The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-02-08
Prologue bAeve Y sits !;

dark pool of heavy sweetness; in
the purple field of the sky over
head the stars leaned down, white
blur STOPPING to the fainter nimbus
of the white and yellow roses. Here
Millicent Dean had counted out the
days and nights of her last summer.
It was because of Millicent that old
Hannah had kept the retreat IN
changed; it held still the spelbound
air of plaintive sanctuary.
Autumn seated herself on bench
beside the sundial and gathered her
robe closely about her. A curious
vacantness seemed TO possess her
mind now, a receptivity to some
strange reinsurance, to some strong
and calming influence that drifted
In upon her from the sweet clols-
tered gloom of the flowery crypt that
had been her mothers. A quoting
affirmation was growing upon Au-
tumn. Millicent Oden was living
again, rising above her own tragedy
and that of Jarvis Dean and Geof-
frey Lander, and the poor, unhappy
Jane. Autumn closed her eyes In
the buoyancy of her spirit, where
the knowledge had dawned that her
love for Bruce was an inevitable
and memorable predetermination OF
life that Jarvis Deans opposition
could neither change nor destroy.
She was startled suddenly out Of
her absorption by a sound behind
her. Turning quickly, she saw Hec-
tor Cardigan standing within the
dimness of the crypt.
''HectorI" she said softly. what
ever brings you out at this time Of
night?"
He chuckIed in an embarrassed
way.
at isn't the first time I've prowled
around here" he said in low, odd
ly strained voice, ''but it's the first
time I've been caught at it."
She did not have to ask why he
had come. Millicent lived for him
here, as she was living for Autumn
herself
ST couldn't Sleep" she told him,
after that scene with father"
Hector came and seated himself
on the bench beside her. ct was
rather bad, wasn't it?" he said
heavily. But I think warned you
that your father would be difficult,
though 1 had not foreseen-quite
this, I confess"
What am I to do?" she asked
him.
"You will know that yourself
better than I can tell you," he re-
piled.
Autumn plucked a blossom from a
low-hanging branch and held it to
her lips. 81 love father" she said
simply, land I love everything I
have come home to. don't want to
leave it."
Hector was silent for a moment
Then, as though he were talking to
some third person who was present
beside them, he said, Autumn is
in love with Geoffrey's son."
She Strengthened herself involun-
tarily against the weird sensation
that had come over her.
SIS it so evident as that, Hector?"
she said.
''The past is repeating ITSELF" he
said. my eyes are not too old to
see that"
''It is the past that has come be-
tween US, Hector-between Bruce
and me-" she said.
Hector leaned forward and patted
the back of one hand against the
palm of the other. 81 shall have
something to say about that, my
dear, when the time comes that I
must"
Autumn stared at the ghostly blur
of a heavily lowered white rose
bush. eff you had told me all you
hew-when ! first came home" she
said, Eve might have been spared
much of what happened tonight
Hector drew deep and unhappy
breath. 'You forget, my child, that
there is such a thing as loyalty still
left IN the lives of some of u.s." he
said. eff I did not tell you every
thing I knew, it was because could
not tell it."
cit doesn't matter, after ALL" she
said. ''It is too late now"
ION the contrary" he replied, SIT
is still too SOON"
Autumn shifted impatiently. ''How
long must you hold your silence,
them" she asked him.
Until l can hold it no longer"
he replied.
A slight wind stirred In the tree
above them, and a shower of white
petals fell on the grass at their feet.
On the following morning, when
Linda telephoned to the Landor
place with the intention of paying
Bruce a visit during the day, the
foreman, Andrew Gilly, informed
her that Bruce had gone to Van
couver on business and would not
be back until the end of the week.
$50 that will be thatI" Linda OBJ
served, stretching herself on the
couch in the sunlit drawing room
and opening volume of French
verse which she had brought down
from Autumn's room.
The announcement that Bruce had
gone. to Vancouver filed Autumn
with an unaccountable loneliness
and impotence that annoyed her as
she thought of it. She knew now
that throughout the weeks of their
estrangement, the mere fact that
he was always there, just few
miles from her, had been a COM
fort to her, and that In the depth of
her consciousness she had never
really relinquished the hope that
somehow, somewhere, they would
come together again.
Autumn sat at the piano and
played softly while Linda read. Jar