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Show not by her voice atone, but by U5, check pressed to hla cold (ace. "Father," she said, and the words werit the healing words of her chlldUh days, "father, I came to look for you." jlid Continent Ma?7inc. i Hie falling hair in a wadto bury under a atone bo that It d0Cmmedrub the .culp wid liquor. liberal saucerful from the bow the shelf. ''Lfu8h8 He rubbed it sculp an1 da "V.w JC lB , ,0,-ously and went o-to J "tan-out in do sun a . de smell, ca Qe lwjk de res' o1 an. I 'spec b Miss Ann 'cm now. Youbfl go ss k9Brlul now, auh My keer ?L.t.no dey the familiar bottle. A. d llis by a Plcainf . d down upon the one ear and Plascre " Down the forehead in scooping waves, uow back of the head was another part from which the hair was brushed briskly away on either side. The cl Tnt was iaunty and ludicrous in the extreme but Uncle Josh looked upon ft as a work of art. Uis parting re-mark re-mark was to beg his model not to I "muss it 'to' Miss Ann comes. Robert donned his waistcoat and n,l walked to the window, 1 lie ANN'S HOiU'OMINa Fred Roberts had" Ion icfof jay, when Ann was cointn nrouglrt to the 1.110J to of clean, warm clothing, ana p him kindly. "Now Mr. Roberts, I want to see ,f rTfix vo'se'f up nice and genteel. These are so-e things I've been get-li get-li ' ready 'gainst Ann come home. uVdo yo'best to look spry, and 1 11 '"nd old Uncle Josh in to trim yo' hair a little bit." . . tie murmured his thanks, his hands shaking as he took the garments. -iWt mention it, Mr. Roberts she vent on, coming into the room to poke "he dying Ore. "I'm not forgettm' that Z chiU started away from this bous I can't help thinkin' about her. She was uch a peart little creature when she lWav. An' now you say she can just ,wav. An' now you say she can just pick up and play anything she wants to." , She looked at the old man to empha- ; ,ize the remark. lie turned one trem- ulous hand over the other slowly, and ould think of nothing else to say than -Yes." lie was longing to cross to the mantel-piece and take a draught from the quat, brown bottle which stood there. Then he would be able to answer, yet :te know he must not drink to-day. Mrs. Jackson saw the glance of desire, and felt constrained to speak, her voice deepening under the consciousness of solemn advice. "Oh, pray, Mr. Roberts, don't touch a drop. It would make Ann ashamed, indeed, to see her father in drink today. to-day. " It vexed him to think Ann was coming com-ing home to a shameful father; Ann who used to love him, faults and all, as no one else could. If he could only ree his tongue from its paralyzing dryness. Uis bent head and folded lands suggested ,a humility that almost al-most turned Mrs. Jackson from her ;nission. "Ann, you know, is not the same .liild she was. She is a young lady :ow, an' expects to find her father 'afferent from what ho was. I don't eckou she can stand havin' bottles mywliere but on the sideboa'd, rained up as she's been by anyone trees on the horizon were leafless ; and black, but an nftcrno-n haze t.oftened tliotr iron outlines. Taj lom .ts below in the yard stretched bare l.-ou-as. and the rose bushes had only stem', losnow after all their sunnner wealth, aiiioiij the dry brown leaves, which were sUitlessly loft in drifts the hens scratched industriously. A line of ducks, contrary to orders, were marching march-ing across the greensward on their way home a ter a late swim. Just below be-low the window, pro pred against the -n-eat chimney, lay Turk, his broad bull neck upon his outstretched paws. He was peacefully dreaming in the austere warmth which the afternoon sun afforde 1. The man felt the chill from his drenched head. It crept downward and rendered the stiff shirt unbearable. Now it reached his heart and awoke despair. Everyone, even the old negro there, warned him that he was unfit for Ann. He had always known U, but he had hoped that their love met above and annulled the uufitness. How long he stocld leaning against the window frame in mental numbness he did not know, but when he looked around the fire had died out and the sun was half below the inky horizon. Ann would soon be here. Ue could not face her, the strange daughter whom he did not know. With trembling, burning fingers, fin-gers, he tore off the new clothes he had .is strict an' set in their ways as yo' .sister Now, don't yo' reckon so, loo?" "Yes." ho assented. The remembrance remem-brance of his sister came into his mind and brought with it a sense of teli'-abasement. liut he inwardly repudiated re-pudiated any thought of change in Ann. When the door closed a man walked toward the fireplace, feeling as he went that he was bowed an I shabby. A glance in the wavering surface of his dim shaving mirror continued the sensation. sen-sation. Shaggy gray hair stood out around a lined face, ruddy naturally, red now, and glazed from exposure and drink. Ilo stood pulling at his locks, at one minuto deciding that they needed to be trimmed, at another striving to recall how he looked when Ann went away ten years ago. Ilo could not remember. No need to recall re-call her face. It was before him every, instant. But how did he appear in her iycs? Was he us degraded; ns di- hevcled? Wcro his hands as rigid; as scarred; were they ashesitating; or had this, come to him during the ten years? And Ann, during the ten years, had been ascending till she stood like a 6tar above him. Her letters showed him put on an hour before, and dressed himself in his everyday garments. They were rough, unbrushed and disreputable, dis-reputable, yet he welcomed hcra. He f cltthat he was himself again, the outcast out-cast who worked long enough to buy whisky; who begged food, shelter and clothing. lie had dreamed of deliverance deliver-ance from without; a deliverance lie w-"" t.i wrrtk to effect within himself, which should bj brought' about by sympathy, companionship an.l protection. protec-tion. Lut the dream was over. lie was only a drag and a disgrace to the young lady Ann had dcvelope.l into. He opened his door and crept down the stairs and across tho hall. His fingers fin-gers rattled the knob of the door so-uncontrollably so-uncontrollably that he feared some one would hear, and he halted, expecting a summons to explain. No voice questioned, ques-tioned, howover. Ue stepped out on poreh, thence to the lawn and softly whistled to Turk. The animal bounded joyously around the corner of the house, leaping and fawning about his master. The two struck westward across the lawn, and, as he went, Roberts Rob-erts heard the sound of a window thrown up and a voice crying: "Mr. Roberts, upon my soul! Mr. Roberts! ' that, lie had one in lm hand now which he opened and looked at, striving striv-ing to put together the unkempt, motherly little child he had known, and these clar elegant characters. He turned resolutely to dress, and fought down his feeling. The clothes were fresh and well-fitting, and he eould not help thinking that he looked more "genteel," as Mrs. Jackson said, in the white starched shirt and dark trousers. A rap sounded upon the door, and. closely following it, appeared ap-peared Uncle Josh with the implements of his trade. He gave an obsequious laugh. "Lawd A'mighty, Mr. Robbuts, sub, I 'clar I didn't know you. You look so young." "This b iii- don't look so young, Uncle J.-h 1 nckon you'll have to give it.: right gued cropping." i .. "Dai's so, ruh. Tear.., hik ha'r dere ' days tu'iw i:r;iy mighty .,oou." ; , "Seems to me like I've been grav a'.U ! my life. Was it this gray ten years! ago?" ' j 'No, suh." answered the old negro. I emphatically. "When Miss Ann wa.s ' sent away, yo' ha'r was as black aa coal." I lie tucked the towel arohnd the necU of the victim and was running his fingers fin-gers through the abundant rav,nas.s before him, preparatory to his" work. Lnclc Josb had the wrinkled hide and eyes of a great lizard, but his hand was wonderfully skillful with the ruzcr and scissors. He now combed up the locks and clipped the rough en Is fK, that they fell in a looso, brav over Roberts' face. Q - "IIiVs tuneu gray, Mr. Kobbuts, case ,t am t been looked a'ter Ink i ought to be. But hit's mighty mrt na r. Mrs, Ann, now, '11 change thingl artght smart, Ireckin. Ilit'l do Tu k good, Mr. Robbuts. Bafardawg ; 1 heap too sassv auvwav -i-d-,,,,1 . ;i-..Bi.,-.-, ,,i". ;i,r; - V J lie gave no heed, but plunged into the orchard, feeling the cold evening air, and seeing through the black twigs of bushes and trees the vivid thread of scarlet just above the horizon line of woods. lie had a stick with him, and thrust into a pocket of his coat a bottle which he had seized from the mantel. As he went on and the evening fell darker, and Turk walked ahead'more sedately, he could not keep weak tears from his eyes, lie did not know what they were therefor. Sometimes they seemed to flow at the picture of himself, him-self, lonely, homeless, without place or worth, wandering in darkness, but mostly they rushed unbidden at the thought of Ann, his little Annie of ten years back. To his dazed mind she seemed dead, and be mourned over hoi as he would over a dead ohil 1 How she used to shield him! When he lav weak from hi 1 drunken stupor-,. mi,,a, here was warmth and an anoydtu-then anoydtu-then he wrenched the bottle from lm pocket nn I Hung it far into die d irk ncss. lie listened to the faint cr'a-h and sat erect for a few minutes. Af to-awhile to-awhile he folded his arms and rest - ' : his head upo.i t.ieiu. I "I'll go presently," ho murmured heavy wtth drowsiness. In spite ol the bitter cold sleep seemed deliriously . near and grateful. He dozed in snatches, now and again recovering consciousness. b it s bettor for her. She's got ns iro-i jbiood as any, a,,d without me 't under she can go with the best, sin- has money, too, thank u0(i." He was drifting i, irresistibh- s eep but through its veil ho 0 ' I Input out a languidly,; bis . i fellonroi,)rhM,lllllk,ni 1 ' " |