Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1920-10-22
STUFF O. DREAMS
BY CRAWFORD LUTTRELL.


read again. after a lapse Of eighteen
years. the words that had accompanied
fraternity emblem sent her In the
faraway days Of youth. GAS this star
and Crescent binds thousands of
hearts together in the United States,
so may 1t bind our eternal friendship,
M. NJ" He had underscored the
words "hearts" and "0ur."
She had gone back home on a visit
and, following the proverbial rule Of
rummaging the attic on rainy day
in search of entertainment, had found
by chance a packet of old letters that
she thought had been burned before
she married and went away. The lit
tie fraternity pin that had graced her
schoolgirl blouses had been fastened
through that scrap of paper.
AT the thought, memory turned the
tide of time backward and she saw her
self, a long-legged. big-eyed girl stand
ing timidly at a window in the post
office asking for a package
Clare looked through the little
dormer window nj the gentle, soaking
summer rain. Mechanically she opened
one of the old letters, still bravey
Haunting the crimson and black of his
college coors. He had written with
the ardent assistance of twenty-one
that he could never love anybody else
and that her influence would mold his
life. She could make of him what she
wiled. Age had its compensation, she
reflected. She could never blndly trust
again, never be hurt with the sharp
blade of establishment whose keen
edge only time could wholly dull. She
looked at life through the fading eyes
of thirty-fve. They were too worldly
wise to glimpse visions of such stuff |
as dreams are made of!
1t was when she was passing
through the hall below on her way to
her room to freshen up a bit before
dinner that she heard a deep, musical
voice inQuiring for her at the front
door. Thinking that 1t was an old
time neighbor she went quickly down
stairs.
She recognized him Immediately, al |
though the slimness Of youth had given
place to the rotundity of middle age. |
His black hair was thinning. Only his
eyes and his voice were the same.
How very much like a fairy story
this is" she laughed when they were
seated in the candle-lighted old parIor
Il have been in the attic all the after
noon. found some of your old letters
there and little yellowed slip of pa
per which still bears the pin holes OF
the fraternity emblem you sent me
long ago"
81 still have that PIN" he said and
looked at her without smiling. at is
locked in a little black box in my
desk"
She laughed, although her lips were
not quite steady in her mirth. at
has been so long since those far days
when we fiirted and pretended to know
all about love. Oh. well, rode for
hard fall and the tumble was sufFi- /,
GENTLY painful to guard against anoth-
er one"
You aren't bitter?" He leaned for
ward, his disconcerting brown eyes
never wavering from her face. "You
wouldn't be you, If you were I"
"You don't believe, surely, that this
aging she'll covers the girl you used [,
to know. Milton? She died ever so
long ago"
"She couldn't die" he corrected her,
and his eyes smiled as they had }
smiled, warming and waking her heart
years before. Tell me about yourself.
everything" he urged.
She twisted the narrow gold band
on her finger There is really moth
ing to tell. I've had quite an average
life"
You maried-let me see-how long
ago." he questioned.
Fifteen years"
She was wholly unprepared for
what followed Glare, I am sure that
You and your husband. too. will I'M
derstand what | am about TO say 70
you. II would be foolish not TO refer
to my love for you-it has PLAYED TOO +,
important a part upon my life. Your
abiding faith made me what | am, and
today | stopped off here. in your little
nome town, to try to get your present
address in order to write to you and T,
gratefully acknowledge all that I have I,
been privileged to tell you"
"Your wife"
I told her before she died just
what am telling you"
Il hadn't heard. Milton. I'm sorry
you must know"
She wondered what to say to him.
and, finding no words. sat silent /
clasped tense hands in her lap. He /
rose 10 go Surely your husband viii
not mind my pilgrimage here to tell
you this, to thank you for the beauti-
ful part you have played in the great
scheme Of things for me. The human
equation-no man escapes 1t or wants
10 escape IT." he amended 81 believe
my train goes in short time. will .
have to say good-by now, although I /
say 1t reluctantly"
HE would have been glad" she