Page:Dream Life - Mitchell - 1899? Altemus.djvu/310

 IV.

THE END OF DREAMS.

A FEEBLE old man, and a young lady, f who is just now blooming into the maturity of womanhood, are toiling up a gentle slope, where the spring sun lies warmly. The old man totters, though he leans heavily upon his cane ; and he pants, as he seats himself upon a mossy rock, that crowns the summit of the slope. As he recovers breath, he draws the hand of the lady in his, and with a trembling eagerness he points out an old mansion that lies below under the shadow of tall sycamores ; and he says feebly and brok enly, &quot;That is it, Maggie, the old

home, the sycamores, the garret, Charlie, Nelly &quot;

The old man wipes his eyes. Then his hand shifts : he seems groping in darkness ; but soon it rests upon a little cottage below, heavily overshadowed :

&quot;That was it, Maggie: Madge lived there sweet Madge, your mother,&quot; &amp;gt;

Again the old man wipes his eyes, and the lady turns away.

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