The Twin City star., 1915-01-09

III al the OIQ ITdlI IOWn Std00n. Sne
had stood there, with the children
about her, hardly breathing while the
two Trail Town men and solitary
travelling man had alighted. There
had been no one else. In terror lest
the child should be carried past the
station, she had questioned the con-
ductor, begged him to go in and look
again. parleyed with him until he had
swung his lantern. Then she had
lurned away with the children, utter
ly unable to formulate anything.
There was no other train to stop at
Old Trail Town that night 1t must
mean disaster - indetinable disaster
that had somehow engulfed him and
had not pointed the way that he had
gone. She recalled now that she had re-
fused Buff Miles invitation to ride, but
had suffered him to take the children.
Then she had set out to walk home.
On that walk home she had unlived
her plans. Obscure speculations. stir
ring in her fear, at first tormented her
and then gave place to the conclusion
that John had changed his mind, had
seen perhaps that he could not after
all let the child go so far. had found
some one else to take him, and that
the morrow would bring letter to tell
her so. In any case, she was not to
have him. The conclusion swept her
with the yigOr Of certainty. But in
stead Of the relief for which she would
cd hot mt hnr
nothing but desOlation. Until the mo-
ment when the expectation seemed to
die she had not OWNED how it had
grown into her days, as subtly as the
growth of little cell and little CELL
And now the weight upon her, instead
of lifting. soaring in the possibility
Of the return of her old freedom. lay
the more heavily. and her sense of op-
preston became abysmal. something
is going to happen" she had kept say
ing something has happened"
So she had got on toward her own
door. There the swift relief was like
an upbearing into another air. charged
with more intimate largess for life.
Now Mary sat in the stable in sense
Of happy reality that clothed all her
feeling rather. in a sense OF super
reality. which she did not know how
to accept. So. slowly singing in her
as she sat at her task. came that which
had waited until she should open the
way.
In the stable there was that fusion
of shadow and light in which captive
spaces reveal all their mystery. Little
areas Of brightness. of functioning:
then dimness. then the deep. Bright
ness in which surfaces Of worn floor,
slivered wall. dusty glass. showed
values more specific than those Of col
or. Dimness In which gray rafters
with wavering edges, rough posts. each
with an accessory of shadow; an old
harness I'm grOtesque loops. ceased to
be background and assumed roles. The
background itself. modified by many
an unshadowed promontory, was ac-
.cented in caverns of manger and roof.
The place revealed mystery and beau
ty in the casual business Of saying
what had to be said.
Mary filed her arms with hay and
turned to the manger. The raw smell
of the clover smote her. and it was as
sweet as spring repromised. She stood
for a moment with the hay In her
arms. her breath coming swiftly.
Down on the marsh. not half an hour
away. he was coming to her. to be
with her. as she had grown used t.
imagining him. She had thought that
he was not coming. and he was almost
here. She knew now that she was
glad of this. no matter what it brought
her-glad as she had never known how
to be glad of anything before. He was
coming! There was a thrill in the
words every time that she thought
them. Already she was welcoming
him in her heart. already he was here.
already he was born into her life.
With a soft. fierce rush of feeling not
her own. 1t seemed to her that her
point Of perception was somehow
drawn inward. as If she no longer saw
from the old places. as If something in
her that was not used to looking look
ed. In the seat where her will had
been was no will. But somewhere in
there. beyond all conflict. she felt her
self to be. Beyond a thousand mists.
volitions. little seekings for comfort.
rebellions at toll. the cryfngs Of per-
sonality for its physical own. she
stood at last, herself within herself
And that which through the slow
process Of her life and of life and be-
ing immeasurably before her had been
seeking its expression. building up its
own vehicle Of incarnation, quite sud
denly and simply lowered. 1t was as
If the weight and the striving within
her had been the pangs Of some birth.
She stood. as light of heart as little
child. filed with peace and tender ex-
altation.
These filed her on the road which
she took to meet him-and took alone.
for she would have no one go with her
csWhat's come over Mary!" they ask