Wallowa chieftain. [volume] (Joseph, Union County, Or.) 1884-1909, 1902-01-09

{ SOUTHWARK. Inc summer DUSK began
to deepen, yet she met no traveller and
passed no house. What lonely coun-
try it was, that New Hampshire noun
tain valley! The great hills looked
giants. The night air smelled of
swamps and piney glens, and deep
buried solitudes. The voices were all
those of wild creatures, mysterious and
hidden. How the weary, heart-sick
woman longed for the sight of a roof,
chimney, an open door-especially for
the face of one of her own sex. Only
the heart of a woman understands a
woman's heart,
At last, when the firefiies began to
drift across her path like sparks from
the crumbling embers of the sunset,
Abigail, turning a bend in the road,
came suddenly upon the welcome glow
of farmhouse window. She FASTENED
forward, and, turning into the little
path between the lilac bushes, ap-
preached the open door. A man sat
upon the doorstep, smoking, and as he
saw the approaching figure he rose and
called his wife.
A buxom. sweet faced woman came
hustllng to the door, skewer in hand.
The moment Abigail's eyes rested upon
her face, she cried:
Lucinda Jonesw
The skewer fell Gathering upon the
floor, and the two women rushed to-
gether, like amicable battering-rams
the arms of the larger embracing friend
and child in their expansive embrace.
abigail Drew! Be you still living in
these parts? l heard, away out in York
State, where we just moved from, that
you and your brother had gone West
twenty years ago. My! and you've
been and married and got baby! Come
Income in! Lorenzo, fetch the rocker
out of the settin room. How glad l
am to see you again, Abigail. ] thought
you and me was parted forever"
How straight love had led her wan
dering feet! Abigail sank down in the
cushioned rocker and marveled at the
cheerful freight playing on the face
Of the sleeping babe Welcome-ref-
uge- sympathy! All! she had not obey
ed the inward voice in vain.
Six weeks was Nathan Drew a-search-
ing for the treasure he had lost He
drove east, west, north and south, stop
ping at every mountain farmhouse to
seek news of his sister. Nobody had
seen her going or coming. The yawn-
ing earth could not have swallowed her
more completely.
But at last he found her. She was
sitting with her baby on a low chair
under the lilac bushes, and he spied
her before he had reached the house.
She saw him at the same moment, and,
springing up like a hunted creature,
made as if she would have fed. But
he stopped her with pleading gesture,
and a look on his face such as she had
not seen since they were children to-
gether
'You don't know how I've missed
you, Abigail" he said, simply, drawing
rein in front of the lilac bushes
The man looked haggard and worn,
and there was pathetic tone in his
voice.
81 can't go home with you, Nathan"
said Abigail, firmly; and she pressed
the rosy child closer to her bosom. Yet
there was yearning look in her eyes
that her brother was not slow to inter-
pret.
"I've thought it all over since you
left, Abigail" he said, land it's ben
borne in upon me that, per'aps, l was
wrong about the child Come home
and you shall keep 1t as long as you
live. l won't say another word. It's
the only love affair you ever he'd, Abb
gail, and l amt a-goin' to stand any
longer between you and your heart"
The tears welled to Abigail's eyes as
she came out into the road with her
child
Put your hand on her head, Nathan"
she said, land swear to me that you
will never part US. Then l will go
home with you"
Nathan Drew hesitated a moment.
Then he touched the child's head with
the tips of his horny fingers, and said:
81 swear 1t, Abigail"
So the two and the child went home
gether.-Waverley.