The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1910-04-22
Thus she had gone ont of his life.

There was a surprising fierce bitter
ness in 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
tlower-laden vines the air was heavy
with the orange flowers.
Never in all the Is 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
best Of life during those Is years
flooded across his very soul as he
walked on.
1t was as if the Justification 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 bank of scarlet
peoples edged the path and attract
ed his eye. He paused as he came
abreast the cottage on the other side.
1t apparently was nothing more than
huge laundering 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
ment did not strike him.
CAT my very door," 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.
GLOW did you know-or didn't you
know 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. Gust
nerves. And l did not know-it
was Fate, ] guess, that led me here.
You were in my mind as l came"
There was a glow on the woman's
face. "Then," she breathed, ''then
you had not forgotten me?"
Declarens looked at her in sudden
self knowledge. Never" he said as
if in amazement at the fact.
A sudden anger seized him that
she could play with him, yet it died
before the light in her face. His
pulses throbbed, and with an in
articulate cry he found himself
plasping 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 Is years of struggle. Then a
black fact caught him by the throat.
"And Arthur? Your husband ?"
he heard himself ask. Over the
woman's face fled for an instant
shadow of past sorrow.
Gle died three years ago." she
said quietly. q staid on here be-
cause there seemed no place else to
60. He was very ill-for years."
Declarens' handclasp frightened in
understanding sympathy 1t was
not the time to speak.
And yet he knew as they sat quiet
ly talking, while the mountains grew
gray and their shadows deepened
and the loveliness that presages eve
ming fell over the sleepy village and
the rose vines, that he had found at
last what would be to him the crown
of his life and happiness.
He had found something that out
weighed all he had left behind him
in the tumult of the eastern city,
and renewed hope told him that
when he did speak she would come