The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1920-01-02

xHUiAAu6uI ClllEeHS aEu tamlIIGS IA
the History of the City" He had
glanced at it absently merely noticing
the title and subtitle. and wandered
out of the room, thinking of other
things and feeling no curiosity about
the book. But he had thought Of ii
several times since with a faint, vague
uneasiness; and now when he entered
the lobby he walked directly into the
parl0r where he had seen the book.
The room was empty, as it always was
on Sunday MORNINGS, and the fiamboy-
ant volume was still upon the table
evidently a fixture as sort of local
Almanach de Gotha, or Burke, for the
enlightenment of tenants and boerders
He turned to the index where the
names Of the five hundred Most Promi.
nent Citizens and Families in the His.
tory of the City were arranged in al
phabetical order, and ran his finger
down the column of AS: Albeit, Alb.
bolt, Abrams, Adams, Adams, Adler,
Akers, Albertsmeyer, Alexander, Allen,
Ambrose, Ambuhl, Anderson, Andrews,
Appenbasch. Archer, Arszman, Ash
craft, Austin, Alvey.
Georges eyes remained for some
time fixed on the thin space between
the names "Allen" and Ambrose
Then he closed the book quietly, and
went up to his own room, agreeing
with the elevator boy, on the way,
that it was getting to be mighty
nasty wet and windy day outside.
The elevator boy noticed nothing IN
usual about him and neither did Fanny,
when she came in from church with
her hat ruined, an hour later. And yet
something had happened-a thing
which, years ago, had been the eager
est hope of many, many good citizens
of the town. They had thought of it,
longed for it, hoping acutely that they
might live to see the day when it would
come to pass. And now it had hap
pened at last: George lfinafer had
sot his come-upanee.
He had got it three times filed and
running over. The city had rolled over
his heart, burying it under, as it rolled
over the Majors and buried it under.
The city had rolled over the Amber
sons and buried them under to the last
vestige; and it mattered little that
George guessed easily enough that
| most of the five hundred Most Promi-
nent had paid something substantial
ito defray the cost of steel engraving,
etc."-the Five Hundred had heaved
the final shovelful of SCOT upon that
heap Of obscurity wherein the Amber
sons We're lost forever from sight and
history. Quicksilver in nest Of
cracks I"
George Minafer had got his come
upance, but the people who had so
longed for it were not there to see 1t,
and they never knew it. Those who
were still living had forgotten all
about it and all about him.
= . y .
George had seen Eugene only once
since their calamitous encounter. They
had passed ON opposite sides of the
street, downtown; each had been
aware that the other was aware of
him, and yet each kept his eyes
straight forward, and neither had
shown a perceptible alteration of coun-
tenance. 1t seemed to George that he
felt emauating from the outwardiy i'm
perturbable person Of his mothers old
friend hate that was like hot wind.
At his mothers funeral and at the
Majors he had been conscious that
Eugene was there: though he had aft
erward no recollection of seeing him,
and, while certain of his presence, was
uncertain how ne knew Of it. Fanny
had not told him, for she understood
George well enough not to speak to
him Of Eugene or Lucy. Nowadays
Fanny almost never saw either OF
them and seldom thought of them-so
sly is the way OF time with life. She
was passing middle age, when old in
tensities and longings grow thin and
natten out, as Fanny herself was thin
ming and flattening out; and she was
settling down contentedly to her apart
ment-house intimacies.
The city was SO big, now, that peo-
pie disappeared into it unnoticed, and
the disappearance Of Fanny and her
nephew was not exceptional. People
no longer knew their neighbors as a
matter Of course; one lived for years
next door to strangers-that slarpest
Of all the changes since the old days
and friend would lose sight Of q
friend for year, and not know it.
One May day George thought he had
a glimpse Of Lucy. He was not GER
tain. but he was sufficiently disturbed.
In spite of his uncertainty. A promo
ton in his work now frequently took
him out of town for week, or longer,
and it was upon his return from one of
these absences that he had the strange
experience. He had walked home from
the Station, and as he turned the cor
ner which brought him in sight of the
apartment house entrance, though two
blocks distant from it, he saw a charm
ing little figure come out. get into a
shiny landaulet automobile, and drive
away. Even at that distance no one
could have any doubt that the little