The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1908-11-27

Phineas Harden leaned his head
hinst the shutter which had been
sed to keep out the glazing light,
h as he sat there, half hearing the
hnds which came to him through
e open window, he heard quite dis
city these words:
Died peaceful at the last, they
Well, there'd ought ter be some
Ice in the course of a natural life,
FL if there was going ter be any in
IL Mis- Harden's life, guess it had
get its innings in at pretty nigh
last lick, an close shave at that.
didn't she lead Dick Harden a
i Rec'lect when there warn't a
|tucer man in town, but she took
spirit right out of him, an it
int much of a job fer consump-
ID ter finish him up"
Phineas never forgot that. 1t had
"a the putting into words what he
~ never quite admitted even to
Inself
The days that followed his moth
death passed peacefully enough.
en- while he became used to the
ct of the house. 1t didn't seem
Fly to him; he had never felt lone
bot even at the first. 1t was only
hough some discordant note had
1pped out of his life.
Reople sometimes looked curiously
him and wondered if he ever
hight of Lorinda North. But no
=t could read the thoughts that
'e hidden back of his eyes. They
e eyes that rather baffled you;
~ had always annoyed his mother.
Pm he was child she had said
& day, Where he gets that look
IS me. He minds we'll, an he'd
hter, seem the trouble I've been
ring him up. His hands an feet
quick enough to do as l say, but
mt feel but what there's some
back Of his eyes that l amt
Pr touched"
Norinda North kept a little shop,
Pin was the exponent of metro
tan styles. She was a woman who
8 life hard. 1t did not come easy
my of these hard worked, narrow
q women, and she had fought
INST each hard knock until all the
hess, which may once have been
had been rubbed off. There
been an old love affair between
8 two, but how far it had pro-
Jed no one ever quite knew. Some
had once ventured to ask Lorin-
bout it. "She wasn't going to be
Id woman's nurse" she had said.
ID always made out to make a
b for herself, and she guessed
eould still. She wasn't going to
in any mans house and have an
woman boss it,
rhaps in these years in which
had been plenty of time for
thought she had sometimes re-
led her lost chance of happiness.
" they had been lonely years,
years, too, and they had borne
fruit in Lorinda North. There
t woman in the town who did
EEL little uneasy when under
attery of her sharp eyes. Phin-
Harden had been the only one
bad ever pushed open, even ever
Chilly, the door of her heart, and
she had closed this little chink,
had gone to easier pathways,
left the door of Lorinda's heart
hard and fast.
pple had speculated somewhat
how she would take the news of
Harden's death. Perhaps it had
d, more deeply than she knew,
ndercurrent of her life. Surely,
as was often in her mind in
days. Not with any tenderness
ling did she think of the lonely
but perhaps because his solitary
pre- so closely on her own did
houghts so often turn to him.
ae looked forward, as she did
lines of late, to the years and
stretching out their weary
before her, a thought which
Pc first vague and underlined,
ally took definite shape in her
" had both always been regular
e attendants. Through the
er Lorinda had sat just back of
as Harden's pew, and the time
very long ago when the pew
nt had been empty at the even
betting and he had sat back with
mother had been dead just six
;. The cold and dreariness of
nter was gone. and it was a soft
In early June. The windows
old church were open, and per-
Phineas listened more to the
Oh the night than to the
onous voice of the minister.
ne was little boy he had often
tnat they would have church
prs. God seemed nearer there.
oman sat and watched his face
the long sermon. She looked
more carefully, perhaps, than
g ever done before. But Lor-
orth was not capable of seeing
al Phineas Harden. All she
as slight, bent figure; face
res that were apt to fall little
the hard look in her own.
nld not know that he did not
er eyes only because it panied
see the expression which time
Inted on her face.