The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1906-02-10

1, and gentle that l had to lean forward
to catch exactly what she said ana as
l did SO she laid her hand in mine.
perhaps you don't Know" she said
slowly, quite what your friendship
has been to me-
| stumbled and said something bald
and stupid in response, and Mrs. JET
ferson went on:
For seven years | haze lived fer
nothing but this visit home to Eng
land. When anything in my life was
little Disappointing, / always said 10
myself, 1 have the children to 90
back to- And every weei, | had their
precious, foolish little letters, which
told me so little and kept Inc hunger
| ing to see them
1T must have been awful to leave
them again | said. and in the dark
| took again the little hand which had
lain in mine.
They were SO fond of me-" said
! Mrs. Jefferson, still in the same halt
ing fashion, like one who speaks an
| unfamiliar language Il mean when
they were little things. | do not think
quite tiny children could ever have
been more fond of their mother And"
she hesitated for moment, and
said, with SO much difficulty that it
seemed almost like cruelty to allow
her to proceed-"I always thought
they would remember me, although
they were SO little" She paused again
h; l.,
that ! was silly about them or that
expected too much always
thought at first they might be little
bit shy of me- But they didn't
even know ME, and they were certain
ly disappointed in me. One of
them was five years Old when | said
good by to her. Now she is a school
girl of thirteen. Her only photo
graph of me was taken long ago, so it |
is no wonder that she didn't know |
me- |
| did not fill in the pause by any
banal remark
They have been brought up in a |
very prim household" went on the |
gentle voice. lin which love, | fear, |
IS not thing that is reckoned with
or encouraged. They rather despised |
me for laughing and crying over them
when we met, and-it is only natural,
OF course-all their little condolences
were for the people who brought them
up, and all their ways Of thinking are
their ways, and not mine. One of my
little girls, l found, is not a very
truthful child, and the other, when |
asked her what she would like best to
do seemed more content at home
But you made friends and got over
all that before you left?' l said en-
couragingly.
IF only | had had little more
time!' said Mrs. Jefferson
1t would have been so much better
Tor her If she could have wept She
locked her thin hands together, and
said with sort of wall in her voice.
If only had had a little more time.'
After while she went on quite
quietly, and told me that her husband
had sent for her to return TO him, and
she had been obliged to leave the
children
"Of course a man wants his wife in
a solitary life like ours" she went on.
eXcusingly. And SO | said good-by
to them. | don't think any one
was very sorry when | came away"
The decks were quite deserted now.
tomorrow they would be alive with
passengers preparing to leave the ship,
and friends meeting friends from ;;on.-
bay, and ships officials, and hurrying
agents, and perspiring stewards. To-
night they were quite deserted save
for Mrs. Jefferson and me.
I'VE live quite an isolated life, at
the tea garden" she said presently,
but | left little dog there of which
am very fond. am afraid you
Will think me very morbid and imagin-
ative,' she added in her deprecatCry
little way, but l think | have based
all my possibilities Of bearing things
upon the question of whether or not
my dog knows me again and is glad
to see me- '
| still held Mrs. Jefferson's hand in
nine, and now l raised it to my lips
md kisseshr hretoahrdetahr hr hrdlu |
and kissed it. You will let me know" :
said huskily, and found to my sur ,
'rise that | could not say more
Yes. | will let you know" said
Mrs. Jefferson.
And one day l got little note from
Ter which said: The dog knew me-"
md that was all.-S Macnaughtan in I
Temple Bar