Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1907-12-11
A Late Learned Secret.
forIginall

tOrigi nat
Eli Muiholland. q isschelor Of forty,
at 10 O'Clock at night went up three
pairs of stairs. opened the Goor of his
rented room and as he entered heave1
. deep sigh. 1t was heard by Lydia
Nutter, the landlady's daughter. aged
twenty, who wondered what caused
II. Had she. too. been forty instead
Of twenty, without having followed the
course dictated by nature mating and
rearing children-she would have IN
derstood that If translated into words
the sigh would say:
'Oh. this lonely room."
Ell MuIhoIland bad in his you'll. ch3s-
en- athletic sports vita which to begli!e
his leisure hours. He was a mans
man rather than girls man. He re-
meI.bered pair of bright eyes beam
ing upoa him when he had WOE The
champion cup for single SOULS. They
and the smile that accompanied them
were then no more to him than a
passing Wifi of vioiets., Now. as be
entered his lonely room. he remembered
that the girl he had failed to Claim
was the wife. and mother OF cbilfsfca.
Of the man he had beaten in the race.
He had won the cup, which he bad so
dearly priced. leaving for his antag-
onist tie girl. whom he had considered
merely one of million. Now, the, cup
was IN Avault with other trinkeis: the
girl W.; tie light of a household
He remembered another whom he
had played with in a double game Of
tennis, an execrable player. but soft
voiced beauty; how he had saved tii.'
game by his skill and activity; Eav
ahe had received the prize-a silver
mounted racket-from his hands. with
bushes that told him she would have
gladly taken him instead
These and others With whom be had
feared to become entaugled eontriput-
ed their part in that deep drawn sigh.
% tnintelligibie to Lydia Nutter Re
was no longer the companion OF young
people He had passed the mating
period and had not mated.
what troubled you last night, Mr.
Xulholland, as you went into your
room ?" asked Lydia the next morning
rs the bachelor went out to get his
lonely breakfast.
Y troubled? What do you meanf'
"You drew such q sad sigh"
AZ Eli looked into her sympathetic
eyes something Of two decades before
came back to him. Was 1t too late
to save what remained OF his life from
Q loneliness intensified with each pass
ing year? As quickly as the thought
came it was banished. Had be stood
still for twenty years while others had
grown old? He turned to pass GU:
without reply. How could be tell
this girl, who when he was her
age was scarcely born, that be had
wasted his opportunities, and, though
he had gained the world. 1t was worth
less; that which he had selfshly
thought he wished for himself when
attained had shriyeled in his hands
since he had no wife or children to be
stow it upon?
when you feel that way again.
come down and we'll try to comfort
you" said lydia.
There was wistfuL look in his eyes
q he closed the door.
That night he sat in the reading
room Of his club pretending to read
the newspapers. while be was watch
ing the clock. He wished to 70 to the
house where he roomed, but be would
20 neither too late nor too early-not
after Lydia had gone to bed, not SO
early that he would seem to have come
10 be with her, for that was his in
He chose half past o. a. the
hour most likely to conceal It and, aft
" two hours' watching the clock, left
the club. Lydia was In the sitting
room with her mother, the mother
Il -