The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1914-06-11

set out the roses) or perhaps eve
Sweetheart" 1t would not be long
only mere Yes" or Come to me,
perhaps; yet even the shortest missiv
had it's beginning and its ending.
He opened and read.
For an instant he stared unbeliev
ingly. Then the paper cracked to {
ball In his clutched hand, and he made
q hoarse sound which was half cry
then sat perfectly still, his whole face
shuddering. What he crushed in his
hand was no note Of tender love
phrases; 1t was an abrupt dismissal
The staggering contretemps struck
the color from his face and left every
nerve raw and quivering. To be moth
ing to her. as she could be nothing to
him?" He felt CHASTITY inclination to
laugh Nothing to her!
Presently, his brows frowning heav-
| lily, he spread out the crumpled paper
and reread it with bitter slowness,
weighing each phrase. Something
which she had learned since she last
saw him, which lay between them"
She had not known 1t, then, last night,
when they had kissed beside the sun
dial She had loved him then! What
could there be that thrust them irrev-
ocably apart?
Without stopping to think of the
darkness or that the friendly doors of
the edifice would be closed, he caught
up his hat and went swiftly down the
drive to the road, along which he
plunged breathlessly. The blue star
spangled sky was now streaked with
clouds like faded orchids, and the
shadows on the uneven ground under
his hurried feet made him giddy.
Through the din and hurry burly of his
thoughts he was conscious of dimly-
moving shapes across fences, the
sweet breath of cows, and negro pc
destrian who greeted him in passing
He was stricken suddenly with the
thought that Shirley was suffering,
too. 1t seemed incredible that he
should now be raging along a country
road at nightfall to find something
that so horribly hurt them both.
1t was almost dark-save for the
he saw the shadow of
the square ivy-grown spire rearing
stark from its huddle of foliage
against the blurred background. He
pushed open the gate and went slowly
up the worn path toward the great
and hooded door. Under
the larches on either hand the outlines
of the gravestones doomed pallidIy, |
and from the bell tower came the faint
inquiring cry of a small owl. Valiant |
stood looking about him What could |
he learn here? He read no answer to |
the riddle. A little to one side of the |
path something showed snowflake on
the ground, and he went toward it.
Nearer, he saw that it was a mass of
flowers, staring up whitley from the
semi-obscurity from within an iron
railing. He bent over, suddenly noting
he scent; 1t was cape jeesamine.
With the curious sensation of almost
orescience plucking at him, he took a
box of vestas from his pocket and
struck one. 1t fared up Illuminating
! fiat granite slab in which was cut
i name and inscription:
EDWARD SASSOON.
''Forgive us our trespasses."
The silence seemed to crash to earth
Ike great looking-glass and SILVER
nto 2 million pieces. The wax dropped
rom his fingers and in the superven-
ng darkness a numb fright gripped
i'm by the throat. Shirley had laid
hese there, on the grave of the man
Is father had killed-the cape jessa-
hines she had wanted that day. for
er mother! He understood.
1t came TO him at last that there
'as chill mist cropping among the
-ees and that he was very cold.
He went back along the Red Road
Was this 10 be the end
the dream, which he had faucied |
ould last forever? Could it be that '
ne was not for him? Was 1t no hoary {
9 that the sins of the fathers were G
sited upon the third and fourth gen. {
ration?
When he re-entered the library the
indle was guttering In the burned
ings of a night-moth. The place @
oked all at once gaunt and desolate s
I'D despoiled. What could Virginia,
hat could Damory Court, be to him
ithout her? The wrinkled note lay
4 the desk and he bent suddenly with q
sharp catching breath and kissed it. |
here welled over him a wave of Il
'bellious longing. The candle spread P
hazy yellow blur. The walls fell Il
way. He stood under the moonlight. II
it'll his arms about her, his lips on h
srs and his heart beating to the n
und of the violins behind them a
He laughed-a harsh wild laugh that
ng through the gloomy room. Then
} threw himself on the couch and
lried his face in his hands. He was
i'll lying there when the misty rain n,
st dawn came through the shutters. g.
To be Continued