The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1908-07-30
When the Parrot
Spoke
BY CLIFFORD HOWARD
Copyright. by shortstory Pub. C'

edge that once upon time the uoctor
| had been the accepted lover OF Ann
| Motley, but that their tranquil court
| shin had come to a sudden ending and
| that from that time to the day OF her
death the timid and reserved spinster
and the kindly doctor had gone their
separate ways. What had come be-
! tween them, why they never again
! spoke or met, nobody knew. Evident
". there had been quarrel-proving
that loves course runs no more
smoothly in the summertime OF WOO
ing than in its season of bud and
blossom; but beyond this there was
naught but rumor.
There were those who professed TO
had ceased to call at the garden-clol-
stored cottage on the hill. Nor were
these observers far amiss; for whatever
may have been the extent to which
he gave visible sign OF his troubled
heart, the estrangement between nm
and Ann Motley was to the doctor an
unendng source of sorrow and bit
terness 1t was not so much because
of what he had said to her in the mo
ment Of their little storm, for he had
spoken with obvious unmeaningness,
but It was because she would not for,
give him
After the first day of rufled temper
he had Chivalrously acknowledged
himself in the wrong; and, unheedine
the words she had uttered in the
stress of overweight emotion, declar-
ing their love and friendship at an
end, he went to her in penitent love,
craving forgiveness. But she refused
TO receive him. Prim, sensitive Ann
Motley, The timd love that had had
its first awakening in the sunlight OF
his presence had shrunk back into her
heart, wounded and affrighted. lie
had profaned her proud sensibllities,
and she felt that she could not for,
give him. And therefore it was that
she refused to see him and that when
he wrote to her she declined to an,
swer his letters
Your silence tells me- he wrote
In his final appeal, that you cannot
know how deep and all-absorbing Is
my love for you. II the few nasty,
unmeaning words that escaped me in
u flash of thoughtless irritation have
outweighed with yo. all | have SAID
or done. it Is useless for me to attempt
to convince you to the contrary /
shall not again ask you to take back
the love you have cast aside. | pray
only that you will forgive me. Surely,
YOU cannot deny me this. Let me
know by some word or sign that
have your pardon for my cruel though
unintended words, and | shall ask nc
more. Grant me this-not for my
sake. If you so will it, but for the
sake of the friendship, the love, the
happiness that once were ours
These were the last words he ever
| addressed TO her. She did not re-
spond Silent and unforgiving, in ODE
| dience to the dictates of an eXactine
| conscience, she shut herself out from
| his life,
Then, with the pride of lofty man
! hood he respected her decision and
| thereafter bore himself toward her
| as stranger. Never again did he ap
pruach her nor mention her name. Yet
| there was not day during all the
weary years that followed that he did
not bow in spirit before the shrine
Of his buried love and pray to HEAVIER
that he might some day know she had
forgiven him In vain he sought &c
ignore the blight that her unforgiving
silence cast upon the sacred memory
of her being 1t lay upon him as q
curse; and as time went on his prayer
became a craving-a morbid, brood
ing passon--inspired by dread lest
he or she should die before his sou
should be cleared Of its deepening
| blot.
Throughout his daily life 1t haunted
| him with a restless fear. Yet he gave
| no conscious outward sign to the
world nor to her OF the torment of his
spirit. Ministering to others in theil
| trials and Affections; ready always
with his kindly interest and words o.
| cheer, and giving tor weary hearts
| the comfort and the benediction of his
| tender sympathy, he shared with NJ
| one the burden Of his own cross; but
alone and uncontrolled he bore it II
mute desolation through the unbroker
| silence Of the years.
| ~ a uyb tyapinu in limo chr
| passed away suddenly and without tn,
| herald warning OF sickness--he
| heart having gently ceased its worl
| as she dozed in her chair-the blow
| fell upon him with crushing despair
| She was gone leaving him alone, ut
terly alone-and unforgiven!
Yet withal there remained the neb
| ulous hope that perchance she hat
left among her papers some message
| for him; something that might tel
answer to his prayer. And thus i
happened that he was present at tn,
sale OF her little property and was tn,
highest bidder for the oldtime ma
| hOgany desk, which the auctionee
| described and put up for sale will
| irreverent harangue. And because 0
the sacredness attaching to the things
! that had been hers-to the things rs
ISOLATED with the bygone days OF thei
loye-he bought her books and he
clock her ivory-type portrait of her
self as girl; her little cushioned
rocking chair. and the old piano
with its brass mounted legs and III
candleracks-upo which she used t.