Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1907-11-21
CHAPTER Iv.-continued.

ACdiu al iIucSCiludDl6 uulISIkuS rush
that told as plainly as sight could have
done that a woman had answered her
hearts call. Looking up involuntarily,
j saw a sight that for a long moment
held my eyes as if l had been fas-
cinated. 1t was Bob bowed forward
with his face hidden in his hands and
beside him, on her knees, Beulah
Sands, her arms about his neck, his
head drawn down to her bosom. Bob,
Bob" she said chokingly, Il cannot
stand it any longer. My heart is break
ing for you. You were SO happy when
I came into your life, and the happi-
ness is changed to misery and despair,
and all for me, a stranger. At first /
thought of nothing but father and how
to save him, but since that day when
those men struck at your heart, l have
been filed with, oh! such a longing to
tell you, to tell you, Bob"
What? Beulah, what? For the
love of God, don't stop; tell me, Beu-
lab, tell me-" He had not lifted his
head. It was buried on her breast, his
arms closed around her. She bent her
head and laid her beautiful, soft cheek,
down which the tears were TO-
streaming, against his brown hair.
Bob, forgive me, but l love you, love
you, Bob, as only a m can love
who has never known love before,
never known anything but stern duty.
Bob, night after night when all have
left l have crept into your office and
sat in your chair. / have laid my head
on your desk and cried and cried until
it seemed as though l could not live
till morning without hearing you say
that you loved me, and that you did
not mind the ruin l had brought into
your life. I have patted the back of
your chair where your dear head had
rested. l have covered the arms of
your chair, that your strong, brave
hands had gripped, with kisses. Night
after night l have knelt at your desk
and prayed to God to shield you, to
protect you from all harm, to brush
away the black cloud / brought into
your life. l have asked Him to do
with me, yes, with my father and
mother, anything, anything if only He
would bring back to you the happiness
/ had stolen. Bob, | have suffered, suf-
fered, as only a woman can suffer"
She was sobbing as though her
heart would break, sobbing wildly,
convulsively, like the little child who
in the night comes to its mothers bed
to tell of the black COLLINS that have
been pursuing it. Long before she
had finished speaking-and it took
only a few h~eart-beats for that rush of
words had broken the power of the
fascination that held me, had turned
away my eyes, and tried not to listen.
For fear of breaking the spell, l did
not dare cross the room to close
Beulah's door or to reach the outer
door of my office, which was nearer
hers than it was to my desk. l waited
through a silence, broken only by
Beulah's weeping, that seemed hour
long. Then in Bob's voice came one
low sob Of joy:
"Beulah, Beulah, my Beulah!"
I realized that he had risen. l rose,
too, thinking that now l could close
the door. But again 1 saw a picture
that transfixed me. Bob had taken
IBeulah by both shoulders and he held
her off and looked into her eyes long
and beseechingly. Never before nor
since have / seen upon human face
that glorious joy which the old mas
tiers sought to get into the faces Of
their worshippers who, kneeling be-
fore Christ, tried to send to Him,
Through their eyes, their souls graft
tude and love. I stood as one en-
thralled. Slowly and as r~everentIy as
the living lover touches the brow of
his dead wife, Bob bent his head and
kissed her forehead. Again and again
he drew her to him and implanted upon
her brow and eyes and lips his kisses.
l could not stand the scene any longer.
I started to the corridor door, and
then, as though for the first time either
had known l was within hearing, they
turned and stared at me. At last Bob
gave a long, deep sigh, then one of
those reluctant laughs of happiness
yet wet with sobs.
well, Jim, dear old Jim, where did
you come from? Like all e~avesdrop-
pers, you have heard no good of your
self. Own up, Jim, You did not hear a
word good or bad about yourself, for
it is just coming back to me that we
have been selfish, that we have left
you entirely out of our business CON
ference"
We all laughed, and Beulah Sands,
/. with her face a bloom of burning
bushes, said: "Mr. Randolph, we have
not settled what it is best to do about
fathers affairs"
After a little we did begin to talk
business, and finally agreed that
Beulah should write her father, word
ing her letter as carefully as possible,
to avoid all direct statements, but
showing him that she had made but
little Roadway on the work she had
come north to accomplish. Bob was a
changed being now; so, too, was Beu-
lah Sands. Both discussed their hopes
and fears with a frankness In strange
contrast to their former manner. But
there was one point on which Bob
showed he was holding back. l finally
put 1t to him bluntly: Bob, are you
working out anything that looks like
real relief for Miss Sands and her
father%
Il don't know how to answer you,
Jim. ! can only say | have some ideas,