The Ely miner., 1943-03-25
CHAPTER XVIII

| Lee IGIIldInSO III Tie DIS, SIA14 OA~
house. She moved softly through
! the dim rooms, the shades drawn
against the glowing outside heat
She trailed her fngertips along table
tops, along the backs of chairs; she
smoothed the time-darkened walls
with a palm of her hand. 81 love
you, Old House." she sometimes
whispered when quite alone.
you've got your secrets, haven't
you, Old House? All sorts of memo
ries; heaps of 'em. Good ones, and
bad ones, too, bet! Dear old Early
Bill was young once here, wasn't
he? What was he like then, Old
House? Why can't you tell me? And
who was Sylvia? Did something
happen to her, did she die, long
and long ago? When she was Just
a young girl like me? And did young
Billy Cole, before he got to be old
Early Bill, love her terribly? Did
she love him, too, and was she, oh,
so faithful and true to him?"
Dear, dead, faded rose leaves of
romance, these were what she was
finding everywhere. Folks thought
that they knew old Early Bill from
the crown of his ragged old Stetson
to his spurred boot heels-but they
didn't know him the way she did
the way Sylvia" had known him
when both were young.
81 love you, Early Bill! You're an
old darling, that's what you are!"
And sometimes, alone in an early
morning hour or in hushed twl-
light, she would stand or sit very
still, and would whisper,
81 know you are what folks call
dead Early Bill-but I don't be-
ieve you've really gone away, not
for one minute! can feel you right
here somewhere. Why, you're even
near enough for me to reach out
and touch-if only could see you!
And is Sylvia with you, too? You're
laughing, Early Bill, you old scamp!
I know you are!-Oh, why couldn't
I have come sooner? Why couldn't t
I have known you?"
She wandered up to the three
pines, Early Bills beloved pines un-
der which that part of him which no
longer lived lay at rest; the body OF
an old man, wearied, now resting.
She put her arms as far as she could
around the biggest of the pines and
pressed her cheek against its rough
bark. Those long, long years ago
young Bill Cole and Sylvia had loved
to loiter there together. Sylvia loved
dawns, too, the way he did. But
somehow never could little Ann Lee
feel his nearness here as she could IN
the patio or under the red-tiled roof.
And it was in the patio of early
mornings and in the summer magic
of the long, lingering twilights that
Ann Lee and Bill Cole Cody grew
into the pleasant habit of meeting, to
speak little, to dwell in a warm
awareness of each other that was a
glow like that lying about them
over the hills and valleys; some
times they looked at each other,
each seeking what lay deep down in
the others eyes, a little searching
their own hearts. Aunt Jenifer spied
on them at times from safe, Sc
cret distance, then went her quiet
way smiling.
Thus they had been sitting on
particular evening, with even fewer
words and with longer glances be-
tween them than ever before, when
three occurrences burst upon them
with the effect of sudden, unrelated
and unexpected explosions They had
heard no sound of footsteps, so en-
wrapped were they in the concerns
of their world which at the moment
was far away from their immedi-
ate surroundings as was the star
from which the girls eyes came now
so swiftly to try to read through the
shadowy half-light what was written
on his face, when of sudden Por-
firio stood before them.
don Codito!" he burst out in
some tremendous excitement.
"Come quick! For the love of God,
Senior, come as fast as ightningI
No, no, mol Not the senorital You
are to come alone. You won't be-
ieve i'll cannot tell you-it is a
miracle, Don CoditoI"
"Are you drunk, Porfrio?"
snapped Cody.
Poririo caught him by the sleeve
and fairly heaved him up from his
place at the girls side and willy
nilly, short of fight, Cody had to
accompany him some few steps.
Then Poririo began whispering in
his ear; and then Cody understood
and went willingly enough, hurrying
long-stridedly, eager and glad that
one sequence of tragi-comedy. a
farcical one at that, was at an end.
At the darkest corner of the house
where great live oak almost swept
the ground with its lower branches.
Poririo brought him to Doc Joe.
When almost Immediately Cole
Cody came rushing back to Ann Lee,
all but breathless, he found her
standing in the patio, her slight body
rigidly held, her hands at her sides.
her chin lifted, her eyes on the
stars. She hadn't known that he
was really coming back at all; Por-
firio's abrupt appearance had star
tied her, she was vaguely frightened
and for some reason her heart
was pounding.
"Ann! Something wonderful Lis
ten, Ann-don't let it bowl you over.
Come into the house; quick. And
get Aunt Jenifer. There's some
thing ! want to tell both of you:
it's just about the most wonderful
news-you won't be able to believe
it."
Aunt Jenifer's appearance must
have smacked of magic: there she