Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1911-08-26

that Lucy Mellen WOulu bc tlTeu Oh
waiting for Ansel Pecver.
Wait until | come back from Call
fornia. dearest" Ansel had whispered.
Then | will have such home and
such acres Of greenhouses that | will
not be ashamed to ask you to give up
your splendid home on the hill.
or course Lucy's heart prompted her
TO tell him TO remain with her What
cared she for the promised wealth OF
the golden west when the solid reality
OF AnseI's thrifty little flower business
was ready and waiting for them both?
But Ansel looked so downhearted and
disappointed nj her answer that Lucy
awaited herself of the feminine privi-
lcge and changed her mind
You'd better go. Ansel." she urged
him Il will wait for you II you should
be gone hundred years" she added
recklessly.
So 1t was arranged as Ansel's pride
prompted him, and Lucy stayed in her
fathers comfortable home on the hill
top and watched the black smoke from
Ansel's train dissolve In the May sun
shine even as her hopes and happiness
dissolved in a burst of grief.
A hundred days went by. and Ansel's
letters were full OF inconsistencies and
enthusiasm. \ hundred weeks passed,
and the letters contained less hope
fulness and the same strain of longing
for home. Lucy wrote and urged him
to come home Let the old fortune
60" she wrote hastily There is
plenty to do in Little River. and Ste
phen futile will be glad to sell the
greenhouses back 10 you
But Anscl was obstinate rs well as
proud. and he did not come home In
answer 10 Lucy's appeal. hundred
months went by-eight long years and
four months and Lucy's Aunt Rebec-
ca Prentice repeated the words she
had dinned into her niece's pretty ears:
He's never coming back again.
Lucy You might as well have mar
ricC Leonard Deane or the minister
and had family growing up around
you instead OF wasting your life wait
ing for man who has forgotten you"
Il don't believe Ansel has forgotten
me. Aunt Rebecca." Lucy said patient
ly "It has taken longer for him to
make fortune than he expected
that's all"
one April morning Lucy Mellen
found herself quite alone In the world.
Her parents had died shortly after An
sci went away and now Aunt Rebec-
ca had succunbed to pneumonia. and
the big empty house on the hill SEEM
ed bigger aud cmpticr than ever. At
the end OF Il year Lucy had managed
10 almost beggar herself by several
foolish investments. aud there came a
day when the red flag swung 10 the
breeze above the Mellen place.
What are you going TO do now,
Lucy Mellen:" demanded her next
door neighbour Mrs. Hall. Here
you've got all your furniture Grated up
as If you was going away. and you
amt said word to nobody"
I'm going to California" said Lucy
calmly. though her pale cheeks flushed.
"Ansel has sent for inc To come out
there and be married iou see. hes so
busy he cant get away just now
We'll. OF all things cried Mrs Hall
excitediy. You don't mean that you.
a single woman. are going away out
there all alone to get married."
I'm thirty tive said Lucy obsti-
nately. and Ansel's folks are out
there, you know"
Mrs. Hall said no more. but twisted
the shawl tighter around her thin face
and fairly ilew down the street TO be
the first one to transmit the startling
news to Little River
Lucys friends were at the station TO
bid her goudby' when she started ON
her long journey Her household goods
had gone nn week before. and when
the last moment came there were
many tears and good wishes and lots
Of rice and old shoes dying after her.
Lucy looked strangely pale and silent
for bride To he. TN she had been that
way for so many years now that her
friends quite forgot what n merry. light
hearted girl she had been when Ansel
first wooed her
Then the train Numbered away to-
ward New York. and Lucy leaned her
pale face against the window and
closed her frightened eyes She had
never taken such - long journey. and
she was quite UNUSED To- travelling. but
that was not The worst Of 1t She
had told number of downright lies
Ansel l'eevrr had not sent for her: he
did not know she was coming out
there. and she had not heard from him
for two months
II was this knowledge that made
Lucy Mellen so miserable as her train
dew westward Every mile that
brought her nearer 10 Ansel also made
her heart heat faster until ut last
when she reached san Francisco and
changed ears for The little town In
Santa Barbara county she was almost
ia "A -