The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-09-11

once. he saw the girl again. standing
where he had seen her before, at the
door of the cabin.
HE approached her very courteous
~, raising his hat. This time she did
not run from him, but stood still and
smiled. He apologized for having
frightened her the night before. and
asked her if she could direct him to
his hotel.
He must have presented terrific
spectacle, all scratched, dirty and
bruised from his long tramp, and with
the wildness of delirium still in his
eyes. But the girl only smiled again,
and stretched out her hand. indicating
a trail. Tarrant thanked her. but she
went back into the hut without word.
Afterward he remembered that she
had not spoken to him at all.
"Plunging heavily along the trail.
Tarrant walked till the sun came up.
Then, lifting up his eyes In amaze
ment, he saw, not hnif . mile away.
his own hotel.
Fifteen minutes later no was back,
and ten minutes after that he was en-
joying chicken broth In bed. After
that he slept the clock around.
when he awakened he told his ad-
ventures to the hotelkeeper, who had
formerly been one of the local guides
But when he mentioned the girl in the
cabin the man was silent. Tarrant
! pressed him hard.
"'Who 10 she? he insisted.
AT last the man raised his eyes
sullenly to his. She died q score Of
years ago. he answered. She was the
; wife of the old squire, before the land
was bought by the state. She died
! when her baby was born. She was al
ways kind to folks, and she loved
children
THAT was all Tarrant could get out
of him. He tried to find the trail
through the woods many times, but
none of the guides admitted knowledge
Of it, and the landlord fatty refused tc
show him. And Tarrant. thinking ovel
the matter, all at once understood why
he thought he had seen the woman
before.
THE look in her eyes was the lool
that he used to see in Mollys eyes
long ago, when he courted her, before
the rubs and jars of married life hat
worn away the sweetness of their love
"Tarrant was no fool, and after
while he began to piece the warning
together. That look which had so al
lured him, that look which he hat
seen in the dead woman's eyes and il
Molly was it but the univer
sal, loving soul of woman, embodied
now here, now there, but always nobl
and always sweet?
And Tarrant knew that in lovin
Molly he was loving the spiritual qua
ity which is given to all men in som
form, in life, but is SO often throw
away and lost through misunderstood
ing.
That night he hurried home, an
all the way in the train the wheel
beat Molly lie arrived, fearful tina
she had already taken some irrevot
able step. He wanted a chance to tel
her. to explain but when h
reached the house it was alight, and
was Molly who met him within tn
darkened hall.
He flung his arms about her an
! stammered out acknowledgment {
his hideous mistake.
He felt her tears upon his fac,
Dearest she whispered, I came hom
couldn't stay away from you longe
| was writing to you, What a mistak
we have made dear And there
something listen!'
''lncredulously Tarrant heard tn
whispered story, while his heart bes
madly. When she lad done he foldc
her In his arms. We shall never pal
, again. through all our lives he said.
And 1t was only afterward that h
, remembered how the woman Of tn
/ lonely cabin had died, and understood
, why she had come to him"