The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1921-11-25
BLIND EYES
BY DORA NOLAN.


who has left intoxicants strictly alone
In youth develops a weakness for them
late in life. That man comes harder
cropper than one who has early set
foot in the bibulous way. So it was
with Niles Grey, "the old lover" as
they call him now in Pleasant Valley.
But it was no craving for strong
waters that waited till past his middle
years before assailing. Niles. 1t was a
longing for romantic love.
The township Of Pleasant Valley en-
braces a lake. One shore Of it acts
as. a boundary for the village OF
Pleasantville; the other is sweetly
wooded in front Of grassy plateau,
and on the plateau sits an old brown
farmhouse, untenanted for five years
at the beginning of this story.
Niles Grey was an unnoticeable man
who for many years had kept small
hardware shop in a stunted city and
lived in the little room at the rear.
He remembered very little about his
parents, but an aunt had dinned into
him the fact that they had died in
restitution, having failed to save in
easy times. Niles purpose was that
this should not happen to him. SO the
little shop and the little back room saw
Niles hair turn from dusty brown to
dusty gray and his body grow per-
ceptibly less, like russell apple after
a cellared winter, the while his bank
account grew greater.
Niles ambition had been to retire
at fifty with enough saved to live on
comfortably for the rest of his life.
Like most men with the aspiration, he
oYerplayed his limit and it took the
words of an outdoors preacher, which
reached his ears as he stood on the
doorstep one evening, to bring sharply
to his consciousness that oldest Of
truths-that man is born to die, and
verify his years are three-score years
and ten, and if-but Niles knew no
reason why the eff" should apply to
himself.
So Niles sold out his business and,
having always lived in city, banker
ed for the country. Thus, In the course
Of events, showed along bit by an
astute real estate agent, Niles Grey
came to live in the old brown farm
house on the woods-encircled plateau
above Lake Pleasant.
Niles had always kept house for
himself and he continued to do so.
There was one conclusion at which
Niles thought always arrived-how
little he had to think about. The many,
many days spent in his little shop had
been uneventful enough. The depar-
ture of one clerk and the hiring of
another alone divided them into
periods. Many times he ran over the
list-and always he stopped when he
came to Miss Lamb. Why had she
left? 1t was not to be married, he
knew.
Because Niles had so little to think
about he learned to dream. And the
eligible single women of the village,
looking across the lake and seeing
him sitting there in front of his house,
pitied his lonely life for its emptiness.
Niles wasn't thinking of the single
women Of the village, but about what
his life would have been like If he had
married young. And because now it
could never be, of course, he began to
wish that it might have been. That
very evening he walked around to the
Pleasantville postoffice to mail let
ter. He arrived there just as the mail
was being distributed and the village
news of the day discussed. They were
speaking Of Miss Lefty, the towns
dressmaker for twenty years. The
tragedy was that she could be the
dressmaker no more. She had cut out
the doctors wife's new summer silk
partly on the wrong side-and had
broken down and confessed that she
could never have discovered it herself.
Miss Lefty was in terrible distress,
for it meant the poor farm. She had
no relatives and there was no way
for a blind woman to earn a living
Niles Grey listened. He sat out late
that night looking down at the lake.
Early next morning Niles again set
out for the village. He inquired for
the dwelling place of Miss Lefty,
knowing her by no other name.
A little woman opened the door. He
was frustrated at knowing only her
given name, and by the delicacy Of
his errand. He stumbled in his re-
hearsed introduction so much that
while he did notice her pale blue
eyes were red as from recent weep.
ing, he did not realize that singular
agitation had come upon her at the
sound Of his voice.
Miss Lefty strove for the tone of
polite friendliness. won't you come
in, Mr.. Grey?" she said. "How have
you been all these years since left
your employ?" But her voice trembled
as she led the way to chair; and
she forgot, in her confusion, that no
longer was she good judge Of dis
tances. She tripped over the chair.
Niles caught Miss Lefty as she was
falling-and held her. As her slight
figure leaned against him for support
and he saw the quiyering of her thin
lips, Niles knew many things. In an
instant, like drowning man, he
knew this woman was Miss Lamb-and
why she had left his employ. He knew
that she had cared for him through all
the years and still cared. He knew
that he would lie to her and tell her
that he had always cared too-until