The Sauk Centre herald., 1907-07-25

| you worry
Then the veterans lips twitched, and
though his eyes remained closed, Joe
saw that Eskew understood, for he
gasped feebly, "Pos-i-tive-ly-no-fre
k-seatS!"
To Mrs. LOuden, sewing at an up
stairs window, the sight of her stepsOn
descending from Judge Pixies carriage
was sufficiently startling, but when she
| saw Mamie Pike take Responsibility
from his masters arms and carry him
tenderly indoors, while Joe and Ariel
occupied themselves with Mr.. Arp, the
good lady sprang to her feet as if she
had been stung, regardlessly sending
her wOrkbasket and its contents scat
tering over the floor and ran down the
stairs three steps at time.
At the front door she met her hus-
band, entering for his dinner, and she
leaped at him. Had he seen? What
was it? What had happened?
Mr.. Louden rubbed his chin beard, in
dulging himself in pause which was
like to prove fatal to his companion,
finally vouchsafing the information that
the doctors buggy was just turning the
corner. Eskew Arp had suffered 4
"stroke," it was said, and, in Louden's
opinion, was a mighty sick man. His
spouse replied in no uncertain terms
that she had Seen quite that much for
herself, urging him to continue, which
he did with a deliberatiOn that caused
her to RECALL her wedding day with a
gust of passionate self reproach. Pres
emily he managed to interrupt, remind
ing her that her dining room windows
commanded as comprehensive a view
of the next houNe as did the front steps,
and after a time her housewifely duty
SO far prevailed over her Indignation at
the mans unwholesome stolidity that
she followed him down the hall to pre-
side over the meal, not, however, to
partake largely of it herself.
Mr.. Louden had no information of
Eugene's mishap, nor had Mrs. Lou
den any suspicion that all was not well
with the young man, and hearing him
enter the front door, she called to
him that his dinner was waiting. Eu-
gene, however, made no reply and went
upstairs to his own apartment with
out coming into the dining room.
A small crowd, neighboring children,
servants and negroes, had gathered
about Ariers gate, and Mrs. Louden
watched the workingmen disperse this
assembly, gather up their tools and de-
part. Then Mamie came out of the
house and, bowling sadly to three old
men who were entering the gate as she
left it, stepped into her carriage and
drove away. The newcomers, Colonel
Flitcroft, Squire Buckalew and Peter
Bradbury, glanced at the doctors bug
gy, shook their heads at one another
and slowly went up to the porch, where
sharp exclamation, for the colonel
shook hands with her stepson.
Perhaps Flitcroft himself was sur
prised. He had offered his hand al
most unconsciously, and the greeting
was embarrassed and perfunctory, but
his two companions, each in turn
gravely followed his lead, and Joe's
set face flushed little. It was the
first time in many years that men Of
their kind in Canaan had offered him
this salutation.
"He wouldn't let me send for you,"
he told them. "He said he knew you'd
be here soon without that" And he
led the way to Eskew's bedside.
Joe and the doctor had undressed the
old man and had put him into night
gear of Roger Tabor's taken from an
antique chest. 1t was soft and yellow
and much more like color than the face
above it, for the white hair on the pill
low was not whittier than that. Yet
there was strange youthfulness in the
eyes of Eskew, an eerie, inexplcable,
luminous, live look. The thin cheeks
seemed fuller than they had been for
years, and, though the heavier lines Of
age and sorrow could be seen, they ap-
peared to have been half erased. He
lay not in sunshine, but In clear light.
The windows were open, the curtains
restrained, for he had asked them not
to darken the room.
The doctor was whispering in doc
tors way to Ariel at the end OF the
room opposite the bed when the three
old fellows came in. None Of them
spoke Immediately, and, though all
three cleared their throats with what
they meant for casual cheerfulness to
indicate that the situation was not at
all extraordinary or depressing, 1t was
to be seen that the coloners chin trem-
bled under his mustache, and his COM
rades showed similar small and unwill-
Ing signs of emotion.
Eskew spoke first. "Well, boysr' he
said and smiled.
That seemed to make it more difficult
for the others. The three white heads
bent silently over the fourth upon the
pillow, and Ariel saw waveringly, for
her eyes suddenly filed, that the colo
, mel laid his unsteady hand upon
, Eskew's, which was outside the cover
let.
"It's-its not" said the old soldier
gently-''it's not on-on both sides, Is It,
EskewT
Mr.. Arp moved his hand slightly in
answer. 1T amt paralysis" he said
''They call it shock and exhaustion,
but it's more than that. Its just my
time. I've heard the call. We've all