The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1901-05-31

mer Lorinda had sat just back of Phin- |
cas- Hardens pew, and the time seemed |
very long ago when the pew in front
had been empty at the evening meeting
and he had sat back with her
His mother had been dead just six
months. The cold and dreariness of the /
winter was gone. and it was a soft
night in early June. The windows in
the old church were open. and perhaps
Phineas listened more to the monoton-
GUS voice of the minister. When he
was a little boy he had often wished
that they would have church outdoors.
God seemed nearer there. The woman
sat and watched his face during the
long sermon. She looked at it more
carefully, perhaps, than she had ever
done before. But Lornda North was
not capable of seeing the real Phineas
Harden. All she saw was a slight, bent
figure; a face with eyes that were apt
to fall a little before the hard look in
her own. She could not know that he
did not meet her eyes only because it
panied him to see the expression which
Nllilt ndu DIluleu Ou utI lace.
The long service was over, and there
was a sigh of relief as the congrega-
ton stood and received the benedic-
ton. Phineas had never passed out of
his pew without stopping and speaking
to LOrinda. Tonight he looked up with
his usual smile; she was just beside
him, her hand resting on the railing Of
the old pew that stood between them.
Something in her face arrested him;
he stopped and took her hand.
what is it, Lorinda? Is anything
the matterY
She looked for full minute into his
kind, inquiring eyes before she spoke.
NO. nothing's the matter. only
thought that. perhaps we
might walk home together"
He dropped her hand, and the color
flashed to his face. But the blood moves
more slowly at forty than at twenty,
and he only said:
"Why, yes Lorinda, of course"
The night was clear and beautiful.
1t was strange how the man noted each
sound and how his thoughts went back
to another June night long ago, when
he had walked over this same road
with the woman beside him. He looked
at her face; even in this soft half-light,
it was hard and cold. There was some
thing pathetic in the silent walk of
these two old lovers. They were almost
at her door now, and she turned her
face toward him. If he could have
known it, there were two bright spots
on her cheeks; as it was, he felt great
pity for the lonely woman. He did not
know that they were two players in
1.-The tragedy of what might have been,
but he dimly felt that she was trying
to bridge over the lapse of time thai
had come between them. He remem
bered something of the feeling he hat
once had when she was beside him
and a wave of longing, not for her, bu
for the love that had gone, came Ovel
him. He almost forgot the woman il
his remembrance of the love which
she had once awakened.
AS the memory of the old emotions
, came over him his heart softened anC
he turned toward her with ready words
on his lips. But they had reached he
, door. and she was holding out he
hand.
| Goodnight, Phineas. I haven't an.
? idea but that you think strange of wha
} I've done tonight. but whatever yol
I think l know l can trust you to kee
still. Perhaps there's things we all re
p gret. don't know how you fee
p but" She had opened the door nov
r and had stepped just within the shop
. but l won't be busy Saturday nigh
$ and if you want to come I'll be a
; home" And before he had time to al
swer. the door had been shut and h
n was alone.
= 1t had been a hot week for so earl
4 In the season. Phineas felt tired an
:, spent as he drove home from town o
saturday afternoon. AS he neared hi
n house its loneliness struck him as som'
:, thing new. The heat of the day, an
. his struggles with the question whic
:, he had been evading, and which keI
- him calling for an answer, depresse
, him. He lOnged for quiet and peac'
- whether the old quiet life or the poss
s Bile peace of new one, he did NJ
- know. But his house was not so lionel
, after all: for, as he came nearer,
saw the old doctors sulky beside Il
gate. He had always liked the chez
= full. sensible old man, and he hailed hi
y now with even a note of relief in h
:, voice:
y Hello. Phineas; thought you'd
~ along if waited minute"
i. Phineas got out and stood by the si'
n. of the doctors sulky
70 ITS about the BILL s'pose,' he sal
ar II meant to see about 1t befoT
10 but"