The Dolores star., 1922-05-12
BY THE wAYsIDE
BY MARGARET A. SWEENEY


about the highways and the bywavs in
nivver. with only dog and a cam.
era for company. One morning, on
lonely bit of road that rims the river,
came upon an old garden-a garden
run to weed, where few roses Of an
earlier day stin struggled for their
snare Of the sun. At the entrance to
grass grown path that led to an old
mouse, there stood two ancient ash
trees.
sat down upon the wide stone door
way. and 1t, too. was covered with
WHO, green things-creeping tendrils
from fallen vine that lay twisted on
the ground like a huge brown snake,
In the tall, waving grass I saw the
tip Of my dogs white tail moving stiff.
~. He was stalking some wild crea-
ture. l sat very silent.
"Who built this house and who made
this garden, and why are they allowed
10 run to ruinf' These and other
questions drifted into my mind as l
sat there under the indefinable spell of
this old place.
Suddenly my medltations were inter-
rupted by the yelping Of my dog. He
was fercely disputing the right of a
tall, whfte-haired man to enter the
garden. As quickly as l could / made
my way through the weeds and BRAN.
bles again. The dog, his sense of duty
satisfied. wagged welcome. The old
gentleman (he looked like q country
nnrfnrl
ear and shouted: "Are you one of the
Randals-the New York Randals7"
NO, I'm not" shouted back. us
this their placer"
yes. this Is the old Randall house.
l was driving past and 1 saw you sit.
ting In the doorway and l thought that
that you might be one Of Miss Abby
Randal's relatives from New York"
And then, with the loQuacity of the
aged. he told me this:
ABBY Randall. very beautiful wom-
an. the last mistress Of the old place,
was born there about 40 years ago.
When she was girl Of nineteen or
twenty she was engaged to q young
man named NelsOn-Peter Nelson OF
Naugatuck. Nelson was fond of horses
and he rode fine saddle horse. 1t
was his custom to ride out from Nau.
gatuck to the old Randall place every
evening.
"One evening, the eve of his we'd
ding day. his horse came dashing into
the Randall yard riderless and covered
with foam. Abby. sensing that some
thing had happened to her lover, hasti-
ly saddled her own horse and started
out toward Naugatuck; about half way
she found Nelson lying In the road,
cut and bleeding, but conscious.
Help was summoned and the in
Jured man was carried to Miss Ran
dal's home.
Throughout the night Abby Randall
never left his side, and the next morn
Ing, at the request Of the dying man,
she became his wife. At nightfall she
was a widow.
THE girl-widow, dry-eyed and silent,
shut herself in her room-she wanted
to be alone.
I'm the morning the girl lay crum-
pied upon the floor. sleeping as peace
fully as little child. Kindly hands
helped her into bed, and all day the
girl lay in profound sleep. And when,
toward evening, she awoke, she seemed
to have lost all memory of what haa
befallen her. She complained of
headache, and Of having had fright.
ful dream-that was all.
I'm few days she was busy about
her accustomed tasks, not exactly the
same as Of old. but doing things in a
dreamy, automatic way. She never
spoke OF Nelson, and her family and
friends avoided mention of his name.
She seemed happiest when working
alone among the flowers in the garden.
..Five years went by, her mother
died and Abby Randall lived on in the
old place with only an aged servant
for company.
''NelsOn had been dead about ten
years when one morning Abby Ran
dal's memory came back-part Of 1t
came back.
''She had come down to breakfast.
and when old Mary brought In the
coffee Miss Randall said: I'm going
away today. Mary. My husband, Mr..
Nelson, came back. He was here this
morning. and he is coming again this
evening. But you may live here, Mary,
as long as you like
'In her old heart Mary reJoiced. for
the doctors had said that, eventually,
Miss Randal's memory would come
back, and now there was q glimmer
Of 1t.
"Just before supper Mary saw her
mistress gathering roses-white roses
from the bush near the birdhouse.
When supper was ready the old serv-
ant went to the door. but Miss RAN
dal was not In the garden: then the
old woman walked down the path and
there under the ash tree-the one at
the left as you 90 outlay Abby Ran