The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-09-01

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could not have pictured as many
funeral pieces as were here before hei
in reality. But before she could take
them in by detail, she was startled by
stifed sob from the other side oi
the lot.
She glanced nervously in the direc-
tion of the sound, and there, prone
upon the ground with face pressed
against the coarse gravel from the
grave, she saw slight, girlish figure,
which shook convulsively with great,
dry sobs. In a moment Mrs. Neal
was beside it, lifting it tenderly in
her own strong arms.
"Why, Mis- Burton p she was ex-
claiming in surprise. "You hadn't
ought to be here, an layin' there on
that damp ground, too You'll ketch
your never-get-over."
The figure stiffened in her arms,
and face was turned to her-an
ashen face, haggard and marked by
the pitiful grief that had not yet
known the boon of tears.
"Please leave me here, the drawn
lips pleaded. "Please go away p
Mrs. Neal drew her yet closer.
mo, 1 sha'n't, dearie. I sha' MT
leave you all alone here. They hadn't t
ought to let you come. Some one
ought to have looked out for you,
you poor lamb" Her own eyes brim-
med with sympathy. She clumsily
stroked the rumpled masses of brown
hair, while she racked her mind for
some timely word of comfort. "I
know how it is, she went on. cts
hard at first-dretful hard but after
a time you come to be reconciled-of
course not at first, but after a time,
dearie, after time. 1 know. I've
been through it !"
mot this" said the other woman
hoarsely. "You haven been through
this" Her fingers closed on Mrs.
Meals arm. "The morning tit
happened, we had quarreled. He left
me in anger. 1 don't know why I
am telling you this. He said-he
was standing in the hall in his riding
clothes-he said, Perhaps it is better
we should be apart, and l shrugged
my shoulders and turned away. And
then they brought him back after his
horse had fallen with him."
She stopped abruptly. She was
trembling from head to foot.
II guess I know why you've told
me this" said Mrs. Neal quietly.
"You better come over to the wall
with me. l want to tell you some
thin"
She led the way to the low wall
that was the cemetery western boun-
dary, and, seating herself on a fiat
stone, drew the other woman down
beside her.
eyes, I've been through even
that" she said, IAN I guess I know
how you feel. 1t was Jest that way
with Rufus an me. We fit somethin'
awful at times. An that mornin'-
that last mornin' had about the
worst spat we'd ever had.
"'I wisht I never had to see your
face again, he says to me when he
set out for the woods.
cit was four in the afternoon when
they brought him home. A tree'd
fell on him, an he never spoke nor
opened his eyes afterwards. Well,
after the fun'ral / was most crazy,
dearie, jest as you be now. Seemed
as if I'd got to see him an ask him
about them last words of his.
II took to spiritualism; not that I
had any real faith In it, but it was a
chance. I mortgaged the farm and
spent the money for seances; but all
l got out of it was lot of fool mes
sages that I knew well enough never
come from Rufus. Once they said
they'd materialized him for me; but
law all there was to it was spot of
light they told me was him, an when
1 asked it questions it couldn't seem
to answer me noways satisfactory. So
I give that up, an for five years I
jest set an ct my heart out.
"Then one night I had a dream.
Twas almost too real for a dream.
Seemed as if I was washin' up the
kitchen floor; an 1 looked up, an
there stood Rufus, leanin' in the door
way Jest as natural as could be. 1
got up off my knees an run to him
jest as 1 was, an put my soapy arms
round his neck. an laid my head on
his old blue shirt; an was so happy
I was cryin' an laughin' an talkin'
all to once.
Rufus, oh, Rufus, I've wanted
so to see you to ask you somethin' ;
says 1.
''He was lookin' down at me jest
as he used to sometimes, only his
face seemed to be kinder more shinin'.
"'Well, why don't you ask it p
says he, sorter laughin' like.
Rufus, tell me about them last
words of yourn,' says I. Tell me
you didn't mean 'em'.
II was clingin' hard to him, 1 was
so afraid he'd leave before he'd an
swered.
"'Them words?' says he. why,
if you'd had a grain of sense you'd
"a fgered it out for yourself. Hain't
we always been fghtin' an a maxim
up? Don't you suppose we should
"a made up that night when I got
home, same's we always done? Don't
be foolish, Sarah. Them words never
meant nothin'. You know that's
we'll as I do.
can then I was wide awake, sim
tin bolt upright in bed, an my face
an my piller was all wet. I got up
an lighted lamp an set down in the
old rocker, an I was that happy I
begun to laugh all to myself. 1t was
the first time I'd laughed for five
years. 1t had come over me all to
once that even if it was a dream it
was the truth. An that, dearie, is