Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1907-07-12
A Modern Esau.
BY J. GRAY.

Harold
The speaker was a pretty girl of
twenty-five, with nut-brown hair
which lay back in natural waves, and
bright eyes that just at the moment
were dimmed with grief.
wait for you! OF course l will,
my darling. l could not do other
wise" the man replied, drawing her
tenderly to him.
But it is so much to ask. Three
long years! If they would only have
given father the post for shorter
time! 1 know it is his only chance
for health, but I feel sure he will be
well long before we are able to re-
turn"
"If he is, so much the better,
sweetheart. Meanwhile, we must be
brave and bear the separation. it is
to save his life.
II know, l know, and I am going
to be brave. How good and unselfish
you are, Harold! When I come back,
dear, 1 will try to repay you. Oh, |
will be good wife to you'll"
II know you will, sweetheart! But
oh! my dearest" he added, with a
burst of passion that could not be
controlled, "it is hard to say good
, bye!"
Tears were in the mans eyes as
he kissed her, and the girl sobbed
frankly at the thought of the long
parting Fate had decreed for tenn.
Her fathers health had failed on the
very advent of the wedding, and the
doctor peremptorily ordered him out
of England. A post was OPPORTUNITY
offered to him in Australia, and as
soon as he was we'll enough the voy-
age must be made. But he was elder
ly and i'll, and the daughter felt she
could not let him go so far alone.
After short but sharp struggle, she
resolved to go with him, and say fare
well to her lover. 1t was bitter and
heartrending leavetaking. With
much grief Elsie Landon said "Good-
bye" to the man she loved, while he
sadly but resignedly set himself to
face the terrible separation.
All this, however, happened ten
years ago. Ten years. Harold
Priestleigh, musing over it, could not
realize that so much time had fed
How quickly it had rushed away!
He thought three years would never
pass, and now he had proved that,
when looking forward, a few years
are an eternity; but when looking
back they are but as a dream. All
this time Fate had sternly forbidden
Elsie's return. Her fathers health
had always remained too precarious
for the doctor to give him permission
to come home, and Elsie had felt it
her duty to remain with him. But
Fate, who had been so stern in one
respect, had tempered severity with
gentleness in another, for to Harold
the ten years had passed so smoothly,
SO comfortably, that he had suffered
less than he expected to in one. And
year by year, month by month, he
felt the pain of separation less. Elsie
would come back one day, he knew,
but it would not be till her fathers
death now, and Harold felt no impa-
thence. Life was very pleasant, in a
calm and peaceful way. His home
was happy under his sisters gentle
rule, and he had come to regard his
sweetheart's return as an almost un-
welcome change in the placidity of
his life. He was forty years old now,
slightly bald, and had tendency to
stoutness, and who knew what dis
turbing elements her arrival would
bring? Therefore, although inevita-
BILE, he would not think of it as an
imminent possibility.
1t was somewhat of a shock, there
fore, when one day he opened the
Familiarity addressed envelope and
read as follows:
my dear Harold tit used to be
"My dearest boy" or my own Har-
DID," but doubtless she was becoming
a prosaic, middle-aged person, being
only five years younger than him
self. All this flashed through his
mind as he continued to read), "the
dear father passed away on the goth
of last month. I am very sad, and, in
spite of my many friends here, rather
lonely l shall sail for England as
soon as everything can be arranged
and then, you know, dear, l an
yours, and will do all l can to make
up for the many years OF loneliness
you have devoted to me"
Poor little thingi" he said softly
"She must, indeed, be lonely!" But
even with the tender thought came
the realization that for years he had
never wanted her, had not been lone
ly in the least himself, and had
scarcely missed her. The task Of
comforting her was rather a sterI
duty to which he must apply himself
manfully than an anticipated pleas
ure, He was intensely conservative
In his habits, and, as he stretched
himself before his study 1ire-for II
was cool autumn day--he felt dis
tinctly RULED to think that the old
order was about to change and give
place to new. A postscript stated
that she was still uncertain by which
vessel she would sail, but would
cable in starting, or wire when she
landed in England.
Elsie is coming home at once.
he said, as his sister Marian brought
him steaming cup OF tea with JUS
the right amount of cream and sugar
in it. Her father has passed away.
And even as he made the remark ls
wondered whether 1t would taks
Elsie long to understand all his littI
peculiarities Of TASTE and whether
she would pander to them quite al
gracefully as his sister had done.
Marian took the letter, which hs