Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1904-12-07
CHAPTER XIII.-CoSr1NUEp.

CHAPTER XIII.-CONTINUED
He had returned 70 the home of his
ooyhood after II years absence, dusty,
hungry, tired and slightly cross, and
his only welcome was an empty house
and the chance to skirmish for supper
at the village tavern.
This he did with not ever-satiSfying
results, and then he wandered up the
street. quietude akin to that of
cemetery now pervaded it. and though
occasionally he could see the occupants
of house on the porch, most of the
houses seemed empty. Firefies twinkled
above the broad meadows OF the Mizzy,
down the valley came the low murmur
eot its falls, the scent of new-mOwn hay
perfumed the air, and as he strollGd on,
somewhat soothed by the evenings
stiffness and his cigar, he came in sight
of Aunt Comforts. Toward it he hac
many times before turned his steps
on just such summer evenings lone
ago, and what il Angie should be there
now on the vine-hid porch alone and
waiting his coming as she used to
then! The thought made lis pulses
quicken, but as he drew near lie halted.
The spot had not changed at all. The
great naples, now thick with summer
foliage, almost hid the house, the
faint odor of lilacs and syringas
greeted him; the two oval panes over
the front door cleaned like two wide
open eyes, but no Whitehead girl sat
on the porch. Instead, from out the
hMnco n ~f
ting and laughing, quite oblivious of a
listener. He did not catch what was
said, and did rot try, and as he ad-
Vanced again the tinkling of a piano
began, and some one started singing.
1t sounded like Angles voice, and then
others joined in one Of the old songs.
well remembered by him. 1t was In
the Sweet Summer Time, Long Ago.
sand many a time had he been the sole
audience while Angie sang it. And
row once more laughter and voices.
two of them certainly masculine and
while he halted again in shadow, ne
heard how
I'm an ivy-covered cottage,
Hidden back by oaken trees,
Lived little maiden
Blithe and happy as you please
There upon a low veranda
Every summer eyentide,
/ sit among the flowers.
Fair Camoiia by my side -
1t was all very sweet and charming,
and doubtless the young men who We're
joining Angie in the old-tine ballad en-
joyed it, but somehow Martin didn't.
He wasn't sitting amid flowers with a
Sweet Camclia" by his slde-and what
made it worse, another man was il
his old-tin.e place. If Angie had been
pining for him all these years, it hadn'
affected her spirits to 4 serious extent.
Then, as another burst OF low laughter
reached him. he noved On.
"A little gathering of friends were
doubtless enjoying a call at Angles
end he was not one Of them. More
than that, 1t began to dawn upon him
that now, upon his return to the scenes
of his youth, he was Ii ely to find him
self forgotten. At the head of the
street he paused sgain, looking across
the Rtizzy TO where the home of David
Curtis stood. There was no light o.
laughter here issuing forth, instead the
house was silent, solemn, and appar-
Empty 0lsS liz lON vi
the Mizzy falls. now close by, was the
only sound. For moment only Martin
paused, his spirits at. low tide, and
then retraced his steps.
Reaching Aunt Comforts again. he
halted. The callers were still there
voices and laughter still Issuing. and
the two wide-open eyes over the from
door now seemed tc glare at his in de
rision.
A stranger in the village of his you'll
there was not one there who though
of his existencel
Even Angie, once all in all to him
was, or just had been. joining he
voice with another mans.
Then, as ne moved on, how the oil
memories returned. One by one, lik
the quick flashing views of a stereopti
con, they sred blythe many evening
he had sat on that same porch wit
Angie, the lingerings at the gate whe
the moonlight fell chechered throug
the naples, the summer evening ride
along lonely and shaded roads, tn
winter nights when the snow gleame
white and the bells jingled, the bar
dances when their feet and hearts keI
happy time to the music of the fiddh
the husAinss, the spelling schools. an