The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1915-02-19
THROUGH A STORY
BY WALTER A. o
(CopYrlght.l

CAoetOu al d udIu uuIy uO06.
She knew, too, that the remuneration
for it had been that-had left her lit
tie strength of courage, not enough for
a repetition, If he had come back
again.
But that did not matter now; he had
gone away, and-it may have been
weakness that made her flush family
as she remembered the pain in his
eyes when she had said that she could
not marry him.
How strangely things happen, now
and then! If his sister had not told
her, in that letter, that he would ruin
his areer if he married now, for he
was a young lawyer and needed all
his strength and thought for his uphill
fight; If that letter had not come just
before he came
But there was less than no use Of
thinking of 1t now She would have
been a drag on him; there would have
come anxieties and responsibilities
she would have done her best to help
him, spent herself so gladly, but-well,
she was only seventeen, and he needed
all his strength and thought for his
career!
To stay in the house meant to think,
though she had said she would not,
and, in order to find rest in physical
WEAKNESS, she went out, to walk in
the fast-falling snow.
The sidewalks we're unbroken, for
it was a little town, and she found
the effort greater than she had counted
on. Yet she kept on, out the deserted
street under the heavily laden trees,
then back on the other side, past her
home, which seemed hateful. just now
md down toward the business section
Of the town.
There were lights, here and there,
for the storm had brought early dark.
ness on its wings. The wind was
keen. and she stopped for warmth and
light at the little library, absent-mind
eddy to look over the new books ant
magazines.
No, she did not want anything, She
old the librarian. She had come only
to
And she went out slowly, wondering
THAT made the older woman so mer
,lessly inQuisitive,
AS she turned up the street dowI
which che had come, she passed
ews stand. buying a paper which tn
oy proprietor held out to her. thel
mt on, walking with increasing difn
lily In the deepening snow. The win,
5ain perYaded her, and she stoppeI
" a moment at an apothecary shoI
She opened the paper and i'd
,lanced down the column, then sh
at quite still, staring vacantly at tn
sheet: there had been q serious wrec
on the railroad connecting the neigh
boring city with the town, and first O
the list of those who had passed int
eternity was-"John Travis, Boston.
She read dully-"identi1ed by
business letter in his overcoat."
Il beg your pardon. Miss Dimmis,
said the clerk, as he kept her nerve
less body from slipping from the chail
is there anything-Can ID" An
almost impersonally, she allowed hir
70 pour between her lips what seeme
ike liquid FIRE.
Yet 1t restored her. and after a mC
nent, age-long 1t seemed, her brai
vas again alive.
NO" she said in a voice not he
, wn and coming as from a great wa
n, there is nothing else. Can you
when,' she asked suddenly, does tn
next train leave for town."
For an instant the clerk looked {
= her blankly.
when does 1t leave?" she erie
gain. Don't keep me waiting.
nay be leaving now!"
IN ter minutes" was the answer.
II she said more, 1t was drowned
he rush of the storm, as she passe
= from the door.
She was exhausted, when the col
ductor swung her on the last platforl
. Of the already moving train, and sh
hardly say and certainly did not fe,
the looks which soon changed to fran
scrutiny from mild surprise. Their
in the corner Of the seat into whic
= she had thrown herself, she had b.
/ one thought, to go to him, dea
though he was, and try to tell hi
of her love.
Yes, tell him, for obligation to h
career required no silence now. NOV
she could do no harm.
only-if only she could have know
=, in time. II she could have marie
o him at once, al he had asked her
do that afternoon, gone with him
e the death which, though her boo
lived, had, she knew, no less sure.
come to herl
1t was not until she stepped out
the station that there came the fu
q realization that she was quite alon
and then 1t came from the GROVE
whose self-absorption seemed delibe
u ate obstruction to her weary feet.
Unused to being there at that hol
and unaccompanied, the great CT