Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-05-17
CHAPTER VII

HSffE London train, when it left that
- afternoon, left without me. draw
4 Veil over that part Of my journey
Z home, which was made in the company
5 of Miss Margarita Thompson. IT was
full of constraint on my part. and as
for her, she made many attempts. for
which hated her. to be kind. Perhaps
YOU can imagine the fool I felt all
these alarms and excursions and ac-
companying mysteries-for what? A
& little boys drawings for his dear papa :
birthday Miss Thompson never once
referred to that accursed paper during
the Journey, nor did l. you may be sure ;
but this very silence was eloquent. The
/ one thing had to be thankful for was
Y the opening of the thing before ] had
taken the train TO London; it was. at
least, some comfort that 7 had not
rushed into the Whitehall office.
When at last the train drew UP at
the Junction for st. Andrews, and the
gfri had to change. ] am afraid the words
OF thanks that I made myself address
+ TO her were more cold and formal than
could have wished.
She had been more than kind. but
e had not understood her lately and
4 though the memory of her goodness to
( me almost made me forget, for the
+ moment. yet. when at the last | held
Z her hand to say good-by. ] saw her
!. Tips tremble at the corners, and knew
that she found it hard TO restrain a
smile. could not OF course, deny thai
the AFFAIR had its amusing side to 9TH
srs: but when the big express moved
on and she, standing clear of the bag
gzge and passengers. waved me fare
we'll. I was glad of every roll of the
wheels that left her, n little rapidly
diminishing figure on. the platform.
In the history of the human race
there have been, indeed, scattered eX-
arnp1es Of individual old men tempor-
( arily become ridiculous in the eyes of
! their brothers, who yet did not find the
experience insupportable but the young
man has never existed who, suddenly
and incontestably fallen from the heroic
to the ridiculous in a woman's eyes.
would not find 1t preferable to be dead.
& am Increasingly aware of that. l per-
: ceive. too. that the fewer the years of
life men have left them. the fewer be-
come the things for which they would
willingly die; but at twenty-seven the
catalogue is still relatively extensive,
and perhaps Ridiculous to Woman is the
last Item to go.
It is hard to say why 7 didn't burn
that paper when got to my room that
night And anyway there was no fire.
tossed it into the empty CRATE.
In the succeeding days it was source
OF unfailing delight to me to visit all
the places and things in the garden and
woods which had associations with my
boyhood.
This house, which had been my moth
8 eE'B home ever since my fathers death,
stood on the foothills of the Grampians.
& and four miles from the railway station,
near which also ran the great North
n. road from Perth to Aberdeen. The
4 VILLAGE lay on the road to the station
4 q little more than a mile distant, and
Y our house stood on side road which
y trNversed the glen beyond us. and
crossed the Grampians into Deeside. The
A house itself was about a hundred and
2 nifty yards from the road, facing south,
with y little garden in front that sloped
d0wu to the fields and it seemed to
3 uo4k shelter against the wild northwest
" winds, SO close did II stand to the big
wood at the back. II was a wild and
lonely countryside, very pleasant In
the Granlpians were long-eerie to a de-
! xrec. Then. when darkness began to
4. fall at about four in the afternoon and
the frost stiffened the snow on the
tread at every step, TO come on that
house with its dark and mysterious
background of larches and frs, was to
receive an impression of remoteness and
silence that fingered long in the memory.
OF wild life there was, of course. an
abundance; and when ones remem
brances stirred about that old place, 1t
was not SO much by people, of whom
there were few, as by the wild things
OF the forest and moor; black crows In
slow fight in the gathering dusk over
sheep dog. that came without fear about
the garden in the early spring, the rab-
/. bits lcping out of the wood in sunny
I evenings. the hen-pheasant with her
u Hp<ckled brood, the monotonous note OF
fhe wood-doves, of which one never
flixd the squirrels that chased each
other with incredible agility, chattering
X with mirth-these, and not people, are
what one remembers best.
II was to this life I returned, after,
Z. aE thought, the very unpleasant chap
Z tor IN my experiences, just recorded, had
& 11en closed for ever. And the old place
st once stirred in me zest for old
ana half-forgotten things. When 1 was
; boy there were times when | looked
+ 0utward and away from the place, TO
the great world that lay beyond, the
world of romance and strange adven-
3oFee. OF which had read in books, but
11xer seen, the tremendous cities, the
*olf4ers that marched behind brass
.S111, going to the wars. the tall ships,
sailors with gold-ringed ears and
&<lhY faces, who came from foreign
rH1ries But now, felt that while
= ~ wide world was still curious, for
T. While could md my own home and
rc14ItfYsiuY glorious enough.
n e ~ mother would have liked nothing
r. 1o<l<f than TO see me settle down as
= fn0e7ni medical practitioner in some
quiet place. driving my own Ford car,
~ <l1 iaufliar with the names Of every
u ccf<afc baira in the parish Don't
IH11tI1t for moment that I am sneer-
III ~ Xh6 country has no class of pro-
1H/onAi man more worthy OF honor
<I&4I that OF the medical profession, men
y ho &te kindly and tolerant invariably,
1|tH the ministers are sometimes not,
f. o1144 Ike the minister, underpald but
<1m oyervalued. But the glamour
II1L GEIongs to the specialists side OF
fH& [f0feaeiOn was too strong for me
~ r<1.6i / told her this ole day when
.6 s|11 kcIping her IN the garden. Per-
$ 1os<& ne wan a little disappointed, but
d. ND remark and made ste
S1+ she said, going on with hei
+'rhat Is for the rabbits. they
Everything"
NJ 4 be any good? saw old
line the forester, yesterday, and
IS chat the rabbits are learning