The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1915-11-26
TIE sR'IiG SONG
BY ALLISON GRANT.


had been fht strongest feeling she
had letf fer Ter husband. She shiv-
cred as sac eaaIled that she had
rlarfiea gtaaEs Dustin Moore, who
vas tgeaty eaFs her senior, because
it seemed - 0aAi7 solution Of all the
difficulties which piled themselves
he6ars Ser ehen her mothers illness
waa ne9esenced incurable. Justin
Mere s9ssA I0ng begged for the privi-
- IS sel95g Elinor's husband and
! brother anu father all in one, and al
though she told him frankly that she
did net love him as she felt she ought,
she allowed him to claim her, and
now that she was his widow she
was grateful that nothing in her
conduct toward him could have let
him know that}each day Of their mar
ried life was day of bondage to her.
On a springlike day in late Feb
ruary, she went out to theater where
she could see. a good old-fashiCned
play with a happy-ever-afterward end
ing.
Between the third and fourth acts
the orchestra began a soft rendition
of Men1elssohns Spring Song" Eli
nor's thoughts flashed tack to the
springtime day, five years before,
when she and Barry Elliott had stood
together on the pier at Old Point Com
fort watching the ships pass il and
M nP fEn
through the evening of that day when
she had stood on the moonlit deck Of
q South-hound steamer and had hidden
good-by to Barry, thus bringing to an
end their acquaintance of a month
while visiting at the Virginia planta-
ton of Barry's cousin Alice, Elin0r's
school friend, who had married short
ly afterward and gene to India with
her engineer husband
All the long, hard years that had
dream to Elinor AS the final curtain
rose to show the hero and heroine
united after haNng bridged the chasm
which kept them apart during the ear
ly part Of the play, she felt a curious
personal sense of having bridged the
empty chasm in her own life and
heart.
She remembered having heard,
shortly after her marriage, of Barry's
engagement to a beautiful Southern
girl, but that did not spoil her mem
ory of that one perfect evening with
him. He was then a penniless, en-
bryo lawyer, just out Of college, and
he felt that he must attain some sort
OF professional standing before offer
ing himself to Elmer, but each had
understood that underneath their
fsH~-.Aezr good ~ heart CRY that
even the lone AID clasp could not
fully express or suppress. She hoped
he had been happy. was happy now.
AS she went from the theater she
stopped to look at a window display
of blossoming plants, ard urcon-
sciously as she looked she hunlned
the opening bars Of the Spring
Song" Her deep contraltc tone at
tracted passing man, who was TAX
glance at her brought him to sud
den stop. A second glance brought
him to her side. That brought her
eyes upward casually to regard s.
close neighbor, ard as her eyes met
the clear brown eyes Of Barry Elliott
she brought her hands together with
an impulsive movement that let the
violets she held fall to the sidewalk
Somehow, words were a small part of
their greeting, of replacing the VIC
lets in her hands, and of their walk,
ing off together down Broadway.
"And your husband" ventured
Barry. He is with you here?"
My husband died six months ago;
my mother-seven. l came Away to
try to forget some of the cares of the
last five years. said Elinor quietly.
But tell me of your own life, Barry.
Is the lovely Southern girl good to
your
why, didn't Alice write you about
my fiasco?"
"She never mentioned you after
telling or your engagement.
Its easily told" began Barry
bluntly. "The lovely Southern girl
wanted everything lovely that money
could buy, and when size got an op-
portunity to choose between penniless
me and a man with ready-made
fortune, she chose him. leaving me to
cCme to my senses and settle down
to digging, which | have done con-
stantly and profitably ever SINCE"
How strange Alice told me none
of that" unused Elinor But perhaps
she thought / had enough without
knowing that you, too, were unhap-
py
Then my happiness did matter to
you, Elinor?' asked Barry.
More than I could ever make you
understand. Barry; but my duty kept
me from even understanding it N.Y.
self" In few words Elinor told him
quite simply what her life had been
since they parted 1T seemed the
only way then. but now / shudder at
the awfulness of it ALL
And I've shuddered through all the
years as l thought of you tied there,