The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-06
WHERE THE ROAD FORKS

The gIcamihg had fallen over the land and had wrapped them in. separating them from the rest of the world. To all intents they two-and one other, the par rier who came between them-were the sole occupants of the planet.
 She was the first to break the long si- lence.
 80 1t Is quite settled that you leave to- morrow" she said, and lifted her gray eyes to his.
 Yes tomorrow" Ee answered noodily tossing away his cigar, the red heat of which had long faded to dull ash from inattCution.
 Each was thinking that a chapter of their lives was closing, but whether IL was an episode or an epoch neither. knew. In any event life could never be quite the same to either of thm again. The time had come when they must be everything or nothing to each other froTI hence- forth.
 What a futile proposition this life Is. anyway" he broke forth abruptly. Out side of ones immediate kith and kin there be none to care whether one lives or dies and even they would soon forget One wears his life away to make a mark that shall last and 1t is like line in the sand which the first incoming wave wipes out. I work and worry far into the night to build a railroad or bridge that an other man could build as we'll Like the Arab I spend the years in tent from January to December a thousand miles from anywhere. and Wherefor am the better for it. In vain search for hap piness we wear away our lives.
 Her heart went out to the strong man bowed in d sudden despondency, as 1t had done thousand times in varying mood during the past days of close fellowshlp;
 There Is always ones duty" she said
 Bah. Let us not talk of duty; I am sick of the word.' he cried roughly. and somehow she loved the reckless seorI with which he trampled under foot tee ne rule of his life for she knew herself to be the inspiring cause. There IS always the days work, and one must do 1t II he be a man. But what avails It! WneEe does it lead? The whole thing ts blnd' helpless hopeless muddle ending in NO Thoroughfaro at last. l am nor on" tH go up the bare staircase of my duty m cheered and undepressed, as stevenson and sympathy-and love" The last word slipped out almost unawares . In their long talks they had come to know each other we'll as man ana wof f uninterrupted intimacy. Each knew what the other thought of art and literature and life. He had told her Of ms work anu ma of his ambitions, and had eeen met .ai ny | complete sympathy that had never Tai len 10 his lot before. That Is meEei! au, other way of saying that he had never before to his knowledge be4B y4oNeu ny '' ! woman. ,.t m . .
 Indeed. 1t was her clear divination, of his half-expressed meanings tnat e. haH drawn them together Now she uioeI- stood entirely the mood that was leaSiilE him to find his cherished work sometnlEs less than it had been to him. one sup, l feet there was which they had hot |e' broachcd. though they had often conn . Io ,,S ! the outskirts of 1t. There had aiM ag < | been about him reticence sussestl,Te :, ,''i oi d pent-up passion that both alarmEu G anu
 tantalized her. He had kept tight eur | on his tongue, but at last the '9' of his speech were unloosed. , ,,,., | Her heart fiutteTed like CdSeu pt- u v,
 but she drank in every syllable easet itsI,, ~ and would not for the world nave s'oii
 most stolid-lcoking, with something [. ! his makeup of the unimagnaINe ov, i reliance of an Eaglishman. Yet HIS nsnl i!,
 was afiame with passion. Nat.It, nus often smile at her little contraLl't"'HS' '' r ! "I am not the kind of man WHo 1a n 1 put into unmeaning words great ues
 of suggestion. l do not know ,,iiiro
 whisper little nothings with the ,ssha n7
 innuendo and the speaking eye. ,,f,i, et I1'' that is why l was never liked py WI .L.
 mocking infection, the hint 9i tlaS'v, l,' '5,,
 which some men affect. They . n!iu ,tit th,,r, l interesting and lesser men impress ,", tl,o ' | more than | There was q i'IhC Wii0n 5 chafed at the fact and was lotIr lu ro ii,,t
 init that 1 was a failure with WoIlit II, ,l i'r
 that time is long past I had my woIs @ !
 to do and the study of women , t,,'0t heG 1 with it. Catsgorically, l supP,sc' ir+''a, | a sufficient number of both lhc lhcitn ths and the vices to make my way ,omf how failed to please. It may have been pc
 cause did not care enough IT UoiT oJ,,ira tinr
 have passed q civil service ia, W ii
 10 womans favor I might nave nevi 'r, n, l right. I possess the .usutl do poi | eyes, and l have been told that oo "o'