The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-15
Our Daily $bort Story

he went on the following evening to receive the confirmation of his joy and the leaden steps with which he left the house after receiving the intelli- sence that her parents had other plans for her and bitterly opposed her mar riage with him, how she had been made to see that her duty lay with them ard had acquiesced in leaving home at once for long journey. The situation was explained with great emphasis by her mother and was con firmed by fearful little note from her which warned him that the de- cision was final. He remembered the frantic efforts he made to communicate with her and their utter futility. Then the news of her marriage to William Gray, a wealthy lumbermar. Then tn } long years of bitterness. disappoint- ment and hard work, until
 He came to with a start to find his cigar had turned to dead ashes. lie cursed his folly for indulging his memory.
 A moment later he was leaning for ward in startled and wrapt attention. Across the gay throng came in clear sweet tones the very words and music which he had just heard Tn his dream and most marvellous the voice was that of his false sweetheart. He thought tis senses were playing him a trick, ana ne plnCHGu nlITSSlI SndTpiy- NO, ne was awake sure enough. Drawn irre- sistably he arose and stepped into the drawing room, where the singer stood. As he caught sight of her he reeled ana nearly fell. It was her in the very fiesh-every note of her voice. every gesture the same. And not only that but still seventeen, despite the two de- cades which had rolled by.
 Where's all the joy and mirth
 Made tEis town Heaven on earth? An. it's gone with thee, Robin Adair!"
 As she sang these words she threw the same demure glance at him as she did twenty years ago.
 Greatly agItated he sought Mrs. Hatch at once and enquired eagerly who the singer vas.
 Aha, the 1d fox caught at last" laughed the lady tapping him with her fan. Well. you're not alone. Two thirds of the men in the room are in love with her. It's Edith Gray. daugh- ter of William Gray. the wealthy lTm- herman. He married Edith Barnum-- you must remember her-or was she younger than you? Come I'll present you"
 twenty years as he was when present ed to the beautiful singer. who received him greciously. His friends were astoundcd at his transformation. All the alcofness. all the testiness, all the diffidence, all the stiffness nf his bach eior days dropped from him as dis carded shell and he seemed to become again a joyous open-hearted youth. From a person to be respected and feared he was transformed in an in. stant into man to be admired and loved. He certainly was a mos. at tractive person in his new role. His years of work and study had ripened and filled his mind, experience had broad med and rounded his nature. the years and his suffering had crowned him with much white and gray in his magnificent head of hair.
 His attention to the fair Miss Gray was so pronounced as to be unmistak- able. It caused comment but he did not care. She could not fall to be pleased and agitated by his ardent at tention.
 Morton returned to his apartments that night in a delirium. He had found her again. His old sweetheart had been restored to him. renewed and re- vigorized-the years stripped from her. She was the very creature he had part ed from twenty years ago He learned that her parents were abroad for some months and she was stopping with rel atives. His courtship was persistent cyclonfc. The girl never had come in contact with so dominating a charac- ter and besides was attracted to him by that subtle charm which always reaches toward a mothers former lover. When the Grays returned from Flu rope they found they had a son n-in-law, In meeting whom Edith the elder expe- rienced a shock as great as that felt by Morton when he heard Edith the younger sing the old song.