The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1907-10-12
1T will have by this time to-mor'

Looks to me mighty like the lit
tie beast I've been chasin' in these
ere parts fur the last month. I've
had more'n a dozen complaints of a
stray dog; but I couldn't catch the
little varmint." +"
you'll not have any complaints
of this dog" said the man, quietly,
as he turned off at one of the side
paths.
It was then that existence for Gin
ders changed yet again. It became
now a thing of kind words, scanty
but gladly given food, and bed in
one corner of a sparsely furnished
room up many flights of stairs. There
were the same walks in the park,
only now he both went and came with
the man. There was the same bot
tie, and there was the same cautious
tipping of it to the mans lips-but
perhaps less frequently now. At all
events, there never again came time
when the man was not fairly erect
and in his right mind as he sat on the
bench.
As the summer passed the mans
clothes became more shabby, and his
cheeks more hollow. At first he had
gone away from the room each morn
ing and returned at night clinking a
few loose coins in his pockets but
now days and days passed when he
did not leave the room until night,
apparently preferring to lie for hours
on the bed in the corner with his face
to the wall.
"Where's the use 7" he would say
more and more frequently, as Cinders
would leap upon the bed and coax
him, dog fashion, to go out for a
walk. "Where's the use, Weary
Willie? If there was some one to
care, I'd quit it., he went on one day.
perhaps I'd never even have begun.
She cared once, Weary Willie she
said she did; but it didn't last-it
didn't last. She got tired and skipped
skipped" There was long pause,
then the voice began again. "You
don't blame her, do you, Weary
Willie? Maybe you'll skip some day
-eh? She said twas Incompatible
ity, old fellow; in-com- pati-bility.
Long one, isn't it? But not half so
long as the misery it holds. S'pose
it will be that way with us, old boy
incompatibility?"
The dog whined and leaped to the
floor.
"Ha p cried the man, whimsically.
$50 you do want to leave me, sir /?
By Jove, old fellow, I should think
you would" he added, suddenly, get
ting to his feet. "Come, let's go for
a walk !''
Days passed. Both man and dog
grew thinner; and the nights when
the man came home clinking coins in
his pocket grew fewer and fewer.
Even the walks at twilight were not
taken so frequently now, and the man
had fallen into the way of passing
long silent evenings, gazing blankly
into space. Sometimes there was in
his hands a cleaning thing of polish
ed metel, which he handled linger-
ingly, almost lovingly.
Come, let's chuck it, Weary
Willie, you and l." he would say.
And when the dog barked and whin-
ed, he would smile and lay the thing
aside with the laughing reproof:
"Why, old fellow, it doesn't hurt |!
It's all over before you even know it's
begun r.
There came day when Cinders had
no breakfast, no dinner, no supper.
All day long the man had been tramp
ing the room like some wild thing.
He, too, had not eaten, but he had
twice picked up the cleaning thing
of polished steel, only to lay it down
again.
At dusk his jaws set in sudden
stern lines. With one stride he reach
ed the table, clutched the revolver,
and raised it to his head. Almost in
stantly there came frantic bark and
a sharp report. The woman coming
up the stairs thought the two had oc-
Cured at the same instant; but the
man in the bare room on the top floor
knew that the bark had come just in
time to startle him so that the ball
had found a harmless resting place in
the wall across the room.
GOOD God can't you let fell
low be p he stormed at the dog, as
the revolver fell from his relaxed
hands. The next instant he strobe
to the door in answer to frightened
knock.
"Oh-h |" breathed the woman out
side in glad relief, as she saw that the
man was at least alive. "Tom how
could you? Are you hurt ?" she
cried, stepping swiftly inside, and
closing the door.
The man fell back in amazement.
"Sally l-you?"
eyes, dear, yes. I've come back,
Tom. I've been miserable, wretch
ed without you. Twas my fault,
dear-the whole of it. I've come
back. Won't you-take me!"
A shamed red came into the mans
face.
"But, Sally, L" his eyes swept
the bare room, and despairing ges'
ture told how little he had to offer.
Eyes, yes, 1 know" murmured
the woman, coming close to his side
"You got discouraged, and thing:
went wrong. But we'll change al
that now. Well begin again. Why.
Tom, I'm here. Don't you see
Well start together. Tom, don
you-want me?"
"Want you Sally p And hi
hungry arms closed about her.
X X X
Long minutes afterwards the man
the woman, and the dog sat down to
gether.
"After all, Weary Willie" sai'
A. ...a.. -ofk1.y nc ho Matted the d0p'