The Mena weekly star., 1909-03-25

AOuS5 III tHe SuDuTDS OI OHlCdSO.
 If Haley wouldn't re-enlist-there never was a better soldier since he had downed foolish young hankering for wild times and whisky-if he wouldn't go back to the army, where he belonged. let him settle down, take up the honest carpenters trade that he had abandoned. be good citizen and marry little Nora to some class mate in the high school, who might make a fortune and build her colonial mansion, should the colonial still obtain in the twentieth century.
 The colonel had spread grand prospect before Haley, who listened unresponsively. dumb pain in his wide blue Irish eyes The colonel hated 1t; but, somehow, he hated worse the limp look of Haley's back as he watched 1t dwindle down Mich igan avenue
 However, Mrs. Haley had been more satisfactory. if none the less bewil- dering. She seemed very grateful over the house and the $500 for Its furnishing. A birthday present, he had termed 1t, with a flicker of hu- nor because the day was his own birthday. His fiftieth birthday it hap pened to be, and it occurred to him that a man ought to do something
 title notable on such an anniversary. This rounding of the half-century had attributes apart; 1t was no mere an trt dou ayLn hn Yac n. ishing futter of the gilded draperies of youth; the whitening of the gar iands; the fading tinkle of the light music of hope It should mark mans solid achievements. Once, not so long | ago, Winter had believed that his | iftieth birthday would see wide and | beneficent and far-reaching results in | the province where he ruled. That l dream was shattered. He was gen 1 crous of nature, and he could have | been content to behold another reap | the fields which he had sowed and 1 tiled; it was the harvest, whether his 1 or anothers, for which he worked but his had been the bitter office to have to stand aside, with no right to pro- 1 est, and see his work go to waste be- cause his successor had feeble brain and a pusiilanimous caution in place If his own dogged will. For all these | reasons. as we'll as others, the colonel found no zest in his fiftieth birthday; | and his reverie drifted dismally from | one somber reflection to another until it brought up at the latest wound to | his heart-his favorite brothers death | There had been three Winter broth ers-Rupert, Melville and Thomas l During the past year both Thomas Winter and his wife had died, leaving one child, a boy of IA. named Archi bald after his fathers uncle. Rupert Winter and the boys greataunt, tht pointed joint guardians of the yount Archie. Tonight, in his jaded mood he was assailed by reproaches be cause he had not seen more Of hi ward. Why, he hadn't so much a' looked the little chap up when h. passed through Fairport-merely ha' sent him a letter and some truck iron the Philippines; nice guardian he was
 By a natural enough transition, hi
 thoughts swerved to his own brief an
 not altogether happy married life. Il
 thought of the graves in Arizon
 where he had left his wife and hi
 two children, and his heart fe
 heavy. To escape musings whic
 grew drearier every second, he cas
 his eyes about the motley crowd shu
 fling over the tiled floors or restin
 in the massive dark oaken seats. An
 it was then that he saw Cary Merce
 At first he did not recognize the fac'
 He only gazed indifferently at tw
 well-dressed men who sat some pace
 away from him in the shadow of
 great tiled column similar to his owI
 There was this difference, 1t happened
 the mission lantern with its electri
 bulbs above the two men was fiashin
 brightly, and by some accident ths
 above the colonel was dark. He coul
 see the men, himself in the shadow.
 The men were rather striking in al
 pearance; they were evidently gentl'
 men; the taller one was young, we
 set.up. clean-shaven and quietly br
 most correctly dressed. His ligh
 brown hair showed a slight curl in il
 closely clipped locks; his gray-blu eyes had long lashes of brown darke
 than his hair; his teeth were yer white, and there was a dimple in hi cheek. plain when he smiled. Had hi
 nose been straight he would have bee as handsome as a Greek god. but th
 nose was only an ordinary America
 nose. rather too broad at the base moreover, his jaw was little to , square for classic lines. Nevertheless , he was good to look upon, as well strong and clean and wholesome, an , when his gray-blue eyes strayed abol , the room the dimple dented his chee
 and his white teeth gleamed in a kin 2 of merry good-nature pleasant to se' s But it was the other man who hel I the colonels eye. This man wa
 double the young mans age, or nea q that; he was shorter, although still ( . fair stature, and slim of build. III
 face was oval in contour and del z cate of feature Although he wore
 glasses, his brow had the far pucke Inf a near-sighted man. There was
 mole on his cheek bone and anothe
 inst below his ear. Both. were smal !, rather than large, and In no sens r disfpuring: but the colonel note ts.t.. tr,