The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1940-01-04


q child. When she got up to 60 at
last. Jarvis went with her to the
car and leaned over to kiss her be-
fore she started away.
$50 long, darling" Autumn called
as she put the car into the trail
again. "I'n be back before you
know it.
Jarvis stood shading his eyes
against the midday sun, until the
car vanished around q bend In the
trail, and an inexphcable sadness
came over him. He had been too
happy for the past hour. He turned
and picked his way slowly down into
the valley.
It was not until Auturnn's visit
with Absolom Peek had come to an
end and she was preparing to hurry
away that she found the courage to
tell him that she was bidding him
good-by for the last time. She had
stayed with the old herder much
longer than she had planned. The
sun was already approaching the
hilltops in the west and her father
would be anxiously awaiting her re-
turn. But she had found it impossi-
BILE to tear herself away from the
quiet valley and its fiocks and the
hungry chatter of the old man.
You'll be comm up again, like as
not" Absolom said as they strolled
together toward Auturnn's car.
s'I'm afraid not, Absolom," she
told him. I'm never coming again."
"Eh?" The old man looked at her
in surprise.
"I'm going back again-to Eng
land, Absolom.
.sNow, nowl What's wrong, eh?"
There's nothing wrong, Absolom.
| I'm just-out of place here"
Absolom thrust his fingers under
his weathered hat and scratched
his head.
"Well, WE'LL" he said at last. "It
isn't much of place for a young
girl, | know. It'll GO hard with the
Laird, I'm thinkin', losin' you again
Just when he's got used to havin'
you round" /"
Autumn hesitated before she made
her reply. After all, it would do nc
good to tell him that her father had
decided to spend the rest of his
days abroad.
''I haven't been much of help tc
him, I'm afraid" she replied.
Hes past help, that man." Alb
solom said suddenly. mot but what
he's been a great man in his day
But he's not livin', Miss Autumn. >
"Poor d." Autumn murmured
"He hasn't had an easy life."
That's right enough. He hasn't
But he won't make it easier BY
| packin' you off to that"
"He's not sending me away, Alb
solom," she hastened to assure him
"I'm going because I want to-"
Absolom regarded her quizzical
ly. There's more behind it thar
that, I'm thinkin'. Though I'm ask
in no questions, mind"
She was staunchly cheerful in he
farewell to AbSolom, but hot mis-
came between her eyes and that un
forgettable picture there on the hill
side below them. And then, in
moment, she was gene and old Ah
solom had turned again to his soil
tary task.
Very late that night, when Au
tumn lay awake and allowed he
mind to drift sleepily back over tn
journey into the hills, it seemed
her that what she had beheld in tn
cycle of that day had been sunris
and sunset on the moon, or o
| some bizarrely Handicapped plane
hitherto only a fantastic dream /
the mind of man. Early mornin
had clawed great, long scars {
black valley down the pale, colosss
faces of the hills, frightening an
thrilling in their report of what thi
. land had been in ages gone. Moo
| | had made insubstantial islands c
[ | the mountain tops, swimming
, their mists as on the white lambenc
, of some primordial sea. And i
, | the twilight, the dark patches c
: pine that marked the valleys in tha
| ! broad expanse might have been tn
spoor of creatures unthinkable, /
an unthinkable chaos of the eartf
No more of that nowi Back agai
) to the artificial, the purposeless lif
, she had known with Aunt Flo. Fol
| get that there had ever been any
, thing else. Forget the reverent SON
[ ber brow of a mountain barred
| the moon. Forget a star unfoldin
; like bloom of sweet loneliness
Z the luminous, unnameable color of
summer sky. Forget the drift
, mountain rain in the spring, and tn
fanny torches of Indian paint brus
/ on the gaunt hills. Forget Bruc
: Landor, and the curious, heartles:
dear ways of love, forever.