The Washington herald., 1914-11-01

They shut the road through the woods
Seventy years ago.
4 Weather and rain have undone II again,
And now You would never know
There was once road through the woodi
i Before they planted the trees.
1t IS underneath the coppice and heath.
i And the thin anemones.
i Only the keeper sees
That, where the ringdove broods,
And the badgers roll at east.
There was once road through the
i woods
yet, II you enter the woods
OF a summer evening late,
When the night air cools on the trout
rineed pools
4 Where the otter whistles his mate
/ cThey fear not men in the woods
i Because they see SO few),
You viii hear the Beat OF horses feet.
/ And the swish OF skirt in the dew.
/ Steadily cantering through eE5
The misty solitndes,
As though they perfectly knew
1 The old lost road through the woods.
But there Is no road through the
i woods.'"
i '.I don't like that at all" cried the sol
dier-man. Its too-too sad-it doesn't
/ give you any encouragement. The way It
enQS, 1 mean IneIe Is no ROAD
through the woods OF course there's q
/ road. For us there always win be. I'm
going to make sure. I'm going to buy
those woods, and keep the lost road where
we can always find it"
"I don't Think said the girl. that
he means q real road"
81 know what he means" cried the
lover, "and he's wrongi There Is a road,
as you and I have found It, and we
1 NoTl1 l. a.Ivuv
The girl shook her head. but her eyes
4 were smiling happily.
/ The season" at Agawamsett closed
with the tennis tournament, and II was
generally conceded ft and proper, from
4 every point Of view, that In mixed
Il doubles Lee and Miss Gardner should
be partners. Young Stedman, the Bos-
ton artist was the only one who made
| objection Up In the sail-loft that he
had turned into Studio he was painting
portrait Of the lovely Miss Gardner,
and he protested that the three days
tournament would sadly interrupt his
4 work. And Frances, who was very much
interested in the portrait, was inclined
i to agree.
But Lee beat down her objections. He
was not at all interested in the portrait.
4 He disapproved OF it entirely. For the
| sittings robbed him of Frances during
the better part of each morning. and he
! urged that when he must so soon leave
her, between the man who wanted her
/ portrait and the man who wanted her, !;
| would be kind to give her time to the
| latter.
But had no idea," protested Frances.
/ The would take so long. He told me hed
| finish it in three sittings. But he's 80
4 critical of his own work that he goes
| over it again and again. He says that
! / am a most difficult subject but that
| I inspire him. And he says, II win
/ only give him time, he believes this win
be the best thing he has done"
That's an awful thought" said the
/ cavalry offlcer.
/ you don't like him" repro1ed Miss
Gardner. He is always very polite to
/ you
Hes polite to everybody" said Lee;
that's why 1 don't like him. He's not
/ a real artist. He's a courtier. God
| gave him a talent, and he makes q mean
| use of it, Uses Il to flatter people He's
/ like these long-haired violinists who play
anything you ask them to in the lobster
| palaces"
Miss Gardner looked away from him.
Her color was high and her eyes very
J bright.
/ Il think" she said steadily, that Mr..
stedman is great artist. and some day
| all the world will think so, tool"
i Lee made no answer. Not because he
disagreed with her estimate of Mr.. Sted-
I mans genius-he made no pretense Of
| being an art critic-but because her
vehement admiration had filled him with
sudden panic. He was not Jealous. For
that he was far too humble. Indeed. he
! thought himself so utterly unworthy of
| Frances Gardner that the fact that TO
him she might prefer some one else was
! in no. way a surprise. He only knew
that il she should prefer some one else
not all his troop horses nor all his men
| could put Humpty Dumpty back again.
4 But if, in regard to Mr.. Stedman, Miss
Gardner had for moment been at odds
with the man who loved her, she made up
for It the day following on the tennis
court. There she was in accord with him
1 in heart, soul, and body, and her sharp
! ''wen played, partnerl' thrilled him like
| one Of his own bugle calls. For two days
against visiting and local teams they
| fought their way through the tournament,
and the struggle with her at his side
| filed Lee with great happiness. Not
that the championship of Agawamsett
counted greatly to one exiled for three
! years to live among the Moros. He want
ed to win because she wanted to win. But
| his happiness came in doing something
in common with her. in helping her and
! in having her help him In beng, IL only
in play, If only for three days, her
! partner"
After they won they walked home to-
! Eether. each swinging fat, heavy low
! ing-cup. On each was engraved:
Mixed doubles, Agawamsett, 1910"
Lee held his up so that the setting sun
| flashed on the silver.
II am going to keep that" he said, "as
| long as live. It means you were once
my partner It's sign that once we
/ two worked together for something and
won" In the words the man showed
such feeling that the girl said soberly:
Mine means that to me, too. VIII
never part with mine. either"
Lee turned to her and smiled, appeal
! ing wistfully.
1T seems q pity to separate them"
he said. They'd look well together over
an open fireplace"
| The girl frowned unhappily. 'T don't
/ know" she protested. 'T don't know"
The next day Lee received from the
War Department a telegram directing
him to proceed without delay" to San
Francisco, and there to embark for the
Philippines.
That night he put the question to her
directly, but again she shook her head
unhappily; again she said: 'T don't
4 lCnowl"
4 So he sailed without her, and each
evening at sunset, as the great transport
heaved her way across the swell Of the
Pacific, he stood at the rail and looked
back. With the aid of the first oficer
he calculated the difference in time be.
tween a whaling village situated al
! forty-four degrees toward the equator.
| and 50. each day, kept in step with the
girl he loved.
! Now" he would tell himself, Nshe n
In her cart IN front Of the postofice, and