The Redemption Of Kenneth Galt

mmediately in front was a common fairly well covered with grass and weeds, except at the pawed and beaten spot where the public hitched its riding-horses, and beyond stood rows of ol

ing the ambient air with a translucent message that no human mind could interpret. It was as tho

ood chair behind the white pulpit, holding a massive Bible on his slender knees, a look of consecration to a sacred cause in his brown eyes. There was an assuring augury that spo

ymn-book. She had a face and form of rare beauty and grace. Her features were most regular; her skin clear; her

her is worse, and she sat up last night. Poor Dora! she has certainly had a lot to conte

and there was many a hand to shake and many a warm greeting to respond to, but he finally succeeded in re

d when he saw her coming. He noticed that she kept her glance on the ground, and that her step was slow and languid; h

rily; and she started as, for the f

pallor of her really exquisite face. "I thought-tha

d. You are burning the candle at both ends, and there is a fire-cracker in the middle. What is the use of being your family doctor if I let you get dow

he had noticed in the church began to repossess her wondrous eyes. "She is not quite well yet, but she did not ca

't look out you will be down yourself. Two sick persons in a family of two wouldn't be any fun." She made no response;

y, "you don't seem overjoyed to have a fellow's

her sigh. "It wasn't that I didn't want you to come. You know better than to accuse me o

really, I don't like to see my little neighbor looking so glum, and I am going to stop in and see ho

ed street immediately behind Dearing's home. And when he had opened the sagging gate in the white paling fence, she preceded him into the lo

weary tone, as she began to unfasten

ght a palm-leaf fan to him. "I'm sure my mother won't keep you waiting long."

front windows, which, like their fellows, were draped in white lace curtains of the cheapest quality, stood Dora's piano-a small, square instrument with sloping octagonal legs and lyre-shaped pedal-support. Against the wall near by leaned a time-worn easel, on which lay some torn and ragged sketches, a besmeared palette, and a handful of stubby, paint-filled brushes. The ceiling overhead was made of pla

urning step in the hallway,

ora announced. "She wa

elf facing her mother, a thin, gaunt woman about fifty years of age, who sat in a low rocking-chair

r. "Dora was headed for home, and so was I. The truth is, I am not half so much worried about you as I am about her. Your color is coming back fast enough, and you have no fever. Yo

d, in a plaintive tone. "You see, since I got down I haven't been abo

his brows drawn thoughtfully, "and then you can take charg

m spasmodically together; then suddenly she fixed her sharp, gray eyes anxiously on the

s are supposed to keep certain matters to themselves, anyway, but even aside from that, Wynn, it is hard to keep from spea

laughed. "I haven't grown a full beard yet to make me look older and wiser than I am, a

ved face, with its merry eyes of brown, firm chin and mouth, and shock of thick, da

e growing husky, "and it seems to me if I don'

, Mrs. Barry?" Dearing i

aturally she has as happy a disposition as any girl I ever knew. Her art pupils adore her, and up to quite recently she used to laugh and joke with them constantly; but she has altered-strangely altered. I catch her sitting by herself at times with the saddest, most woebegone expression on her face. When I try to worm it out of her, she

Mrs. Barry paused and, covering her wrinkled fa

ave no earthly right to do such a thing, but I thought, you see, that it might help me decide whether I am righ

ncle that Fred is not exactly the kind of man I'd like to have Madge make an intimate friend of. His general character is not what it ought to be, and he seems to be going from bad to worse. He still has plenty of friends and even s

es to sketch in the woods. And now and then she slips out after dark, and won't say where she has been. You see, I am speaking very frankly. I have to, Wynn, for I am in great trouble-greater than I ever thought could come to me at my time of life. My child is an orphan, and there is no one, you

s, "but I am sure you have nothing very-very serious to fear. Dora may think she cares for him. He seems to h

'll wait and see. As you say, it may be only a fancy on Dora's part, and it may all come out right. I have said mor

aid, as he looked at his watch and rose t

from his view by the curtains. She watched him as he passed out of the ya

k into a chair and tensely clasped her little hands in her lap

up a photograph of Fred Walton; as she gaze

the best and truest friend a poor girl ever had. If I'd only listened to your advice I'd neve

ered she lay trying to sob, trying to shed tears, b