The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-31
s THE ADVERTISERS : DAILY SHORT STORY

E $ $ i; < < < $ # $ The twilight crept in at the windows and filled the large and exquisite apart l ments with subdued sadness like the minor strains in some old. sweet song. Ste althily the .olg shadows of evening stretched across the velvet carpets and up the tapestries and the gilded walls. And the gray-haired man. sitting beside the freplace, saw them drawing nearer and nearer. like the shadows of death. He gazed with startled eyes and, clutching the arms of his chair. bent forward In the attitude of listening. But the broad rooms. filled with magnificent paintings, rich furnishings, rare statu- ary ana all the luxuries that wealth and travel could procure. were silent as the tomb: No sound. save only the whis- the vine-covered portico reached his ears.
 He coughed-coughed violently. and a hectic glow mounted his sallow cheeks. And then he shuddered. for the sound of his coughing echoed hollow and weirdly through the deserted house. With a mighty effort he reused him self and raked the coals on the hearth until they showed a glowing edge, and tiny flame leaped upward, illumining the deepening gloom
 He piled huge chunks of wood upon the fire and watched the merry blaze climb higher and higher until the tips of It's forked tongues were lost to sight as they roared up the broad chimney. Then he wrapped the folds of his gown about him and sat and shivered-shivered | over the fire. although 1t was early autumn and the grass was yet green and the geraniums still in bloom on the far | stretching lawn without.
 | And as he shivered his thoughts ran | backward over the vanished years-ran | back to the days when the mansion was | filled with the music of babys prattle and a mothers song.
 Then the lisping. infant voice changed to the merry laughter of a little girl and grew stronger and stronger until al- | most before he realized the lapse of time. it had changed again-changed into the rich contralto of one who stood upon the threshold of womanhood.
 How proud he had been of her; how happy in the smiles of his only child :.
 The beauty Of her eyes! How he had likened them to the glow of the woods in October
 He cast his eyes around the room and drew nearer the fire. God! How lonely
 Had he been in the wrong? Had what he chose to call his iron will been. after all, only an obstinate stubbornness? He himself, had once been poor. He, him his fist against the hard rock of adver- sty until the blood flowed But he had broken the rock at last and had roamed a. will amid the bountlf.l fields thus open unto him. Had he bean uncharit- able; had he been harsh and cruel to those who still were pounding?
 He remembered the evening when, un- der the June skies, Robert Boyd had come to him and manfully asked for his daughter. Perhaps it was because Rob- ert Boyd was only poor mechanic; per- haps it was because the sudden thought of losing his daughter, whom he loved with all the passion of a devoted father had wounded him. Whatever the cause, he had roughly refused the request and had forbidden Robert Boyd to bestow any further attention upon the child of his art.
 And when Grace had come to him had come timidiy. and afraid with q great yearning In her eyes, and n blush on her cheek, and had placed her arms withdraw his refusal, he had pushed her aside and had said, Grace. marry that man, and never again need you call me father"
 He had gloried in the power of his will. But she was his daughter; she was of his flesh and his blood, and she had inherited his will as we'll as his name.
 Quietly she had left the room. and he had turned away and had not seen the gieam in her eyes or the proud poise of her head. Had he done so, perhaps no, no; he would never have consented
 After her secret marriage to Robert BoydJ Grace had written to him He had not preserved the note. In anger he had torn 1t up and cast the particles to the winds. But he remembered she had not asked his forgiveness. She had simply informed him of her marriage, and had added "I love you. but if you ever see me again, yoE must come to me-"
 How long. ago was that? Ten-fifteen years. God! the wasted desolate years! And all the time they had lived in the same great city. but he had not seen her since-not once in all that time.
 Her mother had died-died of a broken heart pleading with him to go and fetch their daughter. But he had set his jaws and answered. Anything you ask, Mary anything but that. She has broken my heart as well as yours, but I'll die, Mary. I'll die before I'll ever look into her eyes again.
 And after the death of the mother he had shut himself up in his mansion had shut in himself and his misery: had shut out the world and his daughter How slowly had dragged the years
 He had heard 1t ,2id that Robert Boyd and his wife were not in good ciroum- stances-that they were actually i'll want. Fridays story. THE SPIDER WOMAN