The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1903-07-14
TIE LIE p H Q N F.

Hrt#fI' y t 'sf.tIT $50 NHE5
~ parade.
She was a southern girl whose fam
lily had been ruined during the war. 1t
had also deprived her of her lover,
Henry Dean. whom she had not seer in
years.
In the midst OF her reverie there was
a call at the telephone, apd, being alone
In the house, she went to answer it.
The voice was a mans. WHO are
your she asked.
Henry Dean. Is that you. Aunt
Jane? I'm down at the depot; start for
Baltimore in ten minutes and thought
I'd say How do you do! and 'Goodby.'
Have found another clew; pray heaven
It may lead to something. Have you
any message for the Carrollsy'
There was a pause while Miss Myers
stood there at the instrument, clutch
ing the ear piece as if 1t had been a rope
that was to save her from drowning.
BY a supreme effort Of will she had re-
covered from the shock the mention Of
that name had given her, and now her
brain vas Keeling with doubt, uncer-
tainty and longing. What ought she to
do? Should she reply and tell who she
really was or not? 1t was evident that
there was something wrong with the
wires and that Mr.. Dean imagined
himself to be talking to his aunt. What
claim had the little Miss Myers on
him now after all these years?
Very likely he was happily married,
and therefore was it not Miss Myers
plain and simple duty to say that she
was not aunt Jane" and then go back
to her work?
Harry" she called out softly.
1t was the name he had asked her to
give him twenty years ago, and now it
came to her lips and passed from them
realized it was spoken. La
agnes! Is it you? Where are you?
Street and number instantly before
the Connection
She heard no more, but with a gasp
called out the Runkles' address, then
hung up the ear piece and dropped
into her chair with a face as white as
snow Yet even now the instinct to
work was strong within her, and not
many minutes had elapsed before her
feet We're again on the treadle and the
whir of the machine once more filled
the room. Now, however. it's accom-
panying rhythm in her brain was not
all in the past tense. for did he
hear me? Will he Gomez kept up its
ceaseless throb till it seemed as if the
words must be stitched to every seam
Of the shirt she was making.
But as the time went by the little
dressmaker tried to prepare her heart
for the disappointment.
II may have dreamed it all while
listening to the playing of Marching
Through Georgia SO many blocks
away" she said to herself. .'It's TWEEN
ty years since we parted, and he was
twenty then and | sixteen. Absence.
they say, is the tomb of love, and
though, of course, with me- Here
Miss Myers sprang up with the second
little scream she had given that morn
ing.
This time, however. it was not the
telephone. but the front door bell that
had startled her.
II must open it myself. There's no.
body else" And she hurried out to
the stairs. II dare say it's. only the
milliner's boy with Miss Helen's bon
net"
But was it for the sake of the milli-
ner's boy that little Miss Myers paused
to give her hair a smoothing before the
hatrack mirror in the hall? And surely
nc milliner's boy was ever so received
on his business rounds as this one
when the door was opened and closed
nobody remembered how or by whom
on a tableau that would have delighted
the soul of the gossipy Miss Rickett
ove the way could she but have seen
1t.
Yes; 1t was Harry" twenty years
older. to be sure. but handsomer. if pos
sible, than ever, with not a gray hair
In his head nor a wrinkle on his face
n with such a passion of love in his
deep blue eyes that little Miss Myers
was fain to hide her Owl from the daz-
zle of it and nestle closer in those
strong. protecting arms.
AAu nave you Tedlly Deen LOOKING
for me ever since| asked Agnes pres
emily.
Eyes; eve since l came back from
Europe ten years ago. is the reply. 81
was sent there by the doctors to recov-
rer from the effects of a wound. and I
wrote you nearly a dozen letters then.
I knew. though. it was only because
you never received them that they
were not answered. But when l came
back and found all traces of you lost l
sometimes thought you had hidden
yourself %purposely, because-because l
had done my duty to my country. Yet
I never abandoned the resolve to find
you and have the truth from your own