The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-07-27

thing but cheerful as she sot on n..
oack doorstep sewing. Once in ,wb,,o
ner gaze shifted from her work to the
quiee pay which Tapped the sand no.
yond the back fence. On the sand was
rowboat tied to a stake
| out on the bay motorboat chu,ood
Sio"iy from shore to shore. With her
eyes closed Tabby could have told Won
mat IL was David Martins boat and
.nat he was in it. perhaps going over
" the village for supplies and tbe
/ mall, for David's place was on a noel
Oh land jutting into the harbor. and
Tie shortest way to the village was by
water rather than by the highroad.
1ne boat vanished around a point
OF land, and Tabby's needle STONED
nying to and fro. A tear dropped, and
tneh another, and another fell unheed
!, ed on the white seam.
Inc chickens that loved the sound of
IaDbys voice stood aloof wondering
her black cat purred questions that
remained unanswered.
a saucy catbird in the blackberry
pushes that was wont to hold animat
eu conversations with little Miss Trot
ter challenged her in vain while he
tilted to and fro on a twig.
Tabby Trotter crying?" they all
seemed to ask. why, she is the most
cheerful friend we have hereabouts
Tabby never cries"
After that every one noticed a great
I change In Tabby Trotter. She became
very silent She rarely spoke except
In monosyllables, and her friends won
dered what had happened.
They missed the pleasant cheeriness
of her voice. AS Mrs. Berry remarked
one day at Farther Lights meeting:
I'D rather hear Tabitha talk too much
than not at all miss her merry
tongue. | hope no one has been so
unkind as to repeat what Mrs. Ames
said about her"
Sally Ames looked uncomfortable,
and Fanny Bond blushed fiery red.
But no one answered the remark.
TITS Fanny Bonds work." thought
the minister's wife resentfully.
A few weeks later there came a
fierce summer storm that lashed the
harbor into a fury Of whitecapped
waves and bent the trees to the
ground.
As darkness came on Tabitha lighted
many lamps to make her rooms cheer
full, and. opening her old piano, she
poured out her long repressed feelings
in song after song.
Once as she paused to turn over the
sheets of music the storm beat In
greater fury against the glass doors
The waves thundered on the beach.
"My tongue won't trouble any one
tonight" she thought bitterly. INC
one can hear me above the storm"
But Tabitha was mistaken. Out OF
the bay a motorboat battled helplessl!
with the waves. The engine had beer
flooded and was quite useless. Davi(
Martin grasped the spare oar. and
padding with one hand. he tried tt
bale out the boat with the other, al
the while keeping an anxious eye or
the pail of darkness.
But no answering CLEAN Of light re
warded his watchfulness. Blackness
all around. overhead and beneath.
Back Of him somewhere was the
narrow channel that led into the
sound. The tide was pulling him
around. Death awaited him on the
jagged rocks. where the water swept
like a millrace.
''If could make out Trotter's point
and get in the lee of 1t l would be all
right" he painted. for. strong man that
he was. David was feeling the strain.
Suddenly there was lull in the
storm, and on the silence floated wo-
mans voice singing Nancy Lee" in a
wild abandon that seemed to defy the
storm.
"Tabitha's blessed voice!' muttered
David, bringing the boat about SO that
the voice was on his starboard quar-
ter. There! Lights. They must be
her house She will not mind II I land
there. even II she doesn't want to
marry me!"
Again the storm broke over him. and
darkness blotted out the lights. but
only momentarily Every now ant
then he glimpsed the lights in Ia
bitha's windows until at last, spent
and worn. he felt the boat lifted higl
on a wave and flung crashing on the
beach beneath the lights.
Before he tainted David uttered
feeble shout
Tabitha heard David's cry. Loves
ears are keen. and she had loved Da
vid Martin even while she refused t
marry him, believing that she loved
her freedom better. But when she
learned through Fanny Bond that Da
vid had said Tabitha talked too mucf
for a wife Tabitha had tried to Kill he
love for him and failed. oh, SO FOR
lornly!
David opened his eyes on Tabitha
sitting room floor in front Of a blazing
log fire. Tabitha knelt beside him
hA