Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-12-11


his townsfolk, his neighbors. his
hands He had thought that their
way of meeting him. IL he chose to go
among them. would matter nothing.
Abruptly now he saw that it would
matter more than he could bear. They
were in there at Mary's, the DON full
of little families. getting along as best
they could. taking pride in their chill
dren. looking ahead. looking ahead
and they would not know that he u n
derstood. He could not have defined
offhand what it was that he under.
stood. But it had. it seemed. some
thing to do with Letty's account book
and Bruce's baby.
Gradually he let himself face what
it was that he was wanting to do.
And when he faced that be left the
hobbyhorse where it was under the
wall and went into the street.
He took his place among the exter
nails of the winter night. himself un.
conscious of them. The night. with
all its content, a thing Of %explicable
fellowships. lay waiting patiently for
tuOSC "a 10 CA VIZ hhCR AIo A0NC'
In the dark and under the snow the
very elements of earth and life were
obscured. as in some clear wash cor
recting too strong values. He moved
along the village. and now his domi.
nant consciousness was the same con
seriousness In which that little village
lived. But he knew it only as the i'm
..r.. 44..4 ..-I H.. -. A--.-1 -
ny's house. If he went to Jenny's. If
he signiied SO that he wished not to
be cut off from her and Bruce and the
baby, If he asked Bruce to come back
to the business. these meant a lifetime
of modification to the boys ideals for
that business and modification to the
lives of the hands" back there in
Mary Chavah's ~house-and to some
thing else.
What else" he asked himself.
Mechanically he looked up and saw
the heavens crowded with bright
watchers. In that high field mi star.
brighter than the others. hung ovef
the little town. He found himself ~
ing to see the stars as they had looked
to him years ago. when they and the
night had seemed to mean something
else.
what else?" he asked himself.
The time did not seem momentous.
1t was only very quiet. Nothing new
was there. nothing different. 1t had
always been SO. The night lay in a
sovereign consciousness of being more
than just itself. do you think that
you are all just you and nothing else?"
it was seen to be compassionately ask
ing.
What else?" Ebenezer asked him
self.
He did not face this yet. But In that
hour which seemed pure essence, with
no alternating sound or touch, he kept
on up the hill toward Jenny's house.
. y >
Mary Chavah left ajar the door from
the chiidss room to the room where, in
the dark, the tree stood. He had want
ed the door to be ajar so the things
l think about can go back and FORTH"
he had explained.
In the dining room she wrapped her
self in the gray shawl and threw up
the two windows. New air swept in,
cleansing, replacing, prevailing. Her
guests had left her early. as is the
way in Old Trail Town. Then she had
had her first moments with the child
alone. He had done the things that
she had not thought of his doing. but
had inevitably recognized-had delayed
his bed going, had magniied and re-
peated the offices Of his journey. bad
shown her the contents of his pockets,
had repeatedly mentioned by their first
names his playmates III Idaho and
shown surprise when she asked him
who they were. Mary stood now by
the window conscious of a wonderful
thing-that 1t seemed as If he had
been there always.
In the clean thrush of the air she
was aware Of a faint fragrance, COM
! ing to her once and again. She look
ed down at her garden. lying wrapped
in white and yelled with black like
some secret being. Three elements
WCAC oiVNly ldohiOliiuS II, HhAiS bhC
fourth, a soft fire within her, answered
them. The fragrance made it seem as
if the turn of the year were very near,
as if its prophecy. evident once in the
October violets in her garden. were
come again. But when she moved she
knew that the fragrance came from
within the room, from Ellen Bourne's
Christmas rose. poisoning on the ia
BILE. Above her eye fell on the pic
ture that Jenny had brought to her on
that day when she had all but emptied
the house. as il in readiness. Almost
she understood now the passionate ex-
pectation of those who in her dream
had kept saying You"
There was a movement in her gar
den and on the walk footsteps. The
three men stepped into the rectangle