Middletown transcript., 1921-11-26
Reunited by
Quicksands
By WILLIAM FALL.

Il wouldn't go out tonight, Eliza
bath, If were yOu," spoke querulous
Rheumatic old Grandma DENLY.
Il must, grandma" was the reply
firm, yet panied. and the old woman
glanced keenly at the young face
wearing care and sorrow, and
sighed, and then was silent, gains
ecdly, dreamily into the Pickering
crate.
Dear child" croOned the old won.
an, as Elizabeth threw a cape across
her shoulders and fitted from the
room. "Dear, poor child know!
know!'
Just year this very night, not chill
and sere, although September-like now,
but star-spangled evening Of sweet
sounds. stroll along the whispering
sands, and troth plighted under the
great, stately elm that had shaded the
Uii brook for over a century. Then
under the great elm where each had
promised, no matter what might hap
pen, to return there upon each ami.
versary as to shrine devoted to q
love undying, eternal.
1T was all my fault" nfoaned Eliz.
abeth, as slowly, sadly she started
down the edge of the sand beach,
watery moon casting dim, weird shad.
ows across her path. "Oh, why was ]
Jealous, why was so impulsive and
cruel?"
She recalled the May day festival
at the village where she had been so
proud of her lover, Randall Gray, and
then so irrationally jealous of him.
In fit of pique. melted by false
friend, scheming girl companion,
she had tried to punish her lover, en-
tirely innocent of any real purpose to
pain him, and she had lost him.
"And l can never forget!" she
walled to the signing night winds, and
pursued her lonely path on pilgrim
age of sorrow and penitence.
She faltered as she came in sight of
the old elm.
II thought 1t would comfort me to
COME" she moaned, "but it is break
ing my hearth"
At last she reached the old trysting
place. She sank like wearied child
to the moss-covered trunk and cried
her heart out.
Hark
Her pulses stirred at cry Of alarm.
It was call for help.
Elizabeth started to her feet and
tremblingly listened. A new fear came
into her face as she traced the CALI
across the sloping expanse Of stunted
oak to where the brook ran and the
whispering sands were the most
treacherous.
She was true daughter Of the wood.
land, and she sped like sprite- along
the upper lodges overlooking the
brook.
"Help!"
1t was closer now, that cry.
A human form was visible in the
swirling mass Of quicksands, appeal
ing wildly for help, with arms out
stretched, sinking deeper and deeper
each succeeding moment.
How she managed to drag one Of the
great rough logs, the size Of railroad
tie in thickness, fully twenty feet, she
never knew. She managed to tilt the
eQd Of the heavy timber across the
ledge of rock and let it drop. Eliza
beth crept out on the log.
Grasp the log firmly with one hand
give me the other"
Then her voice died away and her
soul seemed to 60 with it, for the man
she had saved was-Randel Grey.
1t was like hideous dream with a
golden awakening, as both reached the
soft ground and sank upon a messy
plat exhausted, their eyes met, and |
then their hands.
You have saved my life!" he
breathed. II owe it to you-Eliza-
beth!"
How sweetly, how fervently he pro- |
nounced her name, the ring of a year |
ago in it!
Il am glad" she said simply, and |
shrank back away very contritely and |
with a sense Of unworthiness.
"If you had not been near" he be-
gan, and then asked: "How came you
to be?'
Her eyes dropped and she rose to
her feet. He caught sight of her poor,
hands, and grasped them and
kissed them.
1T was just year ago-the old
you remember?"
She bent her head, and he guessed
the truth.
"Its call was strong upon mel had
not forgotten" he said in a low, eager
tone. "Elizabeth, say it was all a mis-
lake, your cold, bitter letter to me-"
1T was mOre-it was cruel, wicked,
and have been punished. Oh, Ran
1al, my heart is breaking!"
He caught her swaying form in his
arms. He clasped her close, leading.
the way past peril into peace, past
-he weird whispering sands to the
soft shadow of the great elm, it's
swaying boughs seeming to welcome
20 much youth and loveliness and
10y.
o>D9 "a T. 1T i