The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1901-07-19
After Twenty Years
= (Copyright, 1901, ~ Authors Byndicate.)
tx;< LT 4ka4& t:tGsEs1 6atSl x3 Gakss II
BY William Wendhanl.

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~ ; *sss Z! 49, . s'"s''';
ri fx3. utffftE 81 1f1s. .vsst eaiat*et}y
oTd=fash4bah She d:ssoldl fHshEoAs&a;hd
svouf7:of date and irritablss sud;etapky,
BY George: sir,"s said As aAc. III himself ~
he watched tho blue flames struggle
~unsdccessfully to leap into aome thing
Z like cheer fulness.. Even lily hre'wonA
+ burn. .1Nes+ ja,sed sNeryvman,ih| the
Office to-day, quarreled with, every
client I have seen,: bullied the. janit or
and spent the intervening time in hat
ing myself. I guess Eastmanis right.
ought to take . vacation, and see it
I can't get into some sort of harmony
with things in general"
What was it all worth, anyway
these days and nights of toll? To be
sure, he was successful, far beyond the
measure that comes to the average
+ man, his reputa lion was high in the
, to him, and he generally won, them.
His name stood high in the commune
ty, and honors on the bench or in po-
lltical life waited him at;nny time he
would accept them. But: these things
held o, fascinA ton for, him. For 20
years his life had been conferred in
this o:d-fasbioned back Office, He had
enjoyed MO. social life and little COM
panioR ship with his fellows, excepting:
his relations with his partners, his
clients and his opponents In the court
room. He trembled to think. of the
result should he lose. interest in his
work. =.
And yet it had not been always so.
Nor was he by nature designed for
life apart from his fellows. In his
younger days he had been a prince OF
good fellows, and had numbered his
friends by the score.
But this was before the broken chap
ter in his life, and that broken chap
ter had changed all the rest of the,
story. He thought as he tried to coax
some warmth out of the crate how diff
ferent it all might have been. He
arose and locked the door leading to
the outer office, and then he went to
the old-fashioned safe, and, unlocking
. a drawer, took from it an old da-
guerrotype. Going back to his seat,
he contemplated the portrait long and
earnestly. 1t was the face of a.beauti-
full, high-spirited, impetuous girl. t..
: This was the face which had caused
the broken chapter. AS he looked at
the old daguerrotype his features soft
ened and he lived over again the old
days when all the horizon was rose
colored. This was away back when he
was boy. He was accounted'a smart
boy and was ma king strides in his pro-
fession, and every effort and every am
bition was centered upon Amy Lester.
She liked him, too-there was no doubt
of that. Even now, at distance Of 20
years and with the keenest Knowledge
OF men and affairs, he did not doubt
that she loved him in the old days.
They had been Notwithstanding
and had built all the air castles of two
lives upon united future. Then caire
the firing on Sumter and. the call 1to'
arms by President lincoln: The blood
of the major quickened little even at
this distance of a, quarter of a cen
fury as he recollected the thrill With
which that call had been received.' A
delicious month or two and he had
found himself at the front. There
rolled before the memory of the major
all tie excitement, the dangers, the |
deprivations, the heroisms of those
dreadful four years; his steady. adj
vancement until he was mustered out
q major of volunteers.
The perspiration rolled from his
face as he remembered his home
coming and found that Amy had
plighted her troth to another-one far
richer than he and the choice of her
family. He had never asked her to
marry him, He had always supposed
it to be understood. They had writ
ten continually, and although her let
tiers had grown more formal he had
been so engrossed in his soldierly pro;
fession that he had scarcely had the
time to wonder what the cause was.
So the full knowledge Of the truth,
when he arrived home, nearly took him
off his feet. His great pride kept him
from doing anything to prevent her
marriage, even Qau III OecA POsSAO1o'
and so she had faded from his life, and |
with her all the joy and all the hope |
he had ever cherished. Then followed !
the weary years in the profession tot
which he had turned.
A knock aroused the dreamer, and
hastily stuffing the picture in his
pocket he opened the door. 1t was
card from one of his most profitable
clients, for whom he had recently won
q hardly-contested lawsuit.
"Show him in," grunted the major,
grudgingly.
Accordingly in hustled Peter Van
delmeicr, prosperous, pushing, self
but apparently somewhat
worried.
"You have got to get possession of
that Fletcher property, that's all there
Is to IT., major" said Vandelmeier, as
he sea ted himself and mopped his
brow. "Oh, I know you are not a
sheriff or a marshal or anything of
that Kind" he went on, as he observed
the majors rising ire, "but what good
will our decision do us, unless we get
/