The suburban citizen., 1901-03-02


He repeated the words slowly, mols.
tening his lips the while, as one does
when the memory OF something pleas
ant fingers,
1T was well that I got there when
l did There were three IN the family
"A man, a woman and daughter-a
family nat had come from the North
for the sake Of the mothers health.
Their small plantation was practically
isolated, and they had not feared the
fever They were quite unprepared for
! It. 1t is not necessary for me to tell
you OF the struggle we had; 1t is suficl-
ent to say that they all lived And one
! afternoon, when they were GONZALES.
cent and l was able to remit the care,
which until that time had been con-
| stant l seated myself in a rocking
chair, with the family photograph al
bum upon my lap. 1 did not remain
seated long, for among the first por
traits in the book was that Of q girl
girl who looked like one 1 had
known-we had known-at home. I
rose to my feet exctedly and carried
the book to the woman, pointing with
a finger that shook disgracefully to
the portrait.
"'Who Is It.? l asked.
My brothers daughter she said.
And her name is
Mary Brown
"NIy legs went out from under me
then, and my head buzzed. l was
tired out l suppose. / collapsed into
a chair, and the woman, in her weak
ness not noticing, went on talking as
some women do.
MY maiden name was Brown she
said. L haven't seen my brothers folks
for ten years or more, but we have
never ceased to correspond. Poor
Mary was sick a while ago. The doc
tors called it gallopng consumption.
But it wasn't. If it had she'd have
died. The doctors don't always know,
begging your pardon, sir Twas
something else, like a decline, n kind
Of pining away, that was a mystery.
Her mother thinks now twas love for
young fellow-One OF the harum-
scarum sort-that lived in the village
once. She thinks so because the girl
got into a way after a while Of talking
in her sleep-repeating over and over
the fellows name, which was Jones.
1t seems that Jones was her whole
life and yet after he'd firted with her
for a time he went away, and has
never been heard Of since. He must
have been a heartless scamp. Poor
girln
land she isn't married yet? 1
asked. My throat was so dry that l
had to exert all my strength to make
my voice audible.
"'No.'
"'And you think that, bad as he is
and shameful as was his treatment of
her, she'd be glad to see Jones|
There's no doubt of it, poor girl
left the room then. l couldn't |
stand it any longer. 1 went and !
threw myself upon the ground, and
sobbed and laughed and kicked up |
my heels like one gone daft. She had
spoken my name in her sleep! She
wanted me! She would be glad to |
see me!
THE quarantine was raised four
weeks later, and went North. 1t was
all true. She was glad to see me. |
She reproached me for going away
from her, and 1 was sorry clear down
to my feet. But after all-and there i
is comfort in it, as I told her-I'm
more worth marrying now than l
was then"
you are going to remain in the
inquired the other
mo, I'm going home to settle down
at last-home-homew
There was a rapt expression upon
his worn face, and he raised his eyes
reverently to the sky.
Home" he repeated softly, "home
-homew-New York Tribune.