The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1902-06-07

had a hard cry She did not tell her
mother She could not have told any
one. She hated 10 think that even
Barbara Martin knew the man sh,
ioV"i, III such an altered light. but the
| mere fact of thinking Of him softoned
her and she noped-ay. in the loyalty
ci her heart size trusted-that Seth
had been misunderstood.
F., There suuald be no misunderstand-
:ng between them. She determined to
/ tell him that evening, when he called
all that she had heard. But tangled
4 through her trouble was sore feeling
OF disappointment that Seth could
have even carelessly trifed with an
other girl, and the feeling, too. of un
conscious jealousy in the thought that
he had prolonged the farce after he
had began wooing of herself. It was
a feeling akin to resentment against
him. in justice to herself.
When he entered the parlor few
hours later, he knew at once that
something was wrong and Kate did
not leave him long in doubt. She told
the name of her informant She kept
| back her tears, too, and the effort
made her voice hard. She waited for
him to speak when she had finished,
and IT they had been sitting nearer to
/ each other would have touched his
hand.
said that Seth Gray was proud, anil
If ever proud man was humiliated
that man was himself. No other proof
| than her own voice could have made
him think that this young woman
could believe for moment such
base falsehood against his manhood.
The feeling OF deep injury and indig-
nation was uppermost in his mind.
Without a word he rose and turned
to go. At the door he paused an in
stant TO look at her; then there was a
quick, firm step on the gravel walk,
me gate shut noisily. and he was gone.
from that night Kate never saw Seth
| Gray again
Never saw him again? How many
times she saw him in that doorway,
when the cat was purring contentedly
on the rug and the little earthenware
teapot was singing cheerfully on the
| hearth, only Miss Kate knew. How
many times that last reproachful
! glance looked in upon her during the
lonely nights of the long years that
followed, when the whole bitter truth
was before her, only Miss Kate knew.
How utterly dreary the tidy little par.
lor was at times during the long, long
hours, when the thought of that last
| night came back to her; how often the
soft gray eyes wept bitterly when she
thought of the wrong that she had
done him, and that she could never
undo now, Miss Kate and only Miss
Kate knew.
And that was the story Of her ro-
nance. A late train, westbound, car
ried Seth Gray away that night. She
lived her life as best she could, and be.
fore her little world the thorns in her
path were trodden unflinc chingly.
Whenever a woman's hand was need
ed, there was Miss Kate; wherever
chatira BILE duties was the hardest, in
the coolest winters, among the worst
class Of people; there was Miss Kate;
and although her purse was not
large one It was open constantly.
think that it was this constant do
ing of good, this never ceasing heal.
ing of bodies, minds and hearts, that
kept the hard lines off her face. even
when the early gray strands glisten-
ed in her brown hair.
If there was one weakness for which
she had no compassion, it was the
weakness Of drunkenness. II there
were any medicants that left her door
empty handed, they were those who
went there with the fumes Of alcohol
on the breath Truly the drunkard IN
her eyes was detestable.
And so the summers and the win
ters passed until the time came when
| Miss Kate had become an old maid be-
yond dispute. New lives came into
| the little town and old lives went out.
Girls in pinafores and small boys in
trousers grew to be women and men,
married and set up for themselves;
but to Miss Kate one year was but
repetition of another and it sometimes
seemed to her that she was contin'
ually going around in circle that hal
long since become monotonous.
If Mis- Kate ever thought that she
might have made her life happier, she
guraded the thought we'll; and II. the
smiling matrons ever occasioned the
slightest envy in her breast, they
could as easily have learned it from
the exterior of the neat cottage as
from it's prime mistress.
One wintery March morning she
started out. with basket on her arm,
to visit sick family. and she noticed
q small crowd of men and boys short
distance from her gate. The glbes
that reached her ears and the incohcr'
ent profanity that followed, told her
that a drunken man was the center OF
the group.
She knew that she would be Obliged
to pass them, but with the determine
ton not to be deferred from her pur'
nose by such an unworthy cause, she