The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-10
in for the nigh, before betting the
A WALKING COSTUME.

in for the night before betting the door.
 The woman.s face was not a pisas- ant one to look at Time and sorrow, disappointment and hardship. had wrought multiple lines about her mouth and made bitter her face. { Tonight. somehow. her thoughts kept going back to the~days when she was young and pretty--to the first years of her marriage--to the kind. big-hearted husband with the frank blue eyes and yellow hair and the little zig-zag scar ], above his left aye--to all the little yellow-headed babies. who. one by one. had gone away. leaving great strapping blonde giants in their places. She thought of Tom. the eldest, as she had seen him last-the hand-cuffs glistening on his wrists. and his eyes clinging to hers in the bitter agony of farewell. Dick. the second. who had l told her goodbye from his cofin. his dead face smiling up into her sad one 1 as they led her away and bore him to | the village cemetery And there was | Jim, the baby; Jim had married and | with a wife and babies of his own. plunged into foreign land to seek his | fortunes
 Twenty years ago Jake Banniman had thrown up everything and started l for Australia to win riches for his loved ones. Every year since then he | had held out strong hopes of coming home with his fortune in his hand, but just at his fingers were about to close l over it. 1t crumbled to ashes in his grasp.
 Truly. Fate had dealt many a cruel blow to this harsh old woman with the | line-seared face that nobody liked: a face that had once bloomed fair and | sweet and almost beautiful at times, with shining gold hair all about it, now scant and straight and dull! But finally. one day. there came a letter of ringing triumph. The wealth ! CT myth. or a will-o'-the-whisp, but a startling reality. and Jake was coming home to his own once more. A week later, there came a second letter. Jake was very i'll; 1t would be a long, long time before he could travel--if ever. The thought that her husband was out there alone and ill-perhaps dying almost maddened the woman and she made up her mind at last that she would cross the seas to him, at what ever cost. She had borne up under -death--disgrace-b there had always been the shadow of Hope to fall back on, and now--i But the money! She had not in all the world. as much as twenty dollars
 
 In oakville. money was no easy thing to borrow without security--certainly not for Eliza Banniman.
 And so the weeks passed.
 An imperative peal of the door-beIl | brought Eliza Banniman to her feet She threw a shawl about her gauut shoulders and hurried to the door. Good evening. Do you think you could let me have a room for the night7 am, stranger here. and have been turned away from two hotels; the last one directed me here"
 The woman shook her head. I'm afraid l can't" she said. every room is taken for tonight"
 The man waited a moment; then presently took out an old battered wallet and counted out ten crisp dol lar bills. T can afford to pay well l for it," he urged. and only want it for one night"
 l A sudden thought leapt to Eliza Banniman.s brain: she did not hesi-
 tate long enough to rismiss it. Very
 we'll" she said. 'I'll see what I can do." She opened the door wide for him, and the stranger entered, tossing his dripping n1ackintoth to the sleepy porter cook -lackey Eliza had summon ed in shrill treble.
 Show this gentleman to Hoskins' room" she ordered. when Hoskins comes, tell him I want to see him.
 The man paused a moment to as- sure her of his appreciation, and she noticed in a fleeting glance, that he Twas tall and bread. gheuEh trifis