Holbrook argus., 1910-02-01
T,lu. slle had gone ont of lis

ness Tn Declarens' heart as he de- scended from the car which had reached the end of the line. He was in tiny village, snuggled close to the foothills. The rambling streets were unpaved; the little cottages were staggering under the climbing Gower-laden vines; the air was heavy with the orange flowers.
 Never in all the 15 years had any woman come into his life who had the power to touch his heart. When Selma left he had closed and barred that door, and now he knew he had lost the power to open it. All he had lost, all he had missed of the pest of life during those 15 years flooded across his very soul as he walked on.
 It was as if the ossifcation of years had been rudely torn from his heart and it had been discovered still throbbing, still alive beneath. He had, indeed, been hard as she had said, ambitious, merciless. He had his money-and nothing else. A haggardness overspread his face, the keen, masklike countenance of the man of affairs.
 Ahead of him a bank of scarlet poppies edged the path and attract cd his eye. He paused as he came abreast the cottage on the other side It apparently was nothing more than huge clambering vines of pink roses. Never in his life had Declarens seen so many or such perfect flowers. As he drank them in Selma came from the door and down to the gate.
 He was not particularly surprised. The almost narcotic day and his state of mind disposed of any ele- ment of improbability. He stood as a child might have done as the wom- an, tall, red-lipped as he recalled her and with the same wonderful eyes, came toward him. That she was wide-eyed with incredulous amaze nent did not strike him.
 ''At my very doorr' he heard her murmur, and then as she opened the gate he stepped inside and sat be- side her on the little porch. He faced the mountains. calm, undis- turbed as ever in the sunshine His eyes roamed over her face, as if they had found the end of a weary quest.
 "Frederick," she said at last. "How did you know-or didn't you know-I was here? And you-you are ill."
 The man shook off the spell that held him. With a keen anguish he realized that he was looking at Selma, indeed, but likewise at the wife of Arthur Gore.
 Nothing serious,' he said. "Just nerves. And I did not know.it was Fate, l guess, that led me here. You were in my mind as 1 came"
 There was a glow on the woman's s face. ''Then," she breathed, ''then you had not forgotten me?'
 Declarens looked at her in sudden self knowledge. "Never," he said as if ill amazement at the fact.
 A sudden anger seized him that she could play with him, yet it died , before the hglA in her face. His pulses throbbed, and with an in- arhculate cry he found himself ,clasping her hands in his, carrying them to his lips.
 That he had no right gave him a certain desperation, and added to that was the bewilderment of finding himself in the swirl of so many and such intense emotions. He had for gotten much indeed in those dead ening 1J years of struggle. Then d black fact caught him by the throat , And Arthur? Your husband 2 , he heard himself ask. Over the : woman's face fled for an instant q shadow of past sorrow.
 ''EIe died three years ago." shf . said quietly. q staid on here be- cause there seemed no place else tt go. He was very ill-for years" Declarens' handclasp frightened il understanding sympathy. Il Wal not the time to speak.
 And yet he knew as they sat quiet ly talking, while the mountains grew