The Oakley eagle. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1901-1908, 1906-05-03

ossely b. one yasrunt ray OF nght
which left the massed shades piled
strongly about the heavy hair. There
came upon him at that moment as
with a fiood-tide of memory. all tho
vague longing. the restlessness. the
,ncertitude of life which had harried
him before he had come to this far
land, whose swift activity had helped
him to forget. Yet even here he had
been unsettled. unhappy. He had
missed, he had lacked-he knew not
what.
The young woman rose, and stood
ont a pace or two from the shadows.
She turned her face toward Franklin.
He felt her gaze take in the uniform
of blue, felt the stroke of mental dis
like for the uniform-a dislike which
ne knew existed, but which he could
not fathom. With a strange, half
shivering gesture the girl advanced
half a step and laid her head almost
upon the shoulder of the elder woman,
standing thus for one moment, the
arms of the two unconsciously en-.
twined, as is sometimes the way with
women. Franklin approached rude
ness as he looked at this attitude Of
the two, still puzzling, still seeking to
solve this troubling problem of the
past.
There came shift in the music. The
air swept from the merry tune into the
minor from which the negro is never
unsteady free. Then in a flash Frank
lin saw it all. He saw the picture.
His heart stopped
This music, 1t was the wall of
| trumpets! These steps, ordered,
measured were those of marching
men. These sounds, high, comming-
| ling. they were the voices of a day
gone swiftly by. These two, this
| one-this picture-it was not here, but
upon the field of wheat and flowers
that he saw it now again-that picture
of grief so infinitely sad.
Franklin saw, and as he gazed,
eager, half advancing, INDIGESTION and
! irresolution dropped from him forever.
Resolved from out the shadows, where
in it had never in his most intimate
self-searching taken any actual form,
he saw the image of that unformulated
dream which had haunted his sub
consciousness so long, and which was
now to haunt him openly and forever.
|
The morning after the first official
ball in Ellisville dawned upon another
world.
Ellisville, after the first ball, was by
all the rules of the Plains admittedly
town. sun had set, and sun had
| arisen 1t was another day.
To Edward Franklin the tawdry no
ball was no mere four-square habita
ton, but chamber of the stars. Be
fore him, radiant, was that which he
had vaguely sought. This other half
of himself, with feet running far to
find the missing friend, had sought him
out through all the years, through all
| the miles, through all the spheres
This was fate. and at this thought his
heart glowed his eyes shone, his very
stature seemed to increase. He wist
not of Nature and her ways of attrac
ton He only knew that here was
that Other whose hand, pathetically
sought, he had hitherto missed in the
darkness of the foregone days. Now
thought he. it was all happily con
cluded, here in this brilliant chamber
of delight, this irradiant abode, this
noble hall bedecked with gems anc
silks and stars and all the warp ant
wool of his many, many days o.
dreamsi
Mr.. and Mrs. Buford had for ths
time excused themselves by reason o.
Mrs. Buford's WEAKNESS, and after the
easy ways of that time and place tn,
young people found themselves alone
Thus 1t was that Mary Ellen, with {
temporary feeling of helplessness
found herself face to face with the yer,
man whom she at that time cared leas
to see.
(To be continued.)