Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-07-31
THE RETURN.

THE RETURN.
The shop door lay open, and sweet
breeze blew in, not violent, but cool, as
it seemed, with the GOODNESS of tho
ferns. There was not sound in the
street-of voice or step. The children
were still at school; the housewives
were tidying themselves before tea. One
might well suppose that the old dealer
sat in his shop, not because he expected
business, but because he preferred to sit
there.
After time ne dropped his work
upon the counter. and going down a
step into the back room. set a kettle on
the fire there. 1t was very warm; the
glare of the sun seemed to be every
where. He pushed open the window OF
the room and pulled the green blind
partially down The air seemed 10 stir
then. He went back to the shop, NOV.
ing with the quiet deliberaticn of The
aged.
There had been a step in the street
and as he resumed his seat it paused
at the little gate of the garden. The
gate creaked, and the step came on. It
was weak, undecided, dragging.
Taint a Cuyerley STEP" said the
old man. He leant back to peer through
the window. But he missed the new
comer's approach, and as ne peered tae
woman, dragging herself over the stone
step, entered the shop.
She made shadow in the doorway;
the old eyes came travelling back to
find it. They wandered over the wom-
ans draggled dress, then rested on her
face.
Something troubled their limpid peace;
the old man stared, then stared again.
The brown wool dropped from his hands.
He said quaveringly, Keziah.
The woman laughed. YES" she said,
''it's me. I've come back"
She said no more. but stood before
him, her faded eyes holding him with
a kind of empty boldness, her hands
lying by her sides, her gray hair in
strands round her meager face, as if it
had been beaten by the rain. There
was something indefnably shameless
about the woman's attitude, as if the
onlooker were invited to look and see
the worst; as if what he saw mattered
nothing to the woman who thus dis
played he's elf.
She said with nothing but WEAKNESS
in her voice, well 2"
The limpidity of the blue eyes re-
manned unbroken What she had so
brazenly Haunted, he could not see;
perhaps she knew it, He said, quaver-
ingly, Don't stand nigh again them
tins-they be fioury. 1t amt easy to
get -four off of black"
"Ain't it 2" she laughed at be harder
to get black off of white" She stared
at him boldly. "Ain't it, Thomasf"
He smiled, little foolishly--he did
not understand. "You kin wash white
he mGttered.
She shrank then, almost as if he had
struck her The old man noticed the
movement, and misinterpreted it. He
said, no one won't come in, but III
shut the door,"
He moved round the counter, with
that same quiet deliberation, SO unlike
her shutting, tired tread, and pushed
the door shut After moments hes;-
tation, he turned the key.
The woman faced him. The shadow
was kinder to her face than the sun
light had been; the eyes appeared less
bold. There was wonder in her glance
almost confusion. you aiu't--you ain't
meanin' me to stay %
He said, in blind kind of way. as If
he had to look too far back to catch
his thoughts, Il used to wait for YOU
ay, l did. There We're times when / al
most thought / heerd your feet. e
Odd as l didn't know today" He
broke off, looking at her piteously.
The look forced her eyes, against her
will. She muttered, Il ha' grown
heavy footed, no doubt. Lunnon
streets"
I've heerd tell" he said carefully. eas
they be firing. They be less freshsome,
I'd say, nor country road"
"Ay," said she bitterly, chat they
Looking at him, perhaps she wondered
that they had ever been contemporaries.
he and she. husband and wife. Soiled
with the CRIME of the great city, worn
out with its passions, she found hi,o
little more than a white haired babe.
She was aged, through and through.
Even to the call of London her ears
were dim. But her heart could remem.
Der how sweet that call had been.
She said, "You amt understanding
why | went away"
you be wearied out" he said. His
tone was stiffly tender; it was so long
since he had had chance to care for
her. He made tea deity in tiny brown
not She remembered n Ths,-, ls1