Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1903-03-04

Until then l mad not rSallZeQ any
thing unusual in the appearance OF my
friend before me, but as the fact OF his
amazing disappearance forced itself
on my mind, must confess that colo
shiver shook me.
"He was here an instant before; now
he was gone! How? Not through the
door, for that was still closed. opened
it and looked out into the hall. No one
was in sight. looked around the room
again; no one there. He had not gone
through the window for the shutters
were still closed, and the dish of pan
sizes still stood undisturbed on the sill.
81 dropped breathless and trembling
into my chair. What did it mean?
Something on the side of the table
where Frank had stood, caught my eye.
| / looked closer; it was rose. picked
it up. 1t was fresh, its stem still wet,
and an exact counterpart in color and
form of those in the jar, but was sure
that there had been no rose on the
table when I sat down. What did this
mean? Had Frank dropped it there as
a token? Then l remembered the mes
sage which had promised to deliver.
81 left the house at once, without
having seen or spoken to any one, and
went directly to the home where
Franks widow lived. A rang the bell
she opened the door to me.
"'Oh, Mr.. Forster she said, I felt
sure you would come. Bess is i'll, and |
am So anxious about her.
81 followed her into the room where
the child lay in her crib in a feverish
slumber, the rose-fush of her cheeks
turned to a burning red, her hands
hot, her breath labored; and as
looked at her my heart grew heavy
with foreboding. 1t must be true! Her
father had called her to come to him,
and l must tell the mother!
"She must have seen. something
strange in my face and manner, for she
turned to me with quick apprehen-
sion of coming trou paling her face.
"'What is it, MI Forster? Do you
think she is
"Her voice failed her, and she sank
on her knees by the child and moaned,
o my baby, must you go too?'
"Then she turned to me and said in
a low voice, Mr. Forster, l almost be-
lieve that Frank has called her to
come to him, for this morning, as she
lay quiet and thought she was asleep,
she suddenly opened her eyes and lifted
up her hands, calling out in such
glad. pleased way, Papa! Papa!
Papa!" She looked as if she saw him.
What do you think? Did she?'
81 told her then as gently as could
what I had sean and heard, and gave
her the message that had been given
to me by something that had worn
Franks face and spoken with Franks
voice.
"She looked at me steadily while l
told her all, and when l had finished,
all she said was, 'Bess will go too
"And she did. 1t was only few days
before little Bess died,~and we laid her
by her father who had so loved her,
and who had come back from that 'un-
known bound to call her to him. With
in a year Mary had followed them.
"Now, Miss Evans what was it stood
before me in the solitude of my room,
wearing the living semblance of my
dead friend, and speaking to me in his
own well-known voice? Was it 2 dream
an illusion? l am sure it was neither.
If ever | may believe the evidence of
my senses, then l must-I do believe
that it was Frank himself, drawn back
from that misty borderland' by love
stronger than death itself; and this be-
lief has been great and comforting
assurance to me-"
They sat silent, Dicks face grave,
his look abstracted from outward
things.
The birds were flying westward to
the woods where their nesting places
were All the air was full of golden
glory. Across the swelling water
shimmering path led away to the red
heart of the sinking sum- A fresh breeze
out of the northeast sent the long
waves running to the shore to break in
curling foam-fringes on the pebbly
beach.
Out of the shadowy depths along the
horizon line grew white sail, return
ing.
"See!' she said, pointing to it. Then
she held out her hand to him, smiling
gently-;'I thank you."-The Criterion.