The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1909-07-10

10 Doth OF them it seemed a very good thing to
De alive 10 one, at least, that Tyrolean scene and
that dehghtful companionship were the best things
in all the world
Herbert Winston thought the girl beside him
the perfection of grace beauty and sweetness while
Natalie felt herself dominated by a shyness to
which she had hitherto been stranger For the first
Time she avoided the glance of her companion; a
SOU Dlush Suftused her charming face when he adj
dressed her. If it had not been entirely against his
principles and the code in which he had been edu-
Gated, Herbert Winston would have learned his fate
then and there. As it was, we doubt whether he
would have had strength to abide by them till the
end OF the walk had it not been for a circumstance
winch took place when they were about half way
down the mountain.
AT sudden turn of the road they came upon
a wayside crucifx, under its penthouse of caryen
oak, placed there to mark the falling of an ava
anche by which several persons had lost their lives
Before it, in the pelting rain, knelt a man. bare
headed and barefooted, his arms extended his eyes
uplifted to the figure the cross. Beside him lay
the shepherds staff and wallet, which marked his
occupation.
AS they passed the crucifx Herbert Winston
removed his hat and reverenty bent his head. The
spontaneous act, so simply and plously performed.
irritated his compaion. After they had passed. she
asked in a half-petulant tone:
"Why did you do that? 1t does not fit in at all
with what [ know of u.s."
Winston turned to her in mild surprise. II
You are so sane, so sensible in every way. [
cannot bear to you dofiing your hat to a wooden
figure on the wayside."
A peculiar expression flashed across Herbert's
countenance
at is what that figure represents, what the cru
cihx means-the greatest thing that has ever hap
pened in the world-its redemption"
ct makes me shiver to think of it" she said;
"and almost angry to see one of your broad inteli
gence believing in what it stands for"
"There are hundreds of thousands intelli-
gent than | who believe it," he answered gravely
"a hundred years from now those believers will
be very few" she said. "The world is moving fast"
"To its own perdition / fear" remarked Win
ston. mildly. II am afraid we could never agree
on that point, Miss Parker" !,
She looked up at him bewitchingly, her irrita-
ton gone. But his glance was turned thoughtfuly
down the valley they were approaching. 1t rested,
little sadly perhaps the gilt of the village
church, where a ray of sunlight-the first that
stormy day-glittered for moment, and then slow
ly faded
"Shall we returng' he asked after a short 81
lence. "You Will be tired"
Eyes, let US go back" she replied. ut will soon
be lunch time"
When they passed the crucifx again the man
was gone. They saw him toiling up the mountain
side, the heavy wallet on his shoulder.
Winston knelt for an instant and made the
Sign of the Cross, then bent his head reverently.
sitting sigh. It was the moment of remuneration.
When he rose his face pale, but illumIned.
Natalie thought he had never looked so handsome.
But something had gone from the hour, from
the scene; though the sun was shining bright
ly, and the raindrops spHrked like diamonds on
the trees and mountain shrubs around them. Some
thing had departed, too, from the camaraderie and
Joy of their suspicious moment had passed; that
nothing could again be as 1t had been between
them, and naturally quick-witted, she was not slow
to guess the reason. Therefore, it surprise
to her the next day when the Winstons announced
that they we're leaving. Herberts mother knew and
Natalie's probably surmised the reason, and both
we're well pleased
Ten years later, Herbert Winston sat ON the
lawn of his house in Devonshire, reading the Times
His wife, comely young matron, was beside him;
two children were playing them. In the dis
tance the old people walked in the garden, enjoy
ing the summer flowers and the fresh evening air
a smile fitted across the face of the younger
man. He laid down the paper, his eyes rejecting
for moment some inward thought of "Reminiscences.
Then they rested lovingly the face of his wife,
on the pretty graceful children But he said
nothing of the face that had captivated him years
ago in the Tyrol. His wife would never have
pected it: she would have been extraordinary
Englishwoman to have thought it her due What
Winston had read was the following:
among the delegates to the Sufragette con-
vention is the celebrated woman's rights lecturer
and writer Miss Natalie Parker, daughter of the
we'll known banker and capitalist, Pilsbury Parker,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Miss Parker has dedi-
Gated her life to the uplifting and regeneration of
her SEX"
"Thank God!" said Herbert Winston to him
self; "thanB God for the Tyrolean crucifx! 1t pre-
cipitated what would have been inevitable in any
case but what might have been more and more diff
fcult, for me at least as time went on And so
entirely did that circumstance change everything
that scarcely felt pang. I shall always bless
that cross"
After dinner, as they all sat in the library, Win
ston handed the paper to his mother pointing out
the paragraph that had given him cause for
thought Placidly knitting under the shadow of the
lamp his wife did not raise her head beautiful with
its crown of light brown braids. The husbands
ewes rested lovingly upon her Life had all of hap
piness that he expected or desired. After mo-
re his mother looked up from the paper and
smiled. but she said nothing. In her heart she
thanked God for that walk in the Tyrol-Ave Maria