The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-05-31
"A
SHORT
STORY

4 InEO MS pdItGul5 . IL " LIS
1 prise Mary was not at his side to help
i him, and when he turned to look for
! her she was standing near the lamp,
gazing with fixed eyes and parted lips
on something which she held close to
4 the light. Il 05s
4 Richard, Richard, look here!' she
4 exclaimed excitedly.
/ Richard looked. 1t was the little
4 daguerreotype he had picked up In the
q man S room and slipped into his pocket
/ almost without looking at It.
4 "Oh, that's only a likeness Of some
body that I found in his room as we
were leaving, and thought had better
4 take with me. Put it on the mantle
4 piece; he may want to have 1t again"
"But, Richard, do you mean TO say
4 that you don't recognize It? Why,
good heavens! don't you see It's q like
4 ness Of mother?'
"Of your mother?' he exclaimed,
snatching 1t from her hand. He held It
close to the lamp, and had to turn It at
Iseyeral different angles before he could
4 catch the faded tints on the shining
i silver plate from which they seemed
obliterated, and when he did SO he
could not repress loud exclamation of
astonishment.
1T is she, sure enough! No one
could ever forget those long curls!
And I'VE seen her in just such a bonnet
IL all round her face IN sure hun
! jdred times! How extraordinary! How
ion earth can he have come TO have it??'
Why, Richard, how can you be 50
stupid? don't you see It's Jack! our
iost Jack, whom we have believed dead
SO many years Oh, Jack, Jack. is this
the way we find you again? Poor. poor
fellow, what miseries you must have
passed through But we will try and
make 1t better for you now. Open
your eyes, dear Jack! 1t is /, your lit
tie Molly, and we shall be so happy to-
gether again oh, Richard. make him
come to; do your best now if you never
did before,
She was down on her knees beside
him, trying to raise his head on her
breast, chatting his hands and covering
his unconscious face with kisses.
ssSee the air is reviving him already
said Richard. Now, Mary, control
( yourself; don't speak to him till ! tell
I, you; have something to say to him
first. Put out the lamp and sit down in
that chair, away from the window.
Il Come now, turning to the patient.
\ who had just opened his eyes with two
or three deep sighs. .'Sit up. Sergeant
Wentworth! {"
Eyes, Colonelw r. cried the sergeant,
raising himself mechanically, and lift
4 ing his hand in military salute. Sud
denly his dazed eye cleared and he
looked round with keen, suspicious
/ glance. why, it's the doctor! How
4 do you know my mean, he stam-
mered, suddenly conscious Of having
] committed himself, "my names In
gram, not Wentworth.
"Come, come, Jack Wentworth, don't
4 turn away your best friends. know
1 all about you, and here is your little
sister Molly, just waiting to spring
i into your arms. Don't tell her you
4 don't remember her; she has been talk
/ ing about you ever since we were mar
i ried and even after she had boy Of
A her avn, whom she would insist on
naming after you.
ooh. Jack. Jack!" cried Mary, rum
i ming into his embrace; how do you
4 think.I could ever forget you? Don't
tell me you have forgotten me! oh,
4 Jack! what dreadful times you must
i have had But we'll make you forget
j all your sorrows now"
molly, Molly, it is really your"
i cried the hardened soldier, actually
4 bursting into tears. Forget you, my
little pete Why, you were the one
memory that kept me from blowing
/ out my brains a dozen times. And the
one thing that made me save my plum
der and scrape and starye in the midst
4 Of plenty--for ] am rich, Molly, though
4 / don't look twas the hope Of being
/ able to find you one day and share my
i winnings with you, When made my
4 way home to the old place in York
i shire and found all the family were
gone, and the only thing could hear
Of you was that you had married a doc
j tor and were living no one could tell
me where, just started of In search
of you, and for three weary years 1
have tramped nearly every road In
England looking for you. It's not like
" that I'm going to say 'now don't
Iremember you, my little Molly
I He turned to Richard with out
stretched hand. 81 hope you'll forgive
me for what said just now. You have
treated me with the greatest kindness I
4 ever received from any one, and I re-
/ paid you with insult. But was really
not sane where that belt was con-
/ cerned. You were quite right about
it. I got the jewels at Burmah; Lord,
| what a do it was! l will tell you the
story one of these days. / don't know
vet myself what they are worth, but it
is something fabulous The possession
of them made a regular miser of me,
but / was thinking Of Molly all the
time. Now l have found her, and the
I.half of them are hers, and as for the
rest, why, If you can put up with the
| humors of crotchety, testy old broth