The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-11-16


event. He took out his watch. Five
minutes of three Jones ought to be
here" he said impatiently.
"You didn't order the carriage until
three his wife reminded him, timidly.
''You must give great deal Of love to
father" she added, "and to your sister
Clara and Frances, and the doctor, and
to- she hesitated. Il suppose you
will see the Wyatts?"
eff have time 1 shall look them up .
he answered.
CLARA says Letitia is as handsome as
ever she ventured. How long is it
since you have seen her? 1t must be
twenty years at least"
ut is all of that"
she will find you very much changed.
"Changed?" He turned on her sharply.
Yes, you have grown so much stouter,
and you are getting so gray. 1t is very
becoming to you," Mrs. Hollis fastened
to add. Il never saw you looking bet
ter than you are looking this minute, I
was only thinking she would find diff
ference. We are middle-aged people,
now. Frank"
He looked at his wife, with her plump,
matronly figure and gray hair. Sophy
had never been pretty, and, on the whole,
the years had been kind to her: she had
gained more than she bad. lost. STILL it
was true, they were nliddie-aged people
according to the ideas of the world, and
perhaps it was too much to expect her
to understand him SO completely as to
be able to realize that there were days
when he felt like an ardent boy, in spite
of his sixty years. This was one of
those days. 1t was not of Sophy. who
had been his faithful wife for more than
thirty years, that he was thinking, as
the carriage drew up to the door, but of
a girl whose marvellous beauty had won
his heart nearly forty years ago.
The Rev. Francis Hollis had been a de-
voted husband according to the average
standard; he had nothing to reproach
himself with, he declared, as he went
down the doorsteps, and yet in all those
years there had not been a time when
the mere mention of this other woman's
name had not quickened his pulses. Safe
at the bottom of a drawer in his study
was her photograph, and deep down in
the bottom of his mind was the thought
of her. Letitia Wyatt was the most
beautiful woman he had ever known and
the most gifted Her standard had been
so high that she could not think of him
for a husband, but this had only set her
on more lofty pinnacle. Humility was
not his chief characteristic, but he was
very humble whenever he thought of
Letitia Wyatt
Crank, aren't you going to kiss me
11xyOs eli r.1Irf1 ilCr ftnxxy
the steps after him.
II thought l had" He turned and
kissed her with hasty perfunctoriness.
Don't NOPE while l am gone. Have a
good time
AS the carriage was taking Mr.. Hollis
away from his wife. he did not once
think of her. He was fond of Sophy,
more SO than she imagined or than he
realized himself, but he was going East,
and his heart was full of the eXultant
happiness of a schoolboy. 1t was of that
other woman he was thinking. and of the
time when he had loved her, nearly forty
years ago. At each stage of the journey
the Rev. Francis Hollis left a few years
of his life-. behind him, until by the
time he reached Eppingham he was ri
diculously young. On the station plat
form he looked eagerly to the letS. The
trees had grown; they made such bow
er of yellow aud red that he could only
catch glimpse of the WAITS chimneys
in the distance. The village, with it's
white houses and two slender white
spires, had changed very little in forty
years To be sure there were evidences
of electric lights and telephones, and
men and womeISwere making their swift
way on bicycles through the. sleepy
streets, but these things did little to i'm
pair the general impression of aristo-
cratic conservatism and peaceful self
satisfaction.
When Mr.. Hollis reached the Newhall
farm his father in-law was standing on
the doorstep to greet him. 1t was six
years since they had met, trifling
space of time in the life of the octogen-
arian, and his son-in-law could truthful
ly say, 'sYou have not changed in the
least You have learned the secret Of
eternal youth.
81 guess eternal age would come near
er it," said the old man. you've grown
fleshy, Frank, and you are getting gray
That don't seem right in boy like you,'
he added with a smile.
when you are stopping with Clara p
Peter Newhall said after supper, as he
and his son-in-law were sitting in the
prim parlor that was only used on state
occasions.
q! thought l should look them up
Lucy Wyatt was here in the summer
long with her sister Deborah They
came to buy cow. She's a real sweet
woman, Lucy Wyatt"
II never could forgive her for the way
she treated Alec"
''I'll own I'd felt kind o. hard TO her
all these years." said the old man, ''but
when | come to talk with her and to
see her with the same childlil.e eyes and
yellow hair, but so changed in her face,
and when | see the tears come into her
eyes at the sound of my poor boys name
] felt different. l guess she's had her
own punishment But so far as l could
find out it was her folk that made the
trouble | kind o. mistrusted all along
that Letitia was at the bottom of it.
'I.etitia. l am sure she would never