Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1921-02-24

rOr nls Driue soldier sought her
And winning tongue had he.
On the banks of Allan Water
None was gay as she.
That very night the soldier came in
to her life, came as she walked about
the farm to see that all was secure.
Her skirt was caught as she trod fear
fully through a growth of high frs ;
she heard the mutter of mans voice.
A dark lantern revealed a spur en-
tangled In her skirt, young and
slender man clad in brilliant brass
and scarlet. 1t flashed like a CLEAN
of romance in gray days. that scarlet
coat that was afterwards to be re-
membered as so sinister a portent
The man was Sergeant Troy, a
light-hearted scOundrel whose ready
fattery sounded sweeter In Bath
shebas ears than the stammering long
ing Of Gabriel or BoldwOOd. He
cOurted her romantlcally, wOOlng her
with his sword. She stood, few days
later, in a hollow of ferns and about
her flashed his whirling, edged weapon,
slashlng so close to her that she could
hear its sharp hiss as it carved out
In the air her lissome figure. And when
he turned to leave her, he stopped
swiftly and kissed her on the lips
Gabriel tried to warn Bathsheba but
she scorned his reproaches. So he bore
silently with his grief and he did not
tell her that Troy had beguiled little
Fanny Robin away from Weatherbury,
BOldwoOd, whose heart had never be.
fore beat faster ut a woman's ap-
prOach, could not so control his anger.
He shouted maledictions upon the man
who had robbed him of all that had
made life joyous. His madness pre-
cipitated that which he most dreaded,
Bathsheba's marriage to Troy.
The hasty marriage led swiftly to
sorrow, inevitably to tragedy. Troy
celebrated the wedding by a revel in
the barn where he and all the jovial
rustics were soon hopelessly befud-
died. Gabriel dared not drink with
them. The creeping things of the
night and the huddled sheep had
warned him Of the nearing storm and
in the fields the high ricks of wheat
and barley lay uncovered.
The moon vanished and the wind
subsidized; on far horizons baleful fires
tiuttered. The mutter of distant thun-
der rolled into sharp rattle. The
flashes grew bright as he worked to
protect the grain. Then Bathsheba
was with him and their laboring forms
We're outlined in black by the green
snakes of fire that darted venomously
earthWard. As she trembled with |
fright, Gabriel felt her warm arm
tremble in his great, slleltering hand |
She was another mans wife; she did |
not love him; but there was solace |
in the strange ways Of fateO that had |
brought her nearer to him than when |
her heart was free.
Tragedy came when Fanny Robin
crept home to die. Her body, with
that of her child, was brought back
to the house where she had worked.
Standing by the coffin, Bathsheba
learned that Troy had never loved her
as he had this girl who had borne
death and shame for him. He fled from
Weatherbury and word was brought
to Bathsheba that he had been swept
out to sea and drowned.
The seasons rolled on and sorrow
gave to Bathsheba's face a serious
thof ndHnd RI hnN ho poJA- |
wood dreamed again and he was made
happy by promise, although six years
must pass before it's fulfillment
To celebrate his joy, he planned a
party, more than year
after Troy had disappeared. And it
was on this night that Troy chose to
striding like spectre among
the merrymakers. AS he advanced
upon her, Bathsheba stood like a
stricken thing, half-convinced that de-
usion had enthralled her. But there
vas nothing ghOstly in the rough COM
nand that he shouted at her, nor in
he brutal grip that he took upon her
lrm. Then only did she stir, but she
.ould not speak. A strangled scream
vas heard, then a deafening roar.
some eyes were upon Troy, pitching
Onward and never to rise again; 9TH
rs upon Boldwood, standing with a
moking gun In his hands.
Not until the next August, long after
t was known that Boldwood was to
'e imprisoned for life, was Bathsheba
lble to walk as far as the village
treet. Fate had been hard to her.
VI three men who had loved her, one
lad been killed by another who would
lever stride ON the daylight again.
Ind now word had come to her that
iabriel-honest. sturdy Gabriel
whom she had found the one man in
he world who did not fail her in her
iced, was leaving her. She sought
i'm in his humble cottage and he
onfessed that he was going because
'eople were coupling his name with
ers. "Such thing as that is too abb
urd-too soon-to think Of. by far |"
he cried. When he agreed with her
hat 1t was ''tOo absurd" she insisted
hat she had not said that, but too
oon." Even then minutes clicked