The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1905-07-01


"Why, amt been this way for nigh
twenty years
''What?'' cried the astonished minister.
''Not three miles from home p
Il come over, the other said slowly as
if trying to remember 'to help raise a
barn-beyond That 5 the only time since
| was young feller.
Job, - Mr.. Smith began with desperate
suddenness, listen; know all about that
old trouble You thought it was dead and
buried but YOU were mistaken, and the
time has come to make you understand
that you wronged Harriet Macomber
grievously. The man you saw her driving
with twenty years ago was Il cousin, younger
than she, whom she had never seen before.
and never set eyes on again till he had
been long married If YOU had let her
say ten words in explanation your whole
life aud hers might have been different.
Silence descended upon them suddenly,
aS the horse reaching break in the is
cent stopped shor, and nibbled at a hang
ing chestnut leaf job face was flushed
as il anger had been his instructive emo
ton; his mouth betrayed a gentler impulse.
Nanno, di>secting purple aster, began
singing softly to herself Then as they
started on, Job said
Whats the use Of telling me that
now o.
Could it ever be too late for YOU to do
her justice? asked her friend | blame
Harriet, too. She ought to have insisted
upon your knowing the truth
she knew me too well, | pose, and
Job 5 voice was hollow. She could tell
from my actions that | want goin' to
make no kind of husband. I've thought
of that. I've gone over it a good many
times, even lately. Then, again, think
if she cared, why didn't she speak in spite
o me
Should she have no pride? asked the
minister again, sternly.
They were coming out of the woods
among the hilltops; brown, bare SUBMITS,
with ylumps Of sweet fern, bathed in
warmth and ready to give ont their spicy
odorS. masses OF scarlet sumach, late golden
rod and helianthus, and. waited on j stray
breeze. the faint, warm, intoxicating smell
OF vineyard added its testimony 10 the
ripeness of the autumn harvest Both
men knew the source of that ''scent Of
new wine. not only was Harriet Ma
eomber : long porch covered with the vines,
but one southern slope below the house
was covered with them, trained over low
latticts
job leaned back and drew in long
breath
"Ah-hr' he exclaimed. Il used to
come up here on fall nights, aud we'd
walk down through the rows-they We
been here all this time They ain been
leuded Ike they used to be | guess,
Ills voice trembled
The minister was watching his eager lit
tie horse aS she took each steep pull, with
body tense and strained He dared not
look at his companion. suddenly Job
buried his head in his hands
Il was to bIame he moaned. Il d
ought to have let her explain, darned fool
that was | thought I d got over it
but the -mell o them grapes--it don {
seem no time since We was courtin This
was her home, and druy her out of 1t.
Nanno, earelessly poised, with swinging
le.ss, on job angular knee, seemed sud
denly 10 become alive to the situation
She pulled down one Of his hands. gently,
with her own.
You mus, look at this house, she
piped. because it. where always get a
drink Of water
oh, Naunor' her father could have
hugged her. IF YOU want a drink,
dear, he suggested, as they drew up be
fore Harriet gate, II think Job would
get YOU one
The thin; stopping figure strobe over the
grass. and the minister turned the phaeton
round He saw Job mount the grape
hung porch and knock at the door. Then
with sudden impulse he laid the whip over
Gypsys back and she sprang down the
hitl, the light pebbles rattling under the
wheels
When they drew up before the parson
age, and met Mrs Smith anxious eyes,
she exclaimed; Henry, you We done it ]
oh, Alice don't know, N sure,
| We probably ruined Harriet cause, aud
lost job friendship for life; but | couldn
help it. I'm no use at such things with
out YOU he moaned, as he recounted the
afternoon sadventureS. His wife gravity
was not proof against the humorous aspect
Of job pligh; in having been abandoned
three miles from home at night fall; but
she also feltvaguely uneasy.
Il hope they Il settle it one way or the
other. she sighed. This mixing our
selves up in peoples bygoue love affairs is
the worst responsibility we ever shouldered,
dear My only consolation is that Mrs.
Parks hasn't found US out.
The light burned in the parsonage study
till nearly midnight, but not step ap-
preached the door. In the morning Mr..
Sluith spied smoke curling up as usual from
the school house chimney, but Job did not
pass, with his accustomed greeting for
Name Neither of the Smiths could set
tie to an ordinary days work. When
afternoon came. the minister took copy
of Browning, and, for the first time since
his assumption of his Bickford charge, re-
tired to hammock Mrs. Smith sat idly
in the doorway, not sewing much at the
little garment which lay on her lap, but
oitener watching the yellow elm-leayes as
they foated down.
Henry, she asked once, IF the thing
turns out wrong shall you be sorry you
didn leave it to take its own course p
Il dare say shall was the plaintive
reply, If only from selfish motives. Job
Corey is the one friend have here Alice.
There is not another man in Bickford so
free from anything sordid or small-minded
The farmers have been disappointment
to me in their self satisfied nawowness; but
he is entirely different. Even his one
grievance has not soured him after all -
Mrs. Smith sighed sympathetically
Womanlike, she thought with some bitter
ness that there was not even a female Job
to whom she could turn for satisfactory COM
panionship; but with faint sense of COM
pensation she remembered Mary Parks 5
youthful homage at her shrine, and took
heart from the consoling reflection that the