Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1910-04-29
ROMANCE OF A
QUIET STREET

gaps between ornamented It on either
side, and 1t was from their presence
It eventually gained the dignity of the
term-street.
At the farthest end, next to the
empty field, that in winter was piled
high with neutrally tinted snow and in
summer served as a dump heap for
the entire neighborhood, lived Janet
Douglas.
Janet hated that dreary street. It
seemed symbolic of her whole life,
which was an existence robbed of all
beauty and the twang and efferves-
cenee of ioyousness leaving it gray,
uneventful
Years ago, when Malcolm Kent first
began calling on her, she had hoped
for escape from it and peeped shyly
into a future radius of happiness,
where she saw reflected her own
image crowned with the twin stars Of
wifehood and motherhood.
Tonight, as she rocked back and
forth in the dusk of the vine-sheltered
porch, she could hear the distant rum
BILE of the trolley cars, the faint tril-
ling notes of a hurdy-gurdy, and the
old dissatisfied sense of remoteness
from the actualities of life, that Of
late had been dormant, gripped her
afresh AID filed her with a vague un-
rest. So when Malcolm's broad shoul-
ders loomed through the darkness her
greeting was cold from reason of the
carefully repressed feeling that lay
| beneath II.
Malcolm seated himself silently on
the steps, the light from the open
doorway falling athwart his calm, i'm
passive face and throwing the whole
strength of his figure into such sharp
relief that 1t seemed to Janet's wistful
gaze to be hewn from granite.
what could ever move him." she
wondered patiently. "He has never
| felt as have. | must be content with
his friendship"
Suddenly the silence between them
was broken by the unusual sound of
horses feet thudding down the quiet
street. Janet listening sxpectantly,
heard the slam of a cab door and the
horses clatter nolsily back to the main
road. Two people were rushing head
long toward the house, and as they
dashed breathlessly into the circle of
light she saw one of them was young
man, whose laughing face was flushed
with happy excitement. and who was
dragging in tow a pretty bashful girl.
please. may we hide in your
porch?" he asked, gayly. They are
after US hot foot in two autos and
/ oh al N nif
occurred to me to drive down this out
of-the-way street and send the cab
on to the station without us. You
see," he explained with a certain
proud embarrassment, 1--WE have just
been married"
The Il tie bride blushed furiously
and shook the pink confetti from her
ruffled gray plumage.
Janet watched them speechlessly.
Never before in the annals of that
quiet street had anything so wonder
full happened as the advent OF this
radiant young couple, who seemed the
embodiment of all she had once
dreamed for herself. She caught her
breath at the reverent tenderness in
the young groom's eyes as he removed
the confetti from the bright meshes
of his little brides hair. 1t was some
thing to be imagined rather than
known by actual experience, and far
too exquisite thing to have found
birth within the bleak boundary Of
her own life.
During the merry explanations that
followed 1t surprised her to see how
amused and interested Malcolm be-
came, and II was he who planned the
final outwitting of the pursuing we'd
ding guests.
At his suggestion Janet led the lit
tie bride cautiously up the street to a
nearby trolley, where they were join
ed by Malcolm and the groom, who
sneaked around by way of the field.
A car bound for the nearest suburb
was safely reached, and after CRATE
ful farewells the young couple were
whirled away into the night like two
brilliant meteors that had flashed for
a moment across Janet's dull pathway.
But, as she turned back to her quiet
street with Malcolm, she was con-
scious they had left behind them a
subtle trail of influence. The very
manner in which Malcolm took her
arm proclaimed it, and when he spoke
his voice had in 1t ring she never
before heard there.
Those young people were very
happy" he remarked, as he laid a
strong hand over Janets under cover
of the friendly darkness. There was
time. Janet" he continued earnest
ly, when I hoped for just such hap
piness for you and myself. But when
circumstances we're in a position to
warrant my speaking Of 1t l saw by
your manner how useless II would bp
and dared not risk the pleasure yJur
friendship afforded me, so kept silent.
Somehow the sight OF that lad tonight
who had pluck enough to try for and
win the thing he wanted has given me
courage to speak. Have | made very
great mistake by doing so?"
Janet looked timidly up into his
eyes and saw in them the same beau
ty Of expression. she had seen in the
young groom's. and the sight blinded
her with it's bewildering fashlight OF
lajoy. She hid her face against his arm.
SBut Malcolm understood, and togethe"
they walked blissfully down the quie
street that OF a sudden had become
} to them a hallowed place. for was l.
not through its medium that love
last had found them?-MARIE BUDD
Flnesse."
Nothing more clearly expressed the