The patriot. [volume] (Indiana, Pa.) 1914-1955, 1919-10-11
FROM A CLEAR SKY
By AGNES C. BRoGAN.

Reckon" she said, 1--WE may as well
give up looking for some one to come
or something to happen Susan, we've
been looking a good many years"
The black cat who was the lone little
woman's only companion, answered
by sympathizing purr.
Seems" Rosalia went on, that we
ought to get over expecting. If anything
new or pleasant had been coming our
way, it would have come when the old
house was fresh, when father tended
the rose vines and kept them neat,
when carriages drove past our door
with happy folks coming to town for
holiday, or stopping in to visit"
Rosalia sank down upon a grassy
mound and drew the cat into her lap,
silent with her memories.
Carriages come no more down our
quiet lane," she told the cat, its
autos now, great whirring autos fly
ing along the great white road"
ROsalia rose to her feet smiling whim-
sically upward, anything that will
come our way these days, puss, must
drop from out a clear sky" And as the
woman stood gazing absently upward,
a whirring sound coming not from the
main road, rent the air. Then she saw
1.-THE wonder thing with the out
spread wings of monster bird sweep
ing the sky. And before ROsalia could
catch her astOnished breath, the won
der thing cireled, dropped, and still cir
cling, came crashing toward her own
neglected garden.
Like a thrObbing monster it lay in
the wide space beyond the rose hedge;
and ROsalia, trembling, rushed to a
man who frantically beckoned from its
side. He was a young man and dead
ly white.
you'd better get someone" he gasp
ed, "to help carry me inside. Nothing
but a broken bone, 1 guess-awful jar,
but made landing-in time" Then the
man of the airplane tainted.
When she returned with the assur-
Rnce that help would soon come, the
young man turned upon the cushions
she prOpped about him.
tits probably nothing to worry
about" he said slowly, "but you new
er can tell Might be internal injury.
So I wOndered-if you'd be kind
enough-to write a sort Of-message to
a girl. You could mail it to her from
me in case" he smiled family. "Well,
in either case," he said.
SO ROsalia brought her best note
paper, and seated herself close to the
great broken bird, which had scared
toward the sky.
Eyes" she prompted.
'Begin it," the man said steadily.
Dearest that includes everything"
Dearest" Rosalia wrote and wait
ed. To-day only, do dare to tell you
that which has long been in my heart,
I love you. Always, I think I have
loved you" She still waited as he
lay with closed eyes apparently think
ing.
Rosalia was thinking also. She had
wished for something to happen
Something miraculous had happened,
the something had darted into her
solitude from out a clear sky. Ro-
nance itself, was close to her, and she,
as usual, but an onlOOker. She thought
Of this dearest girl far away, won
dering If she had listened wearily for
a step that never came back. But the
Dearest girl did not live, she was
sure, in an old house set far back
from the road, where briers and cares
grew thick, to screen and choke young
life. The dearest girls lover had not
gone away years before. He was a
young lover still. Neither had heart
less parents sent him abroad to finish
a medical education, killing romance
country romance they had called it,
with one blow. And after twenty-five
years the memory of that broken ro-
nance still had power to bring mist
to ROsalias blue eyes.
He had married-her own lover of
long agO-a gay creature abroad, who
had not lived long enough to return
with her husband to his home. And
when he had returned taking up in
later years his fathers practice Of
medicine, Rosalia kept resolutely and
proudly out of his way.
AS an auto rounded the curve, she
jumped apprehensively to her feet and
hurried into the house. 1t was the
same step she remembered, which now
crossed the porch, as the doctor car
ried the aviator upon his own broad
back. The same confident laugh
which echoed back from her sitting
room.
Presently the doctor sought her out.
eve shall need you," he said, but
his eyes were upon her. as he talked
with his patient.
And later when Rosalia and her low
er Of long ago stood together beside
the airplane in the garden the doctor
bent to pick up piece Of paper
Dearest" he read, today only, do
1 dare to tell you that which has long
been in my heart, love you Always,
I think, | have loved you"
He turOed as he was Iaavino RI pu+