Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1922-01-19
FOUND
By BARBARA WOOD
q. 1921. by Mcclure Newspaper Syndicat


the stiffness was broken by quick
gentle sigh. But was it a sigh! 1t
seemed almost like a sob to the man
sitting upright in his chair in the IL
Drary, straining his eyes to pierce the
darkness, and his ears to catch the
next sound that might break the 81
lence. But no sound came, and after
sitting tense and mOtiOnless for few
seconds he loosened his grip on the
arms of the chair, rose, and walked
quietly and unhurriedly to the open
window opposite. The scene from the
window was as peaceful as could be
imagined.
Somewhere out there in the dark
ness was human being-a girl, or a
Woman-Who had crept up to his win
dow with what intention it was i'm
possible for him to guess.
With sudden determination to find
her, Roger Tilton put his foot over the
window sill and in a moment more
he had dropped noiselessly to the
ground and was ready to begin his
search.
"Oh, for a clue!" he whispered to
himself. And then, gradually, it came
to him that the air seemed to carry
a very faint, sweet perfume.
He drew a fiashlight from his pocket
and threw its rays about the place
where his feet had landed in the soft
earth. Not two inches from the toe
of his polished oxfords lay a crumpled
little white handkerchief, and with a
queer thrill of excitement he picked
it up, smoothing it out between his
fingers to see if there might be IAN
initial in the corner. 1t was a small
white square of linen, and it was still
damp.
$50 it was a sob, after ALL" he
thought, and then his eyes caught the
mOnogram-three letters embroidered
very neatly and obscurely in one cor
ner: RIB. The man looked as though
he had been struck and after a mo-
ment he, too, caught his breath in
something very like a sob.
RUTH" he whispered.
He felt as though someone had
gripped his throat in a vice. At last,
almost desperately, he breathed this
prayer:
ooh, God, if it is Ruth, please let
me find her. Please; for I can't let
her go again."
He moved slowly toward the west
wing of the house.
1t was then that one might have
noticed the slight limp that was al
ways with him, and perhaps, if his
thoughts could have been read, one
would have found world of suffer-
ing and sorrow behind those clear,
blue eyes that were eagerly search
ing every shadow and hiding place
For his memory had gone back to that
day two years ago when he had come
back from France-a victim of she'll
shock and bearing in his thigh an ex-
ceedingly disagreeable wound which
would thereafter place an impeachment
On every step he took. That day was
the hardest he had ever faced, for the
thing he wanted most in all the world
to do he could not dO-tO see Ruth
Bradford; to go to her and to feel
the comfort Of her hot tears on his
face.
He remembered with a twinge of
pain the contagious ripple Of her laugh
ter, and he wondered whether she had
learned to laugh again after he
stopped writing. They had been en-
gagged when he went to France and
for months their letters were long, fire.
quent and comforting. Then came the
shock and the wound, followed by
many weeks in hospital. After that
he had sent her no more letters. His
pride and his sense of honesty forbade
it, for he realized that it would not
be fair to expect her to bind her per-
feet womanhood to one who was
MANNED for life.
All these thoughts and many more
raced through his mind tonight and it
was with a start Of surprise that he
found himself at the edge of the
swamp.
1t was only matter of minutes be-
fore he found her, but it seemed like
years She lay face down in a patch
of moonlight Her hair was loosened
so that it lay like pool of gold about
her shoulders. One foot was unmer-
cifully twisted in the gnarled root of
a tree; that had been the cause of her
cry Of pain. Roger knelt beside her
and with fingers that trembled he
loosened the strap of her slipper and
very, very gently removed the injured
foot from its Imprisonment. He lifted
a strand of her hair in his fingers and
pressed it to his lips.
''Oh. little girl, l didn't know; I
didn't know!" he sobbed.
At last, while he was watching her
closely, her eyes opened, slowly, quiv-
eringly, and looked up at him with
questioning, far away look.
Ruth" he whispered, and again,
RUTH"
HIS lips sought hers again and
oroi,1 anH If u-aS rnanU poiputoc