The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1904-04-01

Iou mustn't think me such an i'm
beetle" She dropped Ter hands from
her face and shook the tears from her
eyes with a mournful little laugh. He
saw that her fingers were clinched
tightly and her lip trembled. Il Will
not cry" she said again.
Somebody ought to murder me. l
ought to have thought-personaliti
are hideous"-
"Don't! 1t wasn't that"
81 ought to be shot
"Ah, please don't say that" she said.
shuddering. please don't. not even as
q joke, after last nightn
"But l ought to be for hurting you.
Indeed
She laughed sadly again. 1T wasn't
that. don't care what you call me. l
am small. You'll try to forgive me for
being such a baby? l didn't mean any
thing said. I haven't acted SO badly
since was chiid.'
ITS my fault, all of it. I've tired
you out, and l let you get crushed at
the circus, and
''Thatv' she said. 81 don't think l
would have missed the circus"
He had a thrilling hope that she
meant the tent pole. She looked as if
she meant that, but he dared not let
himself believe it.
NO." he continued, 81 have been so
madly happy in being with you that
I've fairly worn out your patience. I've
haunted you all day, and have
Cali that has nothing to do with it,
she said, with gentle motion of her
hand to bid him listen. Just after you
left this afternoon | found that l could
not stay here. My people are going
abroad at once, and l must so with
them. That's what is almost making
me cry. l leave here tomorrow morn
ing"
He felt something strike at his heart.
In the sudden sense Of dearth he had
no establishment that she should be-
tray such agitation over her departure
from a place she had known so little
and friends who certainly were not
part of her life He rose to his feet.
anu, lCStiASS las Ii Il oy "a
more, stood staring away from her at
nothing. She did not move. There
was a long silence He had Weakened
suddenly. The skies had been sap
phire, the sward emerald. Plattville
Camelot of romance, & city of enchant-
ment, and now. like a meteor burned
out in a breath. the necromancy fell
away and he gazed into desolate years.
The thought of the square, his dusty
Office, the bleak length Of Main street,
as they would appear tomorrow gave
him a faint physical sickness. Today
it had all been touched to beauty. He
had felt st to live and work here a
thousand years-a FOOLS dream, and
the waking was to arid emptiness. He
should die now Of hunger and thirst in
this Sahara. He hoped the fates would
let it be soon, but he knew they would
not; knew that this was hysteria, that
in his endurance he should plod on,
plod, plod dustily on, through dingy.
lonely years.
There was rumble Of thunder far
out on the western prairie. A cold
breath stole through the hot stiffness.
and an arm of vapor reached out be-
tween the moon and the quiet earth
Darkness fell. The man and girl kept
silence between them. They might
have been two sad guardians of the
black little stream that FLASHED I'M
seen at their feet. Now and then re-
Fiction of PARKWAY lightning family
limned them with a green light. Thun-
der rolled nearer, ominously. The gods
were driving their chariots over the
bridge. The chill breath passed, leav-
ing the air again to it's hot inertia.
II did not want to CO." she said at
last, with tears just below the surface
of her voice. II wanted to stay here,
but he-they wouldn't can't
wanted to stay hereY' he said hus-
kily, not turning. "Here? In In
dianaT'
"Yes''
''In RoueE. you mean?"
'In Plattville."
GIN Plattvillep He turned now. as
founded
eyes. Wouldn't you have taken me
on the Herald?" She rose and came to-
ward him. 81 could have supported