Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1909-12-02

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"My son !" nc crtcd.
shaded lamp. the wheel chair and the
feeble old man with his furrowcd face
md grny rnustachcs What he himself
should say he had not had time to re-
fleet
The figure in the chair looked up as
the door opened. "Hugh!' he cried
and half lifted himself from his seat.
Then he settled back, and the sunken.
indomtabie eyes fastened themselves
OF his sons face.
Hugh was odrauatic-cheaply SO.
He saw the girl start at the name, saw
her hands catch at the k'mono to draw
IT'S folds over the bare white throat.
saw the rich color that flooded her
brow. lie saw himself suddenly the
moving hero of the sta gery, the
| tractlve force OF the situa ton. Real
! tears came to his eyes: tears Of insin-
cere feeling. due partly to the cheap
whisky he had drunk TINT day. whose
outward consequences he had 80 dras-
tically banished. and partly to sheer
nervous excitat ton.
Father be said, and came and
taught the gaunt hand that shook
against the chair.
Then the deeps of the old mans
heart were suddenly broken up. MY
son. he cried and threw his arms
nbout him. Hugh. my boy, my boy~
.Iessica waited to hear no more
Thrilling with gladness and flushing
with the sudden recollection Of her
bare throat and feet. she slipped away
to her room to creep into bed and lie
wide eyed and thinking
What did he look like? or his face
she had never seen even a counterfeit
presentment Through what adven-
:urcs had he passed: Now that he had
some home. forgiving and forgiven,
would he stay, He had been In bis
room when she entered It with tho
roses~must have guessed. II he had
not already known. that she was blind.
Would he guess that she had cared for
that room. had placed fresh flowers
there often and often?
Since she had come to the house in
the aspens Jessica had found the
imagined figure Of Hugh a dominant
presence In a horizon ltghtened with
II throng Of new impressions. The
dlreful catastrophe OF her blindness
II had been the sudden result Of an
hccident-had fallen like thunderboit
upon u nature elastic and joyous. 1t
had brought her face to face with a
revelation Of mental agony. made her
feel herself the hapless martyr Of
that curt thing called chance. She had
always lived largely In books and
pictures. and her world was still full
Of ideals and of brave adventures.
Gratitude had made her love the mo-
. rose old invalid with his Grabbed TEN.
pers. and the wandering son. choosing
for pride's sake resoriveIesS battle
with the worldthe very mystery of
his wbercabouts-had taken strong
hold Of her imagination. OF the quar-
rel which had preceded Nughs depar-
ture she had made her own version
That ne should have come back Oh this
very night. when the disfnheritance
she had dreaded Ind been SO nearly
consunmated. seemed now to have an
especial and an appealing Significance
: Presently she rose. slipped OH the
red kinOn0 and. taking key rrOn'
: the pocket OF her gown, stole from the
rom. She assembled a stairway and
unlocked the door Of a wide. bare at
] tic where the moonlight poured
Z through a skylight tn the roof upon an
unfinished statue In this statue she
l bad begun to fashion. In the imagined
figure of Hugh. her conception OF the
Z prOdigAl sOn-nOt the battered and
7 hUsk filled wayfarer Of the parable
: but a figure of character and pathos
$ erring through youthful pride and
n spirit. The unfinished ebay no eyes
had seen, FOR those walls bounded hel
: especial domain.
When Hugh went shamefacedly NJ
= the stair from the library the artfticia
glow that had tingled to his finger t!p'
n had faded The poise of mind. TIT
sertftude of all the faculties Of eye
a and hand that his icy bath had gtveI
him, We're yielding The penalties III
q had dslodged were returning len
forced He was rapidly becomin!
I drunk.
lie CROPPED his way TO his room, turn
= ed out the light, threw himself full!
Q dressed upon the bed and slept TIT
q deep sheep OF deferred fntoyicatiou.