The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1935-10-03
BY MARTHA OsTENSo

Pnronle SAID, DID jim never men-
ton wantin' to come back-I mean
before he knew he was dyin'?"
Silver raised her eyes, and for a
moment Sophronia though she saw in
them something secret and fearful in
their expression, something startling.
The girl parted her lips and then
looked fixedly at the wall opposite
her. Phronie had the feeling that Sill
ver~had> been about to impart some
II difficult information, and then had
changed her mind.
"Yes-he was coming back" she
said slowly. "He and l were all ready
! to come. We had planned to take this
! mornings train-the one l took
\ alone"
\ Sophronia started. Her handker-
chief dropped Imply into her lap.
Then, without warning, two large
tears rolled from her eyes and down
her long brown cheeks.
"Please DON'T" Silver breathed."I'm
s1Sry-I shouldn't have"
&Srgever mind mel" Sophronia ex-
claimed in a tremendous voice. "Pm
an old fool. l though we wouldn't
talk about it tonight. But-well, it's
time we were all turnin' in" She got
to her feet "Looks as if Roddy won't
be comm home tonight. Jasew Her
younger stepson had entered the
room again. Light the upstairs
lampsw
L More than darkness, more than
starlight and an indolent wind
4 flowed into Silver's room through the
dormer windows. Silver had been
flowed into Silver's room through
the dormer windows. Silver had
been gazing at them for over an
hour, and the company that entered
there was palpable as her heartbeat,
undeniable as a truth individualized
in loneliness. The company was COM
POoCu VI Jill NISAODIc . AON0 LUZ ucI
mother, Anna; Of his tragic loss; his
Subsequent folly. But it had other
members as we'll: the murmur of
trees Jim had planted in his boyhood,
the ripe fragrance of fields he had
titled, the faint, gliding chuckle of
the creek under the willows, in the
Eravine below.
f-N&e reached for the flashlight she
had left On the small table beside the
bed. She sat for a moment holding it
and listening to the dense silence of
the house, separating that silence
from the winged presence of her own
room. :
The others would be asleep now.
Barefooted, her high-heeled mules in
her hand, and a quilted robe about
her., Silver stole downstairs, using
the flashlight to guide her through
che dark. Once outside the house, it
was a simple matter to follow the
gentle slope down to the old stone
building. Presently she knew she had
come to the dooryard of the old
house, for the air about her had sub
sly changed, as though time itself had
j gathered there. .Ygdrasil-her father
had not permitted her memory Of it
% die. Anna Grepoble had named it
20. Silver had told Sister ,Anastasia,
n one of the numerous converts Of
ler girlhood, about Ygdrasil, and the
hun had said, <"Your mother must
have been a poet Silver"
Silver felt her way in her insecure
clippers across the gound to the left,
tEhe direction from which came the
sound of the creek. She seated her
seld and presently, overcome with
BwedESness, sank down with her head
Dn her arms. 1t was only .twenty-four
hours now since Jim Grenoble had
|Ildied. Just twenty-four hours since
|IEhis spell of unhealthy had come upon
her. She had not been able to cry,
because crying was something real.
Dad Jim had gambled from the
first-even in Cheyenne, where he
had gone into business with a horse
trader, Immediately after they had
begun their roaming. She had been
la little too young then to fear for
dad Jim.
It was inevitable that he should die
jas he had died. There was relentless
Brightness in his going the way he
had gone. At hacienda near Mexico
City, peon in the employ of Carlos
Salamanca had darted out from be-
hind pomegranate tree one moon
Of TirD, l,oI 10 f0111.