The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1917-12-13
WMARY ROBERTS RLNEHART
= AUTHOR or K TIE nANN LORER TN ETC. =, - y

as II he were impreSsing on his men,
ory every light and shadow of her
face; every line of her straight young
figure. Then he went out into that
darkest hour Of the night that pre-
cedes the dawn.
For the first time since mis- injury
Wards mind was quite clear. He had
not been able to sleep, and the nurse
had been reading to him. Strange read
ing, too, for the assistant rector Of
Saint Jude's. The books old Hilary
had kept on his bedside still lay there.
Even the nurse, accustomed to
many books for many men, was gently
outraged.
Ward lay in his bed, his eyes half
closed, listening intently. At last the
nurse put down the book.
"Why, it's frightful, it's outrageous,
it's blasphemous Do you really thh.G
l should read you any more of them?"
Ward smiled feebly.
"If you are afraid of the effect on
you"
mot at ALL" said the nurse almost
sharply, and picked up the book again.
Ward lay back on his pillows and
listened to the age-old arguments.
So 1t was on such literature as this
that ElInor had been reared! How
fair a plant to have grown thus in the
dark And as the nurse droned on,
Ward came to realize how natural and
how inevitable had been her develop
ment. Reared in such soil, what might
he himself not have become; and
more than that, would he have been
one-half so sweet, so tender, sO-good?
Toward dawn the nurse slept in her
chair. Her cap had fallen a little
crooked, and the beautifying hand of
sleep had touched Hway the small fur
rows between her eyes Plain she was,
but kindly and full of geEtleness. Ward,
lying awake, watched her. She was no
longer very young. He thought of the
children who should have Cluhg to her
broad, fiat bosom and felt the to1ch of
her tender hand.
Then, because, curiously enough
/ everything of gentleness and tender
. ness reminded him of Elinor, his
thoughts swung round to her. He
! closed his eyes, and dreamed the
dream that had been with him, sub
, consciously, all the night To take her
t In his arms, and by teaching her love,
> teach her infinite love; by showing
: mercy and forgiveness and great ten
' derness, to lead her by these. His at
? tribute to the Christ-this was his
dream.
n And because 1t brought hope and
:. healing and great peace, after time
: he slept. Elinor, standing alone in the
s house outside his door, took courage
4 from his even breathing and ventured
: In. So light was his sleep that she
: dared not touch him. She knelt very
n quietly by the bed, and kissed the cor
d ner of his pillow.
Ward spent his Sabbatlcal year ir
l. Oxford. He had thought to find peace
s by exchanging one form Of activity fol
G another, but with the less arduous du
n ties of his work there he had more
d time to think. He found the old pair
l. even greater; his restlessness grew OF
him. In the three years since Elinor'!
y flight he had done many things. HI
l. had left Nottingham for New York
e and could feel his usefulness nov
l, only bounded by his strength.
But the old zest of life was gone. FL
h was restless, heavier of spirit. Ther'
l. had been times when he had though
n that he was forgetting, only to dis
o cover, through q stray resemblance
e while his heart pounded and his blooC
p raced, that his forgetting was only tn
l. numbness of suffering.
y Once, on the Strand in London, h
C. came face to face with Boroday. Ware
J. would never forget that meeting, 1t
.e quick hope which died into the oil
ache at Boroday's words.
l. II have not seen her." he said. I"
r am always looking. Perhaps she /
'e wise, to break with us all. Still, W
loved her. l have never married, an
n she was like my own child"
e He had taken clerkship in Lon
don, he said. While, Of course, he di
ot not SLY so, Ward read between hi
III words that he was done with the oil
" life for good. He held out his han
u and the russian took 1t.
III "If | hear anything" BOrOday sale
"Tll let yor know. Once or twice sh
or wrote me; from Liverpool once, afte
she landed, aad again from here. The
the police closed up the Dago's place
=. which was the only way she knew t
IL reach me. I've Lever heard since"
Ut '"Then you think she may be in Enl
le land?" Ward asked eagerly.
II The Russian shrugged his shoulders
le "Perhaps, If she IS diving. She wa
le not strong. Sometimes / wopder-"
So, after all, Ward took an extr
IT, pang away with him from the chanC
ID meeting. What If, after all, his watcl
ing and waiting meant nothing?
y. she were gone, beyond earthly fine
Ut ing? Death for him might be begiI
ming only, door to eternity, but a
40 the philosophy and hope of his falt
did not fill his empty human arm
lie That night he walked the Londo
III streets until dawn.
ng He came back from Oxford at II
end Of his course there. Home wt
ke calling, and work, blessed work, th'
~ brings forgetfulness.
On the last Sunday before he sale
he attended service in Saint Paul's. E
ge knew the church well. In those EARL,
ill ., =, l.,o.o.L-. "a 4oI,or =