The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1922-01-06
John Gets His
Last Chance
By WlNIFRED DUNBAR


Copyright, 1921. Western Newspaper Union.
The telephone was jingling discord-
antly and Cleave was conscious of an
acute preSentiment Of disaster as he
took down the receiver.
You wife accident ..." he
heard a voice saying. Thrown from
the buggy . bend In the road -.
unconscious and grave fears -.
come home at once"
Cleave hung the receiver up and sat
staring modify at the papers upon
his desk. 1t seemed like fate, this ac-
cident, for he had not expected to see
Mary again for months, if ever.
They had been married two years,
and had no~child. If one had come
things might have been d~ilferent-they
might not have quarreled SO perpetu-
ally.
How she had loved him before their
marriage, thought Cleave, as he sat at
his desk. Then she had striven at
first TO make him happy! And he, too,
had tried hard to be good TO her, for
Mary was very lovable and sweet. Blu
at last they had both given up in de-
spair. Cleave would always remem-
Der the words she had said to him that
night, three months before:
II can forgive you, John, and love
you, but the memory Of these two un-
happy years must always be with me.
1t can never be quite the same again.
And after that everything had
seemed hopeless. Things had gone
from bad to worse. And finally they
had decided that Mary should go back
to her mother, to spend the summer
with her. There was to be no scandal.
Mary had been on her way to the sta
ton when the accident happened.
Suddenly there swept over him q
fuller realization than had ever be-
fore come to him Of his s~elfshness.
If he could only have one chance
more!
An hours run and he was treading
the streets of the country village In
which he lived. He saw his home an
automobile was standing before the
door. He rushed in. The doctor and
a nurse, hastily summoned, were y
the hall. When the doctor had finished
speaking, and the nurse had sped up
the stairs, he turned to him.
"Your wife has had a very serious
accident. Mr.. Cleave," he said. "She
was thrown out OF the buggy when the
horse swerved, and sustained a frac-
ture of the skull. There is NJ immedi-
ate danger, l am happy to say. She
may recover consciousness at any
time. But we fear some brain In
jury"
All through that afternoon John
Cleave sat at his wife's bedside, star
ing into the wide-open eyes that saw
nothing. She lay in q stupor.
1t was not until the third afternoon
that consciousness returned.
1t was, about three o'clock In the att
ernoon when she stirred and spoke.
She smiled at him, and the smile was
like that which she had worn upon
their wedding morning.
"Dearest-where am 1Y' h asked.
AT home" said John, thrilling at
the faint clasp Of her fingers. A
home, never to go away again" /,
"She spoke to you, you say!' In
CURED the doctor of John that eve
ming. "She knew you and spoke and
seemed rationale"
Absolutely rational, answered John
Cleave, and turned away. He vent
into his room and on his knees thanked
God for the chance that was to be
his. His prayer was answered.
How long have we been married,
JohnT" Mary asked next day. 1T
seems such a long time, somehow, and
yet know that 1T can't really be an
entire year as that calendar on the
wall seems TO show"
John looked at the calendar. 1t was
an old one of the preceding year.
ut Is June" said Mary, "and we
were married In June. Is 1t q whole
year. dearestT
John dared not tell her that 1t was
v kvrrA .f..n WIT.