| Show HIS I 1 K it za ig that of an aa old head but a young heart I 1 this is ibe th romance oi of a middle aged man the tha romance of an old head and a young heart I 1 am gray haired and forty and yet as I 1 sit ait at my desk in the gloomy little osce of harmand Bar mans mill mih a face cornea comes between my iny eyes and the tha columns of figures figurea in the dusty ledgers a young face with clear bright eyes and I 1 fall into a daydream day dream and forget that I 1 am old and poor and commonplace mon place she is the only child of 3 ja 0 re harmm harman the tha millionaire mill owner and as gentle and good as she eho is beautiful I 1 have watched her grow into womanhood I 1 have watched her character deepening and widening a and d developing toward the ideal of my dreams dreams and all these years I 1 have been learning to love her surely love is not wholly wasted waited though it is hopeless I 1 am a better man that I 1 have loved nellie harman hannan no I 1 build no air castles I 1 I 1 am forty and she eight eighteen edn I 1 am only her fathers bookkeeper and ashe ehe is the tha heiress of millions 1 there was waa a time when little nellie nelli harman rode on my shoulder hunted my pockets for goodies and escaped her nurses charge several times a day tc toddle down to the mill ita in search searched iol her jack spencer daily she brought her school tasks tho the incorrigible latin verbs and the unconquerable examples exam plea in fraction to the same old friend who was never too busy to be ba bothered by little nellie harman barman I 1 she is as unaffected and acir cordial dial in her friend friendliness linaus as ever find and sometimes when she lays her hand on my arm and looks up into my face and asks why I 1 ooma so BO seldom to the hall and have I 1 grown tired of old friends of her I 1 then I 1 faudt fand it hard to answer lightly to smile cailey calmly and I 1 go away with a heartache the girl does not lack for friends grim stern stem old jere carmans harmans Har mans little bright faced child mothers motherless since her babyhood long ago found a tender spot in the hearts heart of the village folk in the cottages her face is as welcome as sun eun ashine the children hang on her gown the women sing her praises I 1 and the tha roughest mm mill hand has always a civil word for her and a lift of the cap as she passes she has her young friends too among the country gentlefolk young ilan harry y desmond is often at the hall it is ia rumored that he is the fortunate suitor suito of jere carmans harmans Har mana mans heiress he reis is aares good hearted lad love is i for youth and they are young young together gray haired jaek jack spencer what have you yon to do with loves lovea young dream the strike the mill is shut down and the strikers gather in knots along the village street and discuss the situation the cut rates have caused the trouble jero jere harman is a hard man and a hard master he holds the fate of these people in his bis hands A few cents loss less to them a 5 taw low dollars more to him this seemed to him to settle the question the times were dull he wo would redula u wa wages gm the harman barman mill inin operatives went out in a body the first day of the strike big john the weaver who headed the strikers came to jere harman with a delegation to arbitrate the matter to them harman said return to work at my terms or stay out and starve monday I 1 hire him new hands if you are not back in yo your ur places As an long as I 1 own this mill I 1 shair cebalt be ba master here this was his final answer and no words of mine no warnings of tho the murmur and threats that grow and deepen among the men will shake his will hlll there is talk of firing the rw mill among the mad brained ones but big john shakes his head that were chopping the nose noa off to pite the face men it if the mill were burnt how now would i that help us to work arid and wages nay it must mi t be other means aye we must live but if we do not get our rights by fair means mean we will have them by foul cried another they mean mischief I 1 have warned jere harman buthe but ha will not head I 1 the at strike is ia over the night is ended and rait I 1 tit alone in the office in the gray dawn sick and dizzy with the horrors of the 11 nights expert experience e U e I 1 shut my eyes and the picture stands out before me the dark night the hall with its lights glowing out through the windows the ray gay party of young people in the drawing room the tha gleam of the tha torches outside the mob of desperate men the angry upturned faces there was a tramp of feet hoarse shouts and a z stone crashed through a window and shattered the chandelier the music stopped with a discordant crash there was instant confusion and above it all there were the hoarse ones cries for jero jera ha harman man I 1 sprang through the tha piazza window and faced the men they knew me wll wall and big Bil rJohn john shouted ah weve naught against you john spencer we mean no harm to any but the master must hear bear us n bring out the basterl ma sterl come like honest men in daylight and talk it ii over calmly I 1 urged not at night like a mob of ruffians with tones stanca for arguments jere jera harman hid come out to them I 1 they greeted him with aix an angry shout we are to be put off 03 no longer Is 19 it our rights by fair menna 0 or r by foul jere harman your rights began jere harman in his hia harsh stem voice I 1 saw that nellie harman had slipped out to her fathers side and laid her hand pleadingly i on his shoulder she did not fear the angry men for willingly not one of them would have harmed a hair of her dainty head I 1 saw raw that she would have pleaded with her father to be gentle W jiin ita mem meal y yet es our right al yelled a voice L z the crowd with an awful oath he was drunken or blind with rage surely he did not seethe see the girl at her fathers side A stone whizzed through the air it might have been jere harmans carmans Har mans deathblow death blow instead it struck her it cut a great I 1 cruel gash just above the temple they sprang toward her her friends her lover but nellie harman put her two hands out to me with a sharp gasping cry jack jackl she said and 1 caught her in my arms arm I 1 have lived over the agony the joy of that moment all through the louir long lonely hours of this night it was dig big john himself hico self who brought the doctor and cried like a child when they told him she was dying his little crippled child she had loved and cared for i and it had died in her arms aye and that harm should have come to her who was more good and innocent of wrong than the angels ra muttered uttered big john brokenly ax athea he went away softened and sorrowful jere harman fiarman sent me outto out to tell ae the men that he had yielded an and id ilithe silence of death they went away the strike is over As aa I 1 sit here in the gray dawn waiting fearing dreading the coming of the morning and the news it may bring I 1 hear the clatter of forsea hoofs it itis is a servant from the hall riding too to the village on some errand what news I 1 call out hoarsely and learn leam that the worst is over and that she will live nellie harman hovered between life and death for long weeks and I 1 worked as I 1 had never worked before jere harman left much ot of the management of the mill in my hands and I 1 put heart and brain in the work or I 1 should have gone mad in those weeks with the longing to see ees her face when she was well again I 1 spent many evenings at the hall talk talking iniZ business with her father who came seldom to the office offic e in those days he ha had broken in health with the recent troubles and had lost energy but he was waa gentler and kinder than of old harry desmond was wa S always there them I 1 was but a dull guest I 1 could not endure his lightheartedness light heartedness the tha triumph in his eyes the happiness in his laugh I 1 could not endure that he should call her ber by name or smile on her I 1 was a raad foell I 1 told jere harcau fiarman that I 1 int go aw awamy that I 1 must have rest change a vacation gordon the young foreman could take my place 1 urged and he consented though grudgingly the last evening I 1 promised him to 0 o spend at the hall and n go over tho the accounts with him never had nellis nellie been brighter or payer gayer I 1 felt a vague pang that my going was so little to her it was early when desmond left and I 1 immediately rose to go jere re harman earman grasped my hand cordially in far farewell e and nellie said simply goodby and I 1 went down the path slowly and sadly suddenly I 1 heard a light flying step behind me as I 1 the tha shadow of the trees it was nellie i I 1 stepped back in the darl kaes mesi she stopped as if listening and then came toward me 1 I thought I 1 should 0 overtake otake you she whispered arm through mine did you think I 1 could let you ko go away tonight to night without a last word there was something in her voice a tenderness that explained all she had come oui out to meet her lover desmond and mistaken me for foi him in the darkness but buttof to havo a v a herson her so near ear wax was very sweet she bhe seemed not to care for speech she was very stul still just clasping my a arm and leaning ever so gently against my shoulder the temptation was grit great I 1 was waa going away just to take away with me the in memory emory of a moments heavert I 1 kissed her I 1 forgive me I 1 pleaded desperately I 1 you thought me your lover desmond and I 1 was cruel mad to take that kiss nellie forgive me but I 1 kissed you ym jack she whispered and you wont go oh jackl you wont go when I 1 love you so 11 jack spencer gray haired and forty commonplace and poor she loved him that is in my romance M A worswick in frank leadies Le alies weekly |
