The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-05-03
PART III.
CHAPTER VIII.
As Time Rolls On

Eight years have passed, anu llH!e
the changeless, has wrought its change
upon men.
The world is still in labor, as it hath
ever been, and ever will be until the
| Reign Of Peace shall have truly com.
menced-which will be only when man
has changed his nature.
But although multitudes in their hu'
man shape shall never be able to well
come this better time, to each man II
comes in his turn. and none shall es'
| cape the Divine transmutation.
From this history of every day events
no actor who has played a prominent
part therein has yet departed; upon
the comedy or the tragedy of theif
| lives the curtain has not yet fallen.
But some are whitening, while others
are ripening. In these suggestive as
poets a comprehensive picture of the
world is seen; here wrapped in dark.
ness, there bathed in light, at . and
| the same moment. '
Thus side by side march joy and sor-
row, life and death.
During these eight years Mr.. Deep
dale's hair has grown gray, but his
| heart is as suspectible as ever to char.
| liable and tender impressions.
Wonderfully like him is his son Wal.
| ter, DOW a fine young fellow of three
| and-twenty, the two are even closer
| together than they were in earlier
| days when Walter was a child. and
therefore, presumably, more easily led
The secret of this lies as much in
sympathy as in love. These INSOFAR
| able companions T more like twin
brothers than father and son.
Thomas Dexter's hair has grown
white, and he has contracted a serious
and reflective habit of mind.
This is due to a more frequent as.
| ISOLATION with Mr.. Deepdale and Wal.
ter. who exercise over the old curiosity
dealer an unconscious influence for
good.
1t has led as yet to no practical re-
| suits, no crisis having occurred to ne.
| cessitate decided action.
His intimacy with Little Make-Be-
| lieve and Saranne continues, and he is
| occasionally kind to them in a larger
| degree than the bestowal of occasional
pennies.
This was especially conspicuous on
the occasion of the death of their faith.
er when he presented them with black
frocks.
1t was a gift they appreciated. for
despite his useless and evil life they
mourned their father with genuine sor.
row, and they would have been
shocked had any person ventured to
tell them that their loss was a blessing
So. but for three friends. in no wise
related to them, and of whom circum'
stance or the freak of fortune might
deprive them at any moment, Little
| Make-Believe and Sarranne were alone
in the world.
They still led their precarious life, be-
set now with peril because of drawing
womanhood, crowned. in Sarranne's
case, with beauty which made people
stare after her in the streets.
The contrast between the sisters was
very marked. Beautiful as is the
spring-time of life it had invested Lit
tie Make-Believe with no grace or
form or feature; she fulfilled the prom
Use of her childhood by growing up
stunted and plain.
She cared not; she lived but for the
happiness of one human being, and
that assured, she was herself happy.
She gloried in Saranne's beauty. and
was as proud of it and as fond OF set
ting it out in its best light as the most
devoted mother could have been.
Whatever dreams and fancies she in
dulged in were all for Saranne and Sa-
ranne's future.
Dangerous dreams. but indulgence in
them was a sweet pastime for which
neither she nor Saranne was ever dis
inclined.
The kernel of these dreams was
that Saranne was to marry a prince.
Heaven knews from what mysterious
fairyland the prince was to come, but
he would surely come n day and WOO
and win her.
There is a brief time in Il lives
when we see the future through a shin
ing veil which reflects, in their most
enhancing forms, Jul bright wishes
fand desires.
ITo bo rontinua1