The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-06-05

cracked as he had made out, ard that
he had slipped away to he rid of that
bold girl of Burke's, forever tiinging
herself at his head. And u wise lad
he was too"
The holders OF these various theories
spent many an evening arguing over
,hem at great length. with no result
as far as coming to an agreement was
concerned At the end of winter,
when Harry had been missing six
months and more. each was more
positive than ever that there was but
one possible explanation and that one
was their own. Particularly the old
lady of the supernatural ideas
Then came rumors of the aband-
ment of the Gravity Road. and for Il
while the little settlement had a new
and all absorbing topic, which indeed
lasted until the end of all things at
Number Eleven.
The new railroad which was to sup
plant the old Gravity was completed
now. and the dismantlng of the old
line was carried out at once. The
engines were removed. the headhousc
stripped of every thing OF value: rails
and ties were taken away. and the
~
along the line set about adjusting
themselves to the new conditions Of
life.
Some became stations of the new
road and hourished more under new
names with the new regime than they
had under the old. Others. left To
one side in farming districts, passed
into a sort Of vegetable existence, and
l,..,
did ancient Sleepy Hollow. And Num-
Der Eleven died outright. Difficult Of
access as it was, it would not have
been a practical place for farming,
even it the soil had not been largely
composed of boulders and great sheets
Of rock. once the railroad was taken
away its excuse for existence van
ished with the dismantled head house
So its inhabitants drifled away to one
place. or another and its houses grad
ually fell into decay.
The Burke's moved to the city,
where John Burke found work on the
r"w road. Mary was employed in one
OF the stores of the place and time
passed more briskly. now that she had
new enviornment to keep her thoughts
busy. Not only was there tn" con-
slant nOvely of her new work to Oc-
cupy hey, but new friends to make and
new things to learn. There were
plenty of young men too, who tried
to make the town pleaSanter TO her.
but though she was always pleasant
and cheerful she gave more than one
to understand that she was not for any
of them. She could not marry the man
of her choice. 1t was true. but it was
not necessary to marry any one, so it
seemed To her. in spite of her mothers
urging
SO we can leave her living her quiet
life, faithful to her ideal. cherShing
the memory Of her loss, but not re-
r!ning over It, during the years that
Intervene between the first and The
last parts of this tale.
Harry's flight from Number Eleven
had been the result of one of thos.
strange impulses which sometimes
come to persons in his GaZed condi-
ton. IE his complete loss of memory
the town and its people had become
new and strange to him. The lifelong
friends. with whom he was becoming
acquainted once more, even his brother
and Mary. in spite of their kindness
Wer" aliens. There was an uncOn-
trollabl" desire always present. To
find some one he really knew: some
place that seemed really familiar: in
Il word. to find himself.
The days following his escape--as It
always seemed to him to have been
were never very clear to Harry. How
many had passed. or how or in what
direction he had come. when one even
ing he found himself in Albany. We're
all beyond his comprehension one
thing only was clear. He must find
some employment or starve.
lie remembered the name of Number
Eleven; il had been the answer to-
the first question of where am !" that
followed his return to consciousness
But his own name he did not know
for beyond the remembrance of his
beng called Harry when he first be-
gan to move about out Of doors there
was no clue to go on. lie had never
asked 'who am L.
OF the location of Number Eleven
he was equally ignorant. 1t was too
small place to be in even the most
complete galeteer. OF course its
rearness 10 the city in the valley be-
low would lucat" it if he ouly could re-
call the name of the city. This loss
of the whereabouts of his starting
point ii! np' worry Harry at all just
then, ln@a"d he felt Il sense of relief
in IN" thought that il was gone with
out recall.
4 man must have a name, so Harry
Watres became Harry Parker. He
found work with firm of contractors,
after some difficulty. for his vague
stories of what he had worked at be-
fore had somewhat unreal sound.
and he Was turned away at more
than ON" place as AN escaped criminal
might have been. Harry WAS good
worker and soon won the confidence ~
his employers and was advanced 10
better position than his starting one
in ii very few months.
II would be useless To follow him i'm
the tedious existence that was his for
a while 1t is enough to say that in
II comparatively short time he had
saved enough money In enable him To
20 Ia Nebraska, where he was in time
TO lake part in the development of
one of the thousands Of new towns
S, altered over the west. whore
strong intelligent man cannot fail TO
make his way. Parker was not long
in becoming one of the leading cIti-
2ens of the place. and incidentally
BE- coming undoubtedly we'll to do
About this time Harry hogan In be
t"nlalized by half memories, as OF
81 me former existence, vague plimpses
of events that he could not connect
with each other. The vision of
'srimmy building with girl in "a blue
iless standing in the doorway "A girl
when he called Mary and whom he
loved VAS the most persistent of these.
Gradually he began To realize that II