Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1904-08-06
TANGLED
THREADS
BY F. B. WRIGHT
Copyright, 1904, by T. G. Mcclure


Thanks! Have l really aged so
much since thenY
II mean until l saw you it seemed
thirty" he explained.
''Three years-it goes very quickly.
You haven't changed much"
~? l haven't changed at all"
She regarded him critically. emo,
you haven't--in looks"
II haven't in any way" he replied
earnestly and with an undertone Of
intention in his voice. "And you
you are all imagined"
II imagined? Then / was not q
reality three years ago. I was mere
Pigment of your brain. What do you
meanw
II mean-why--that in all these
years / have been imagining you-in
all sorts Of ways, you know"
"Oh! Sometimes as fair haired, I
suppose, and sometimes as dark hair
ed, sometimes with hump and some
times cross eyed"
"Nonsensew
swell, it's what you said, all sorts
Of ways and yet-do you remember
the silly speech you made me when
you went away"
"Of course only it wasn't silly. 1t
was the frozen truth"
"It didn't seem very frozen then,
but perhaps it does now, however, at
this distance. You haven't answered
my question yet, though. What was
it you said?'
Why-that-what's the use Of my
telling you over again if your memory
is so good"
"It's your memory that's in ques-
ton, not mine Confess you don't re-
member"
"But do, of course. 1t was that
wouldn't forget" he said triumphantly.
Miss Travers dropped her eyes, raised
them again for brief fluttering mo-
ment and again dropped them with q
pensive little smile.
"And you remember what it was l
said to you then?" he asked impressive
ly, leaning nearer and looking down at
the bent head.
"You said-of course, you were just
saying it-but you said you would re-
member every word had said to you,
every look Of my eyes, every tone Of
my voice. You were quite sentimental
that night"
''It was meant, every word of It, No
man could forget know it now"
Nov? Didn't you know it then?
What do you mean? You talk as
though you were not the same man you
were. Aren't you"
swell, every man changes, you know,
every seven years. Scientific fact, ]
believe"
"But it hasn't been seven-only
three"
ooh, Of course, not really change. l
was joking. What / meant was that
knowing you, having your image be-
fore me these years, has made chang
ed man of Unchanged the whole
course of my life," he said earnestly.
"Ah, and you have that photograph
of me yetY IS.
"Of course. AS if / wouldn't! 1t
has never been out of my keeping since
l stole it from
II thought gave it to you myself?"
she said, with some surprise in her
voice. "Have you forgotten how you
begged it from me that night?'
"Of course ! haven't forgotten" he
replied heartily. IL know you gave it
to me-" But she was not listening.
Her eyes were looking off into the dis
lance beyond the dark glass Of the con-
servatory.
"How beautiful the moonlight was on
the water that night, and far off some
boating party was singing 1t was per-
fectv'
eyes, perfect, at least to me-"
"Do you remember when we glided
into that stretch of lily pads and l
lifted them dripping from the water
each drop like a diamond and you
said
"And / said l wished they were real
so that | could give them to you," he
said boldly.
did you? / thought it was that the
drops would spoil my goWn-the gown
you admired so much.'
II did admire it. / have always seen
you in that gown-and your face lumi-
nous in half shadow, the CLINT of your
hair and your arms cleaning in the
moonlight as you trailed your fingers
in the water and made silvery ripples
over the polished black mirror of the
er-river"
He drew a long breath when he fin
ished, as one who felt relieved.
'And it was as we neared home,
wasn't it, that you told me that you
wanted my picture?"
Eyes"
The corners Of her mouth twitched
little. ''What splendid memory you
have" she said, "a marvellous memory
call it. | wish had one like it,
though it's not what l would call &C.
curate-if that's a sample-because, you
see, you didn't ask me for my photo
graph that night. It was fall when
you left, and it rained hard that after