The Twin City star. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1910-19??, 1915-01-09

ing to see the stars AZ they had looked
to him years ago, when they and the
night had seemed to mean something
else.
s"What eise2" he asked himself.
The time did not seem momentous.
It was only very quiet. Nothing new
was there. nothing different. It 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 p
. It was seen to be compassionately ask
ing .-
What elser' Ebenezer asked him
self. e.-...
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.
~
Mary Chavah left ajar the door from
the child's room to the room where, in
the dark, the tree stood. He had want
ed the door to be ajar 80 the things
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 tnagnified and re-
peated the Offices of his journey, had
shown her the contents Of his pockets.
had repeatedly mentioned by their first
names his playmates in 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 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
were slowly fashioning it. while the
fourth. soft fire within her. answered
them. The fragrance made it seem as
II the turn Of the year were very near,
as II 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. blossoming on the ia
bic. 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 If In readiness. Almost
she understood now the passionate ex-
pectation Of those who in her dream
had kept saying You
There was movement in her gar
den and on the walk footsteps. The
three men stepped into the rectangle
Of lamplight- Abel Ames and Simeon.
who had left the party little before
the others and. hurrying back with
the gifts that they planned, had met
Ebenezer at his gate. getting home
from Jenny's house. In Abel's arms
was something globed. like a little
world; In Simeon's, the tall. gray
gowned st. Nicholas taken from the
Exchange window, the Iettered sign
absent. but the little flag still in his
hand. and Ebenezer was carrying the
hobbyhOrse.
HAS the boy gone to bedY' Abel
asked without preface.
YES" Mary answered. Pm sorry"
Never mind" Simeon whispered,
you can give him these in the morn
ing"
Mary, her shawl half hiding her face.
stopped to take what the three lifted.