Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-02-27
CHAPTER XxvI.
DREAMS.

Il 4Uu au0 Wuht q 6Oul QGSlFSS, ana i
WILL toll you what It is" So runs the
PHRASE.
Tell me what man dreams, and /
MIL tell you what he loves" That
also has It's truth.
On the night when Gregory told his
pfcgy Waldo sat alone before the fire,
bis untasted supper before him. He
svas weary after his days work, too
weary to eat. He put the plate down
pn the door for Doss, who licked 1t
clean and then went back to his corner.
k4ter time the master threw himself
across the foot Of the bed without I'M
dressing and fell asleep there. He slept
% long that the candle burned itself
cut and the room was in darkness. But
hs dreamed lovely dream as he lay
there.
In his dream. to his right rose high
Enouutetns. their tops crowned with
snow, their sides clothed with bush and
bathed In the sunshine. At their feet
was the sea blue and breezy, bluer
than any earthly sea. like the sea he
mad Dreamed Of In his boyhood. In
the marrow forest that ran between the
Wou0taiEs and the sea the air was rich
with the scent OF the honey creeper
that hung from dark green bushes, and
Fhrcugh the velvery grass little streams
ran pulling down into the sea. He sat
on high. square rock among the
bushes, and Lyndall sat by him and
1anG 70 him. She was only small
kAild, With blue pinafore and grave,
grave, i!ssle face. He was looking up
kt The mouptains. Then suddenly when
ke l0oised FOUND she was gone. He
slipped down from his rock and went
10 lbok tor har, but he found only her
little foutmRrks. He found them on
Mr. bright green gress and In the moist
haAd aad there whore the little streams
taA plfalng down into the sea. In and
6st, In and ont. and among the bushes
lHAefe the honey creeper hung. he went
Ssekang for her.
At last, far of. in the sunshine, he
San her sathcdnR shells upon the sand.
Ehe was not child now, but a woman,
Aad the sun a..one on her soft brown
hair, and In her white dress she put the
Shells she gathered. She was STOPPING,
but WHEN she heard his step she stood
Ap, holding her skirt close about her,
hHa waited for his coming. One hand
kAs put In bis. and together they w0lk-
I'd Oh over tho glittering sand and pink
Seashefls. and they heard the leaves
4alkias, and they heard the water bab-
bling On their. way to the sea. and they
heard the sea singing to itself. singing,
Singing.
,t At last they came to a place where
2fYas long roach of pure white sand.
Nhere she stood still and dropped on to
the sand one by one the shells that sns
had gathered. Then she looked up into
his face with her beautiful eyes. She
said nothing; but she lifted one hand
and iaidsit softly on his forehead. The
other she laid Oh his heart.
. With cry of suppressed agony Wal
do sprang from the bed, flung open the
upper half of the door and leaned out,
breathing heavily.
Great God! 1t might be only a dream,
but the pain was very real, as though a
d.nife ran through his heart, as though
come treacherous murderer crept on
him in the dark! The strong man drew
his breath like a frightened woman.
"Only dream, but the pain was very
real" he muttered as he pressed his
right hand upon his breast. Then he
folded his arms on the door and stood
looking out into the starlight.
The dream was with him STILL The
woman who was his friend was not
separated from him by years. Only
that very night he had seen her. He
looked up into the night sky that all
his life long had mingled itself with
his existence. There We're thousand
faces that he loved looking down at
I him, a thousand stars in their glory, in
crowns and circles and solitary gran
deur. To the man they were not less
dear than to the boy they had been not
less mysterious, yet he looked up at
them and shuddered, at last turned
away from them with horror. Such
countless multitudes, stretching out
far into space, and yet not in one of
them all was she! Though he search
ed through them all, to the farthest,
faintest point of light, nowhere should
he ever say, "She is hereY' Tomor-
rows sun would rise and gid the
worlds mountains and shine into its
thousand valleys. 1t would set and
the stars creep out again. Year after
year, century after century, the old
changes of nature would go on, day
and night, summer and winter, seed
time and harvest. but in none of them
all would she have part!
< He shut the door to keep out their
hideous shining and because the dark
was intolerable lighted a candle and
paced the little room faster and faster
(. yet, He saw before him the long ages
of eternity that would roll on. on, on.
and never bring her. She would exist
no more, a dark mist filed the little
room. ri =