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Show BY THE WAYSIDE j' g By MARGARET A. SWEENEY O ' . mi, br WeClure Nwippr Syt Jlcmtrv I was spending a few days lu the willey of the Naugatuck, Jaunting ubout the highways and the byways In u tlivver, with only a dog and a cam era for company. One morning, on a i lonely bit of road that rims the river, i came upon an old garden a garden run to weed, where u few roses of an earlier day stlU struggled for their share of the Bun. At the entrance to a grass-grown path that led to an old house, there stood two ancient ash trees. 1 wit clown upon tho wide stone doorway, door-way, and it, too, was covered with wild, green tilings creeping tendrils I from a fallen vine that lay twisted on the ground like n huge brown snnko. In tln lall, waving grass I Baw the tip or my dog's white tall movltig stiffly. stiff-ly. He was stalking some wild creature crea-ture I sat very silent. "Who built this house and who made this garden, and why are they allowed to run to ruin?" These and other questions drifted Into my mind as I sat there under the Indefinable spell of tills old place. Suddenly my meditations were interrupted inter-rupted by the yelping of my dog. He was fiercely disputing the right of a tall, whlte-hnlred man to enter the garden. As quickly as 1 could I made my way through the weeds and bram-foles bram-foles again. The dog, his sense of duty satisfied, wagged n welcome. The old gentleman (he looked like a country .doctor) cupped his hand behind his ear and shouted : "Are you one of the Rnndals the New York Randals?" "No, I'm not," I shouted back. "Is tills their place7" "Yes, this is the old ltnndnl houso. I was driving past and I saw you sitting sit-ting in the doorway and I thought hut that you might be one of Miss Abby Randal's relatives from New York." And then, with the loquacity of the aged, he told me UiIb: "Abby Randift, a very beautiful worn-' an, the last mistress of the old place, was born there about 40 years ugo. When she was a girl of nineteen or twenty she was engaged to a young man named Nelson Peter Nelson of Naugatuck. Nelson was fond of horses and he rode a fine saddle horse. It was his custom to ride out from Naugatuck Nau-gatuck to tho old Randal place ever; evening. "One evening, tho eve of his wedding wed-ding day, his horse came dashing into the Randal yard riderless and covered with foam. Abby, sensing that something some-thing had happened to her lover, hastily hasti-ly suddled her own horse and started out toward Naugatuck; about half way I she found Nelson lying In the road, I cut and Weeding, but conscious. "Help was summoned and the Injured In-jured man was carried to Miss ltnn-dul's ltnn-dul's home. "Throughout the night Abby Randal never left bis. side, and the next morning, morn-ing, at the request of the dying man, she became his wife. At nightfall she I was a widow. "The glrl-wldow, dry-eyed and silent, shut herself In her room she wanted to be alone. A "In the morning the girl lny crumpled crum-pled upon the lloor, Bleeping as peacefully peace-fully as a little child. Kindly hands helped her Into bed, and all day the girl lny in profound sleep. And when, toward evening, she awoke, she seemed to have lost all memory of what had befallen her. She complained of a headache, and of haying had a frightful fright-ful dream that was all. "In u few days she was busy about her accustomed tasks, not exactly the same as of old, but doing things In a dreamy, automatic way. She never spoke of Nelson, and her family and friends avoided mention of bis name. She seemed happiest when working nlnne among the flowers In the garden. 'Flve years went by, her mother died and Abby Randal lived on in the old pJnce with only an aged servant for compnny, "Nelson had been dead about ten years when one morning Abby Randal's Ran-dal's memory came back part of It came back. "She had come down to breakfast, and when old Mary brought In the coffee Miss Randal said: 'I'm going away today, Mary. My husband, Mr. Nelson, came back. He was here this morning, and he Is coming again this eenlng. But you may live here, Mary, as long as you like.' "In her old heart Mary rejoiced, for the doctors had said that, eventually, Miss Randal's memory would come back, and now there was a glimmer of It, "Just before supper Mary saw her mistress gathering roses white roses from the bush near the blrdhouse. Wtnen supper was reaify the old servant serv-ant went to the door, but Miss Randal Ran-dal was not In the garden; then the old woman walked down the path and there under the ash tree the one at the left as you go out lay Abby Randal, Ran-dal, Ju as she bad fallen, the white roses in tier band. "She had gone out to meet Nelson." |