Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1919-05-02
CHAPTER XXI.
The White Niuht.

stumbling into camp, wet to the skin.
Don't you say letters to me, Mac.
I'm going to bed. Tell Ling 1 don't
want any dinner. He'll want to fuss
up something. 1 don't want to see
food"
The day, confused and jumbled,
burned across his eyeballs; turmoil
of hustle AID hurry of insurrection. He
had made a swift stand against that.
He was to be minded to the last man
jack of them, or anyone would go, his
threat including the engineers, Silent,
Irish, Wooster, Hardin himself. This
was no time for factions, for leader
feeling.
In bed, the day with its irritatiOns
fell away. He could see now the step
ahead that had been taken; the last
trestle was, done; the rock-pouring
well on; he called that going some!
He felt PLEASANTLY languid, but not yet
sleepy. His thought wandered over the
resting camp. And then Innes Hardin
came to him.
Not herself, but as a soft little
thought which came creeping around
the corner of his dreams. She had
been there, of course, all day, tucked
away in his mind, as though in his
home waiting for him to come back TO
her, weary from the pricks of the day.
TIE wayNhe would come home to her,
please God, some day. Not bearing
his burdens to her, he did not believe
in that. but asking her diversions. Con-
tentment spread her soft wings over
him. He fell asleep.
Rickard wakened as to call. What
had startled him? He listened, rails
ing himself by his elbow. From a dis
tance, sweet high voice, unreal in its
pitch and thrilling quality, came to
hiH- 1t was Godfrey, somewhere on
the ievee, singing by the river. 1t
brought him again to Innes Hardin.
He pulled aside his curtain which
hung over the screening of his tent
and looked out into a moOn-fooded
world. Richards eyes fell on little
tent over yonder, q white shrine.
white as that fine sweet soul of
hersi"
Wandering into the night, Godfrey
passed down the river, singing. His
voice, the footlights, the listening
great audiences were calling to him.
To him, the moon-aOoded levee, the
glistening water, made a star-set
scene. He was treading the boards,
the rushing waters by the bank gave
hn hos cfr-ot 20 1r6r n
Donnn Mobile" He began it to Gerty
Hardin; she would hear 1t in her tent
she would take it as the tender re-
proach he had teased her with that
afternoon in the ramada.
He gave for encore a ballad long
forgotten; he had pulled it back from
the cobwebs of two decades; he had
made II his own.
'But, my darling, you win be,
Ever young and fair to me-"
1t came, the soaring voice, TO Tom
Hardin, outside Gerty's tent on his
lonely cot. He knew that song. Dis.
dained by his wife, pretty figure 9
man cuts If his wife can't stand
him, who can? He wasn't good enough
for her. He was rough. His life haC
kept him from fitting himself to hel
taste. She needed people who coulC
talk like Rickard. sing like Godfrey
People. other people, might miscon
strue her preferences. He knew they
we're not flirtations; she needed hel
kind. She would always keep straight
she was straight as a whip. Life wa.
as hard for her as it was for him; h,
could feel sorry for her; his pity wa
divided between the two of them, tn,
husband, the wife, both lonely in thei
own way.
On the other side of the canva
walls, Gerty Hardin lay listening t
the message meant for her. The fickl
sex, he had called hers; no eonstanc
in woman, he had declared, fondlin
her hair. He had tried to coax he
into pledges, pledges which were ais
disavowals TO the man outside.
Silver threads Age shuddered a
her threshold. She hated that son.
Cruel, life had been to her; none of il
promises had been kept. To be happ,
why, that was a humans birthright
grab 1t. that was her creedl Their
was chance yet; youth had not gon
de was singing It TO her, her escape
"Dc-is2S, you will be,
Ever young and fair to me-"
Godfrey, singing to Gerty Hardi
had awakened the camp. Innes,
her tent, too, was listening.
Darling, you will be,
Ever young and fair to me!''
So that is the miracle, that wi
rush of certain feeling Yesterda
doubling, tomorrow. more doubts-bl
tonight, the song, the night isolate
them, herself and Rickard, into
world of their own. Life with him {
any terms she wanted.