The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-11-10
Charles Little Sweetheart


MY dear Charlie Midwinter. I am
simply delighted to see you. Big,
bronzed, SCARED, and covered with
glory. Shake hard!''
Two big hands gripped one another,
the eyes of two big men beamed joy
ously One was long past middle life,
of 80.
1T is good to be in England again,
vicar the young man said, land 1
she mt go away any more
But your profession, my dear lad,
and your patriotism!" laughed the
vicar. Two years since you were a
mere subaltern, and now you are a
fulI-fedged captain
i've had my fill of fighting. You
,<know 1 never cared much for army
Alife, only dad had such a horror of
krade. All business men had to be I'M
<scrupulous to succeed, and so on. By
Jove, l would rather be an unscrupu-
lous business man than in the trade of
slaughtering ones fellow creatures!"
zone of life's unhappy problems, my
lad" the Reverend George Seaton ans
wered gravely; then his genial face
frightened. You are coming to the
vicarage?"
eyes, indeed Charlie said quickly.
rs bronzed face Redeemed, and there
was a questioning light in his blue
eyes. The folk around here are max
ing no end of fuss over me, and
= lnl
proud as a peacock, but l stole away
10 look up the friends of my boyhood.
Tt is just five years since I romped in
the vicarage with-with Hilda."
Mr.. Seaton glanced at the young
soldier and sighed.
Five years? How times does fly,
to be sure! Well, you have had
charming walk. Summer weather
blue skies. and golden sunshine. 1t is
really very good of you to think of u.s.
Charlie, but you were always a nice
sort of boy. No, the village hasn't al
tered a little bit neither have my
parishioners. / am still called sport
ing parson, because I am fond of horse
flesh and dogs, and half the old ladies
who listen to my ministrations believe
me to be an Ubiquitous monster. But
here we are, Charlie!"
Mr.. Seaton pushed open the vicar
age gate and turned into a modest |
drive thanked with gaudy flowers and |
sweet smelling things. The drive |
aoranched off to right and left, shaping |
itself into a perfect horseshoe, and the i
center was an emerald lawn. The ivy |
robed vicarage faced the lawn. and |
appeared to be set in a maze of bios
som and bloom.
How beautiful" murmured Charlie |
0Iidwinter. He sighed, too. Nothing
seems to change, vicar, but ourselves"
His eyes sought the windows with q
strange, eager expectancy. rs Miss
Seaton at home? I suppose she is
quite grown up now"
81 should just say so! Girls grow
abominably big nowadays. Come into
my study. You must be parched after
a five mile tramp. There's your old
chair. and there's the table at which
YOU crammed" Mr.. Seaton laughed
bois seriously. II had very little hope
of you in those days, Charlie. What a
lazy young wretch you were!'
Charlie laughed, too, and walked
over to the window.
You don't understand, vicar. How !
could l work with little golden-haired
Hilda peeping at me from the veran- l
dab with eyes that said Come % +
He drank some iced claret, and while
MIR. Seaton talked every sense was
alert. A light footstep in the hall sent
the blood to his head in one swift,
painful leap-then his heart seemed 9
to stand still. Hilda? No! Only G
the housemaid.
Charlie was both disguised and re-
lieved. He wasn't quite ready to face I
her yet. What was the near future to
be-? DISBURSEMENT? No, no! Hilda e
Seaton would be still lovelier in her |
ripening womanhood. /
What is it, Mary?'' the vicar was
saying. n
'Old Mrs. James, sir. She has been
for a long time"
"Oh, bother her! The tales of woe
nd the innumerable half-crownsH He $
lived hand into his trousers pocket. Il
Jumped up, and grumbled. ic
Il will see the old lady. And, Mary
- Mary turned on the threshold. Go
and find Miss Hilda and tell her that
Mr.. Charlie Midwinter is here" II
Charlie also rose. y
"Vicar. this old study is horribly u
ituffy I'll get out into the open-the
'erandah." ~
The two men left the room together,
he elder to listen to the complaints OF !"
me of his flock, and the younger TO e