the solitary pavement of the Royal Ter
| race, where not cat was stirring, the
sense of solitude and desolation took
him by the throat, and he wished him
self in San Francisco.
And then the figure he made, with
his decent portliness. his whiskers, the
money in his purse, the excellent cigar
that he now lighted, required to his
mind in consolatory comparison will
that of certain maddened lad who, on
a certain spring Sunday ten years
before, and in the hour of church
time silence, had stolen from that city
by the Glasgow road. In the face oil
these changes, it were impious to doubt
fortunes kindness. All would be well
yet; the Mackenzies would be found
Flora, younger and lovelier and kinde,
than before; Alan would be found, an6
would have so nicely Disseminated hi!
behavior as to have grown, on the one
hand, into valued friend of Mr.. Mich
olsons, and to have remained, upor
the other, of that exact shade of jovial
ity which John desired in his compan
ions. And so, once more, John fell tt
work discounting the delightful future
his first appearance in the family pew
his first visit to his uncle Greig, WIKI
thought himself so great a financier
and on whose purblind Edinburgh eye
John was to let in the dazzling day
light of the West; and the details il
general of that unrivaled transforma
ton scene, in which he was to displa.
to all Edinburgh portly and successful
gentleman in the shoes Of the deride,
fugitive.
i The time began to draw near whel
his father would have returned iron
; the Office, and it would be the prodigal'
cue to enter. He strolled westward b
; Albany Street, facing the sunset EN-
bers, pleased, he knew not why, t
move in that cold air and indigo twi
light starred with street-lamns ri,