Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1901-12-21

He went away without word. She
stood and listened TO his unsteady steps
going down the path. &c the clang of the
gate little after; then passed into the
house.
Margaret Ellen pierced the kitchen
with song. She was frying griddle
cakes foT supper. Her face bent over the
smoky hearth was like flower.
Her mother stood by the stove quak-
ing. She spread her hands to the blaze;
her lips were pinched and a>h-colored.
Margaret Ellen hushed her singing to
eye her.
Now. yo'r gone an took cold guess
III just have 10 make yn some boneset
70 bedtime. Yo'r always maxim some
thin q the sort 70 me, an it's no more
n right | should take my turn at it,
Leave me alone. child. I'll soon be
heated through I'm not gettin' any
cold
The girl began her song again
stop Singin'. Marg ret Ellen. want
to talk to yo'.'
wei, mother"
Il told 70 all about yo'r father once,
didn't II"
Yes, m II.
He GENE back here tonight
Margaret Ellen glanced uneasly at the
door
AN | sent him away again
The biblical aspect came back to AIDE
laide Norris Once more she was the
woman she had been little while ago in
the dusk. He went away one moment
without sayin' word, an never come
back again | waited at the door with
20 in my arms until the stars come
out. I'm not gOin' to forgive him. I'm
not goin' to take him back. He
wouldn't do it 70 me. No man would
forgive woman 70 leavin' him | don't
see why | should make myself more
o fool than Il man"
She had loved the easy Job with all the
force of q strict. retcent nature. His
laughter, his carelcssness for the NOR
row. the set Of his cap on his head, had
all been lovely though unintelligibe to
her. She had fought hard against the
graver faults of his character, and grown
stricter in the fighting. \ vision of her
thwaited youth rose up before her. She
felt herself turning into stone.
The next day Il neighbor hailed her at
| the gate.
~ N heard 4. 3, che news, Mis- Norris'"
"Isahel Hunts come home. She come
day before yesterday, an her folks took
her in as If nothin' had happened. She's
| dyin' o consumption. It's in the family,
amt IL"
! II believe it Is"
ITS eighteen year since She went
away"
| Yes. know it is.
| Adelaide Norris walked steadily along
under her apple trees. the air was full
OF tongues; the cracking leaves under
| foot were crying out upon her She had
not married in her first youth. She had
| not been handsome. not even slight and
| pretty-colored like Margaret Ellen She
oyereStimate of fair face had been
hers. She had always connected her
/ husbands disappearance with that of Is
abel Hunts. a hayward girl, with
beauty enough to make Il curse Of IT..
Isabel had furnished the dull village
departure from il. Now job had come
back and So had she. Adelaide's eyes
hla2ed under her sunbonnet.
That afternoon she met Mrs. Fox out
on the pike. The weaker woman spoke
first.
He's lyin' on the Hat o his back with
rheumatism.
Isabel Hunts come home"
But. ADELAIDE. that's got nothin' to
do with Jobs comm. He's been good
for-nothin' an all that; | amt excusin'
him a'-tall, but it wasn't women"
Il can't get it ont of my mind.
We'll. yo'r wrong. ADELAIDE. | feel
Z sure about job that way as | do about
) myself.
Il can't believe anything different, y
said Adelaide.
) She knew that the eyes of the villagers
= were upon her. She had by heart the
Vocabulary in which they weighed hen
, conduct and found II wanting. She
was primitive and they conventional
Over against the tragedy of her life they
had set her husband lying i'll of the
rheumatism. The evil was forgotten
| the mysterious made uppermost. .Iol
, Norris, writhing in the grasp Of q rack
ing disease. put On the aspect of the snf
ferer. not that of the offender The
, glamor 81 those years in which he hat
been out of the thick of events in Greer
, Meadows was upon him.
/ Adelaide held her head high. Sh,
, tramped 20 church with the same Stcl
I that hal been hers for, years; He
glance never WaVcred to the window he
=, hjud which sat job, a white and gaun
, invalid She did her errandS mfaltcr
r ingjy,
/ Margaret Ellen dropped under il all
- The house behind the apple houghS n,
I | longer renewed its youth in her song
q Her father was n mere memory to her
. she had somewhat of his wavcring diSpo
Sition. The resentful feeling that
: weak will often harborS against doni
, rant one possessed her She half Shranl
from her mother in these autumn days.
n soon II was autumn no longer. TIL
- wind beat down from the mountains
a. 'HC Nti'N bt'Edt ~ TAU. II was IN
g week before Christmas.
One graw afternoon Margaret Elel
came home, all the color ont Of her face
! We got message 70 yo, from
= Aunt sara. mother"
l. well"
SHE told me to tell yo' that father
II very, had: She believes he's dyiu'. an /
t. yo' don come up there now, va might h
J sorry f. il some day"
. Adelaide was preparing potatoes for tn
.euins meal. She pared and cut an
g red again.
Amt yo.' soin'. mother;"
:, cant
" Arsaret Ellen sat down and began t
g ~ Sht rocked back and forth: an he
I pretty, fair hair fell about her like
cloud. Adelaide kept on with her homel
work. The door between the Kitchen an
= sitting room was open. Over the mant,
hung a fldej-out picture of her father
It Adelaide Norris had Still one idol left:
f. WAS the memory OF that father. \ motl
T. erleS> Sirl of q stiff aud serious tpmperg
ment she had loved the genial man wit
Is aR affection that is more often hcStowe
uuou lover rhau parent. No notion a
~ altering the course she had chosen Stirre
oh, Ia, / a.