Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-01-06

right to keep their hard-worn and
empty honors; wherefore Gen. Winter
had declined to Col. Winter.
He had more substantial troubles,
including a wound which would prob
ably make him limp through life and
possibly retire him from service at So
1t had given him six months sick
leave (Which he had not wanted),
and after spending month on the
Atlantic coast, he was going for the
spring to the Pacific. Haley. whose
own term OF Office had expired, had not
re.enlisted but had followed him, Mrs.
Haley and the baby uncomplainingly
bringing up the rear. 1t was not fair
to Haley nor to Mrs. Haley, the colonel
felt. He had told Haley so; he had
found good situation for the man,
and he had added the deed for little
house in the suburbs Of Chicago.
II 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 fortune and build her a
colonial mansion, should the colonial
- <ha <1rn tot
The colonel had spread a 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 It 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 it, with q flicker of hui
NOR because the day was his own
birthday. His fiftieth birthday it hap
pened to be. and 1t occurred to him
that q man ought to do something a
little notable on such an anniversary.
This rounding Of the half-century had
attributes apart; 1t was no mere an
nual birthday; 1t marked the last van
fishing fiutter Of the gilded draperies
of youth; the whitening Of the gar
lands; 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
fiftieth birthday would see wide and
beneficent and far-reaching results In
the province where he ruled. That
dream was shattered. He was gen.
erous OF nature, and he could have
been content to behold another reap
the fields which he had sowed and
titled; 1t was the harvest whether his
or another's, for which he worked; but
his had been the bitter Office to have
to stand aside, with no right to pro-
test, and see his work go to waste be-
cause his successor had feeble brain
and a pusillanimous caution in place
of his own logged will. For all these
reasons, as we'll as others, the colonel
found no zest in his fftieth birthday;
and his reverie drifted dismally from
one somber reflection to another until
1t brought up at the latest wound to
his heart-his favorite brothers death.
There had been three Winter broth
ers-Rupert, Melville and Thomas.
During the past year both Thomas
Winter and his wife had died, leaving
one child, boy OF IA, named Archi-
bald after his fathers uncle. Rupert
Winter and the boys great-aunt, the
widow of the great uncle. were ap-
pointed joint guardians OF the young
Archie. Tonight, in his faded mood,
he was assailed by reproaches be-
cause he had not seen more OF his
ward. Why. he hadn't so much as
looked the little chap up when he
passed through Fairport-merely had
sent him letter and some truck from
the Philippines; nice guardian he was!
BY a natural enough transition, his
thoughts swerved to his own brief and
not altogether happy married life. He
thought Of the graves in Arizona
where he had left his wife and his
two children, and his heart felt
heavy. To escape musings which
grew drearier every second, he cast
his eyes about the motley crowd shut
fling over the tiled floors or resting
in the massive dark oaken seats. And
it was then that he saw Cary Mercer.
At first he did not recognize the face.
He only gazed indifferently at two
well-dressed men who sat some PAGES
away from him in the shadow Of a
great tiled column similar to his own.
There was this difference, 1t happened:
the mission lantern with its electric
bulbs above the two men was flashing
brightly, and by some accident that
above the colonel was dark. He could
see the men, himself in the shadow.
The men were rather striking in ap-
pearance; they were evidently gentle
men; the taller one was young, well
set-up, clean-shaven and quietly but
most correctly dressed. His light
brown hair showed slight curl in its
closely clipped locks; his gray-blue
eyes had long lashes of brown darker
than his hair; his teeth were very
white, and there was dimple in his
cheek, plain when he smiled. Had his
nose been straight he would have been
as handsome as a Greek god, but thu
nose was only an ordinary American
nose. rather too broad at the base;