The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1914-11-27

| -~ his scrat C h I'M
fountain pen t,
even casually notice his neighborl,
little visitor
Finally, the man looked up from the
| finished sheet, pushed back his som
brero, wiped the sweat from the banC
Of fair, white skin that ribbed his
tanned brow, and, with sigh so deeI
drawn that 1t started culver Of greer
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 verdict's 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 | break
parole and attempt an escape.
And so, sweetheart, we come to the
parting of the ways, my way and yours.
l ought to have given you up long ago.
But at first l thought it would be for
such a little while that it would not
N q mr. of ofr,c -
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. | 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 it into stamped, addressed
envelope, slowly sealed 1t. then, his
head bowed in his hands, he began tc
sob-with a mans anguish and the
abandon of a 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 hao
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
waiting-trembling from excitement |
and haste of packing, every now and
again casting a stealthy glance over |
lis shoulder as though afraid Of being
watched
With the caution of the real pris-
)ner breaking Jail, he had only bought
l ticket to a nearby point.
The kind-hearted meddlesomeness
If his neighbors. the tyranny Of the
loctor under whose thumb he had been
10 many months, were capable Of go
ng any lengths of interference when
t came to matter of what they con
idered his own good.
A whistle sounded A fare of light
wept the gathering night from the
rack. He snatched up his sult-cases-
dropped them again. The
ocomotive's headlight flashed from
he wrong direction. He had forgotten
hat the west-bound train passed ten
minutes before his own.
The putting engine paused for breath
he usual short, hurried instant of an
xpress. A black parallelogram of
runk was tossed from the baggage
ar. The black figure of a woman pas
enger got of the Pullman.
The express gave a creak forward /
attled, rumbled. and roared into the ;
waiting blackness.
The new arrival stood hesitating, a
ladowy figure. Norman took a quick
tep to her assistance. The blurred
ght Of the station lamp softly en-
raped her.
He started back. a cold fear clutch.
* his heart. The brooding Of the last
ideous days had been too great a
rain-his mind had suddenly given
ay.
But the woman did not start back
be ran toward him with a glad cry Of:
"Norman,"
Il was not the hallucinatiOn Of
arvous breakdown. II was Nan. Nan
her dear flesh and blood self Nan
Eden. Nan on the platform beside
Inn. Nan in his arms.
And you are really glad that I'm '
're7" she tremulously laughed. when
last he opened his arms wide enough
r her TO look up into his radiant
CO.
After / started was so frightened,
lt had TO come" she hid her
arlet-swept face in the old resting
ace. 1t was the only way could
axe you understand. you dear. fool
b stupid. you"
And then be knew that a woman =
.ver really loves until she makes a
crihce for the man.