The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1901-04-11

IHtU hdG Tedched inc Dig stump IN W1
middle OF the trail.
getting him into the other room and
propped up In chair where he could
see the child. Great tears rolled over
his rough, coarse face as he sat there.
1t was not very long. The doctor made
a movement as he held the slender
wrist. The eyes opened full on the ia.
ther as he looked. There was a faint
smile. 1t crossed the face as the sun
light, on day Of low lying clouds
when the wind is blowing hard, cross
es a meadow. 1t was gone, and the
gray shadow followed fast after. The
form stiffened, there was a sigh. an.
other, and that was all The doctor
laid the little hand down and said,
"She Is gone" He turned his face
away from the mother, and Stuart
was startled at the look. 1t was as II
Saxon had seen the death he was con.
tinually fighting and was enraged at
the victory won against his human
skill. But he turned again to the
mother, who had. after the manner Of
women among the miners, flung her.
self over the bed with great shrieks
and cries, and lifting her up he half
led, half carried, her into the other
room and laid her down, sobbing and
groaning, on an old couch there. And
Stuart could have sworn the doctors
face was as beautiful as mercy and as
full Of blessing as mortal mans can
ever be. When he came back after
performing his office for the dead. the
doctor went away. Those were days
when sleep and rest were strangers to
him. He never fully recovered from
the terrible strain of that winter.
Rhena remained little while to do
what she could, and Stuart sent a
boy who had come up from a neigh,
boris down for the undertaken and
promised all Ia his power. When Rhe-
ma went out, he went with her, and
they wtre soon walking together over
the very trail where Stuart had start.
ed out the night Of Rhena's fall. She
had other houses In Cornishtown to
visit and needed to save time by the
short cut which the upper trail af-
forded.
Stuart had not asked II he might 90
with her. and she had neither assented
to his company nor rejected 1t. He had
forgotten all about his horse and cutter
down the other path. She seemed pas.
sive and thoughtful. The scene they
had just witnessed affected them both
deeply. 1t was not an unusual sight
these days with either, but death never
lost its majesty to Stuart, and Rhena
was never more exalted in her feeling
than in the presence Of the great ene-
my.
There was hardly room in the trail
most Of the way for two persons. Stu
art walked behind her. They were 81.
lent for the most part, except a ques-
ton or two about different sick people,
until they reached the big stump in the
middle Of the trail. the other side Of
which Stuart had found Rhena lying.
She turned her face little as she
was ABOUT TO walk around the old land
mark, and Stuart spoke to her. He was
very pale and trembled. 1t seemed to
him that a great crisis had come for
him. When he had spoken the first
word, he ut once became more master
Of himself.
"Miss Dwight, wish to tell you
something. VIII you allow me to say
what l have felt must say for a
long timer
Rhena looked startled. Her lip trem.
bled. She seemed unable to answer.
Stuart went on. Now that he had
made up his mind, he was like his To-
ther In the determination that drove
him to bis purpose with an iron energy
that possessed his whole positive M.