Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-06-24
TIE Tower ROQN


with years.
Mr.. Dallas did not talk more than
courtesy demanded, but what he said
was worth listening to. If he did not
go much into the world, he kept him.
self familiar with It's doings by the aid
Of books. Carmichael was keenly in
terested In him from the first. It is
not often, in these half-hearted days,
that a man sorrows for twenty years
he looked about sixty now. That would
make him forty when he lost his wife.
She had been a good deal younger than
he was then. One thing Carmichael
noticed-Mr. Dallas did not like the
dark AS soon as the room began to
get little shadOwy, he had the lamps
lit and the curtains drawn. Carmi-
chael did not often make an impulsive
remark, but he made one then. 1t was
in answer to something Godfrey Dallas
said about 1t being a pity to shut them
selves up so soon.
You are fond of the night. l used
to be-" he said; "but one wants to be
very young TO stop with it long. Now
adays"-with a laugh-"it depresses
me little. 1t seems to be always ask
ing questions to which / have no salts
factory answers. so think it wiser to
turn my back on it. 1 don't know any
thing like darkness and silence for find
ing out the weak points Of a man."
Mr.. Dallas looked at him a little
sharply, but he made no remark.
Il wonder" Carmichael said later on
to Godfrey, when they were smoking to-
gether In the hall, 81 wonder your faith
Ell can bear to see that always there
nodding at the portrait of Mrs. Dallas
that hung on the wall. "He must
face it every morning when he comes
down, every time he enters the house."
"It was there before my mother
died." Godfrey said. whatever pain
it might cause him, he would not have
it moved. He would think it was put
ling a slight on her. That is her right
place. He would not have her put out
OF sight and forgotten. He is always
most punctilious that every respect
should be paid to her memory. The
choicest flowers in the Conservatives
are used to decorate her grave
This portrait fascinated Carmichael
much more than the sketch In the
Tower Room. Mrs. Dallas was quite
a girl here-not more than twenty 1t
had been painted soon after her mar
riage, Godfrey said. There was nothing
hard in these eyes. They were the
clear, laughing eyes Of child, that
look out on the world and find it very
good" The whole face was young and
eager. and untouched by even the shad-
ow Of a doubt.
what gay, beautiful face it is ~
Carmichael exclaimed. "She looks such
a radiant creature, the embodiment of
youth % its best. 1t might well break
mans heart to lose her."
''When l was small boy, 1 used to
wonder where she had come from
where she had gone to-" Godfrey said,
softly. Il had never seen anything like
her in real life. The people about me
were quiet and grave and severe. With
that face, in her laces and flowers, can
you wonder that thought her a being
Of another world? / used to climb I'D
on n high chair sometimes, and try to
kiss her eyes, They always fascinated
me. l shall never forget my father
coming in once and finding me perched
up here. He looked a moment from me
to her, and went out without word"
Carmichael thought of the unfinished
sketch upstairs, and wondered why the
face should have changed so much in
less than ten years. That woman was
little tired, a little impatient of
things as they were; she had known
disillusiOn. Had she found her hus-
band too old for her gay, laughter-lov-
ing youth? He could not imagine that
Mr.. Dallas had ever been young as this
girl was he must always have been
somewhat grave and auStere. He came
of Puritan stock. Well! 1t was all
done with now. The pretty butterfly
lay dead in her grave this many year,
and the man who had married her
mourned her still, when probably a
companion Of her own age would have
long ago consoled himself.
But as the days went on, Carmichael
was not so sure that was all over and
done with. In spite of the years that
had elapsed since the tragedy, Mrs.
Dallas was not forgotten; her presence
was still felt in the house Even he,
stranger, was reminded of her every
day in one way or another; he could
not get her out of his thoughts. 1t be-
gan to worry him after a time. He
would wake up in the night, with the