The Lakeland evening telegram., 1914-07-21


| even casually notice his neighborly
| little visitor.
Finally, the man looked up from the
finished sheet, pushed back his SOM
brero, wiped the sweat from the band
of fair, white skin that ribbed his
tanned brow, and, with sigh so deep
drawn that 1t started quiver of green
movement on the rug, read over the
letter he had written and now held in
his thin brown hand.
1t began with brusk tenderness:
"Dear:-At last the verdicts in,
and instead of the expected hanged
by the neck until he shall die SEN
tence of Imprisonment for life.
For your sake, | carried the case to
the highest court Of appeal. Went to
Los Angeles and had the great Will
lard look me over. Both lungs have
healed. Provided | stay put-go on In
the same sun-baked rut Of the past two
years, there is no reason why should
not rival Methuselah in hoariness of
age My life the forfeit If l break
parole and attempt an escape.
And so, sweetheart, we come to the
parting of the ways, my way and yours.
ought to have given you up long ago.
But at first thought 1t would be for
such little while that 1t would not
matter, and afterward hoped against
| hope that | should be able to go back
to civilization and you.
Now release you. little girl-insist
that our engagement end.
"Good-by, dear, and God bless you.
You need not answer this. I shall un.
derstand when your letters stop com.
Ing. No, do not offer to go on writing
as friend to friend. l could not quite
bear that now NORMAN"
Silently, without a quiver Of the
grim-set lips, he folded the letter,
slipped 1t into a stamped. addressed
envelope, slowly sealed 1t, then, his
head bowed in his hands, he began to
sob-with a mans anguish and the
abandon Of little child.
The days dragged by, heavy-weighted
with a sense Of prison chains
Norman had boasted that he still had
his work. But he could not write. He
could not think. He could only fever
ishly wait for the letter that he had
asked her not to write.
Yet not until two weeks had passed,
and he knew at last that she had taken
him at his word, did he realize to the
full measure Of bitter disappointment
how much he had counted upon one
more letter from her.
The east-bound overland was due in
an hour, and he was going on it.
He stood on the station platform
Notwithstanding from excitement
and haste Of packing, every now and
again casting stealthy glance over
his shoulder as though afraid Of being
watched
With the caution Of the real pris
oner breaking Jail, he had only bought
a ticket to a nearby point.
The kind-hearted meddlesomeness
of his neighbors, the tyranny of the
doctor under whose thumb he had been
so many months, were capable of 20.
ing any lengths Of interference when
1t came to q matter of what they con-
sidered his own good.
A whistle sounded. A fare of light
swept the gathering night from the
track. He snatched up his suit-cases-
impatiently dropped them again. The
locomotives headlight flashed from
the wrong direction. He had forgotten
that the west-bound train passed ten
minutes before his own.
The putting engine paused for breath
the usual short, hurried instant of an
express A black parallelogram of a
trunk was tossed from the baggage
car. The black figure of woman pas
senger got of the Pullman
The express gave a creak forward
ratified. rumbled, and roared into the
awaiting blackness.
The new arrival stood hesitating. a
nervous, lost-child air about the slight
shadowy figure. Norman took a quick
step to her assistance. The blurred
light of the station lamp softly en-
wrapped her
he started back, cold fear clutch
ing his heart. The brooding of the last
hideous days had been too great a
strain-his mind had suddenly given
way!
ut the woman did nc. start back
she - tcaaid him wiki glad cry Of:
",,rman!"
Il Was not the hallucination of
nervous breakdown. 1t was Nan. Nan
her dear flesh and blood self Nan
in Eden. Nan on the platform beside
him. Nan in his arms.
And you are really glad that TIM
here" she tremulously laughed. when
at last he opened his arms wide enough
for her 10 look up into his radiant
face
After | started was so frightened, |
But l had to come. She hid her
scarlet-swept face in the old resting
place. 1T was the only way I could |
make you understand, you dear, fool. |
ish ctuD{d va,