THE STORYTELLER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 14 September 1907, Page 4

THE STORYTELLER.

10 W OF ULiSSES. was Ulysses Boehm, and lirst appearance with the. deville Company, was such a small town a.'u'rtiscmeuts were hall 1 the store windows. The t»d by two hanging oil »(," Wng illuminated by iterry, the most prosperin the town, was sitting )f the front row, with his ight hand aud his eldest e left. Hiram was a big ely cropped hair and grey featured and wrinkled; quiet, worn little woman er was a captivating girl jc.icate and springy" as a i-hazel, accustomed to te ung men, liked her. 1 be a good show, Cissy!" her, giving her a p'roromising, pa," answcr»d It's simply packed: It ion time." .•a it isn't!" observed her very high in Slcrryvile e, and Hiram Surry lieunpopular i;rit," or It was a conviction ids that if ever a Lilwril nt into office this strong, would be heard of (r> : was to prove the truth I Togramnie with an old- ', in which Mandrake and the chief parts, support-broken-down actor who i expenses, without salhe farce Mrs Mandrake f Bong, accompanied by member of the company, ehni. a tall, heavily-built young k brown hair, his overad shading a pair of ;yes, and the sulky <xsingularly mobile mouth k like an injured schoolit with the ancient square snatches of popular airs tlcrtnt items of the prothe middle of the second a violin Kilo, ill lie be able to manage 1 old piano?" said Myra y boy had awakened her wondered how long it r to put him in a good -id great experience with a played his solo without eni. He lounged up .o the stage, took up his centre, and, stretching hand, struck his keynote fiddle. He played well, U, with skill and feeling, crept over the audience of a strange, haunting young and inipressionvard eagerly, forgetting r surroundings, hanging and positively trembling id excitement, at, pa! Isn't it lovely!" as the young violinist Elbowed and made his way, awkwardly fat before, off the platform. t; -Tine! First class!" said Hiram *terry. « "I wish I could hear him play with that funny old-fashioned violin bow 'thai we've got at home," said Myra. ;'. Tour father's people brought it from the Old Country, so I guess h< dost want to exhibit it to a pack of '■how folks," said Mrs Sterry. : Myra said no more, but she thought of that old bow, again and again, during the entertainment. On the following morning, before anyone in the house was astir, Myra rose aoflly, dressed, and crept downstairs. She opened her father's old English "cabinet and took out the precious bow. Wrapping it carefully in paper, she •lipped out of the front door, and turned ker face towards the other end of the town. The hall-keeper had told her father, on the previous night, that the ; Mandrake Company was leaving by an aarly train in the morning. ■ ' Myra had no intention of making her 1 presence known at the hotel. She. I trusted to luck—and the help of one of iter many admirers —to see Ulysses '>y himself. Her luck did not fail her. ?-The admirer, who was the son of the hotel proprietor, and acted as booking dak, was standing at the door ami Miss Sterry with pleasurable , agitation. "Has the troupe gone away yet, Tcd- ' ijF she asked. ' They're having breakfast now, Miss Myra," answered the booking clerk. ' "Will you do me a favor, Teddy? Ask Mr Boehm—the tall young man Who plays the violin—to speak to nie in the parlor. 'He's an old friend of . lather's, and I've brought a message.' When she reached the little parlor un aeen, Myra Sterry was suddenly overwhelmed'with self-consciousness. What would he think of her? While sh ■ was debating with herself the possibility of escape, the door opened, and Ulys-es Boehm, shyly and hesitatingly, enter-.I . the room. He was taller and older than she ex- : peeted; his dark hair was brushed ' smoothly back, and his expression wis perhaps a little more amiable than on ',/- the previous night. He gave her a quick, curious glanc, and then dropped Ilia eyes, making an awkward bow. "I —I—wanted to see you, Mr Boehm,'' ■aid Myra, and hesitated. "You are very kind. Can Ido anything for you?" answered the youngj violinist. He spoke like an Englishman, and his voice was- peculiarly soft and musical. Urn thin shoes were trodden down, and his clothes were miserably shabby. "I want to thank you for last night ."' " the said, recovering her usual -elf-pos-•aession; "I want to send you away from our town with the knowledge that yuu leave a friend behind." . "You are very kind," he repeated, r.ll his youth responding to the enthusiasm | of the girl. "I don't know bm- to thank you. I was rather discouragedlast night—l used to play well, but lately—times have been very hard—and His voice shook and he turned abruptly j •way- „ . ~ The words broke from Myra s lips before she could cheek them. She knew, without words, that he was poor and wound-d—lone^-—misunderstood-ami she had the courage to speak to him at this vital minute with pity and sm--«--y- ■ ,» i -i "You must be brave! she .-.ii'i. "You're a brilliant player. I g"''syou've lost heart. Why don't you -lint from these Mandrake people? luitie far too good for them." „ "I must cam my bread somehow, eaid Ulvsses hoarsely. "I know!" said Myra. "But you re working your way towards Toronto, and ' " yon must hustle round when you gel there Don't 1"- seared because you feel poor and drift look tony. V. lion people hear you play they'll foget everything else." "Do you really mean that? '-aid Ulysses" Boehm. "Yes, I believe in you with all nij lieart,"' said Myra simply. He grasped the hand she had laid oi her afro, and pooping, kissed it almos To Myra'ge ntiv <lr " v away her h;,n ' K ,"' xtmembered th" old l>ow. She a.-k-- ; lum to look at it. and he draw it throng hi, fingers caressingly, testing it on tn Jfble as a man tests the point of ' " ierj J,y pressure of hand and quid M !Thi £ if7'Kren,-hlN,w»hc M id."on of Toure's-a-* hard as iron and not to heavy A perfect tow. Did you cm to ask me its val!i'"'' "No!" said Myra. smiling at hero*. - frankness. "I came to wish you lue;, I Drought the how a .«««i<*. "You are a stranae girl! saui ' •>■ •",. looking at her thoughtfully under ...

oeavy m ■>»*•. . - tl|i , Once more hj» pp-sm-,1 the ]"« . ■ ~ tow on the table* aii.l tnr-n gav h N*P< you xvi.l rolnm to u-e it •ome day!" said M> Kl - _ , ~• "Will vou keep " pt m<—r-mlop. . . Mked the ••Mv nam- i- Myra. slit -laAt "that in-tuiit th-y heard t!,.--..-W cl«k shouting t.ut it «. '■■ .Urt, ami tin- loud v..u-e <" - 1 '"""'' • £ mßmlling over his biU. * *n n»St p;!'- I < ;^; t ra " t 'J v!„!v- - <>f iitr* H|HBljgHM|irnjf. tJIJLI"; «<>uid '* br<t

[into power. Hiram was liberal in character, as well as in polities, ami established hi, family in the capital city | shortly alter he was returned to i'arjliament.

j Mm Sterry was a good liostcss, and Myra changed and developed with her better fortune. if she retained something of her eld waywardness it onlv added to her piiuiaut charm. She made her way slowly and surely, as h-r father his, into the very heart of OttavSr ilorc than one opportunity to marry, and marry well, came to .Myra in her iir,t Mason, lliram wished she would accept a promising member of the "Grit" party, li.-r mother would have been happy to see her the wife u f a wealthy British Columbian, but ilvra refused them both. Perhaps she did not want to marry at all Perhaps she would have preferred a certain .Sterryviile boy—who did not propose to her—whatever was her reason, her fourth year in Ottawa ,-mh-d ,i, the iirsl began, i llcr disappointed friends di-cussed "the probability of the eldest Miss Sterry not lieing married at all. Alyra was only thirty, but her own people, accustomed to earlv marriages, chose to regard her as a' middle-aged woman. She accepted the position with apparent indifference.

"I suppose you'll pick up with a crooked slick after all!" said Mr-, Sterry, with a touch of bitterness. 'Certainly, if a crooked stick ever asks in.-!'' answered .Myra. As she spoke, for no reason in the worid, r.y-ses liociiin dashed into her mind. -

-She had ol'ter heard of him and read his prai-cs, with amused interest, in English au-1 foreign newspapers. Ulysses was a noted violinist, not a g-nius, but a very successful, popular player, and he was eominir to Ottawa.

A feeling of excitement, absurd as she herself considered it, crept over .Myra on the night of his concert. She glanced round the brilliantly-lighted hail, irom the rows of attentive, appreciative people, to the ilower-decked platform, and thought of the little hall at Sterryville, with its wooden benches and oil lamps.

it was not until the violinist appeared that she realised how vividly he lived in her remembrance. It was the same man—heavy-eyed, swarthy, big, diflhleut —but refined and changed oy experience, a tul one who compel tea admiration, tie played Beithoven's Fifth Sonata, and as Myra listened she seemed to hear the wild birds singing in the maple woods round Sterryville. and she seemed to feel once more, the inner joy of her youth.

Myra, nn the following day, was introduced to the English violinist. A friend brought him to the Slurry's house.

"Miss Sterry is the most charming woman in Ottawa." his iriend had told him, and Ulysses Koehni, who had learned to appreciate wotmn, talked to her the whole afternoon. "Do you know Canada well?" she asked, with a purpose behind her commonplace question. -As a bird of passage," he answered. "Is this your first tour through the Dominion';"' said Myra. again with a purpos". "Since I was a boy," he answered.

Myra looked at him curiously. He spoke in the tone of the middle-aged man, and indeed there was little of >-outh left in his serious eyes and s-t mouth. She pondered for a minute in silence, then sir looked at him again with half assumed, half real, disappointment.

"I wish you remembered me,. Mr Boelun!"

Vlvsses -lari.-.l and a puzzled expression Kim.' into his f.iee. He had >oen her before. Where* Whn? Suddenly lli>- whole seeue of their meeting at the Stcrryville hotel, a- she had reea'.led it on th:> previous night, Hashed into his mind. '•Of Kiurrf I remember you!" he oxelaimed. "iou are—Penelope!" "ilyra f : terry, you mean, of Sterryville. Ontario," she answered. Mvra Sterrv. of Sterryville, Ontario, had "read the' Odyssey since first they '•Why didn't you answer my letters.' he asked. ••I did—when you wrote to me. she answered, smiling. '•I know! I know!" he exelamW. ••[ was most ungrateful—most unworthy! But when I got to England and liepin to study in earnest, somehow I—can vou ever forgive nie'r' "Yes. I forgive 'von." said Myra lightly. '-It was kind of you to write at a li. You must have thought me a very foolish, s-ntimental girl. 7 ' •'Von belittle your own

"Yon belittle vmir own goodness!" said I'ly-es lJoehin. "I have never for»olte'n vonr sweet sympathy. I shall l.e piteful to you sill my lit''-" -Do vein me.m th 11'- I am very n-oud." "<aid Mvra. Mtnnly. They •'iked at eieli other jrravely and questioningly. and from that lnimite l_'!v-ses began to love her. -I>, you 'remember the obi bow?" she a=ked. ' He followed h-r aero- t!ie room and wMtehe.l h.r take the 'lV.urtc Iww out of father"- old Engli-h cabinet. ■•lt brlmgs to me now.' caul Myra "But none of niv friends can u-e it. 1 think it must lie >w« in future, Mr lio-hin." "The now of Uv~e-r he murmured. an>l -itiiled at he with Hfo.l eyebrows. Jrawin- it -an--'.ngly through hi- land. Myra lanjjhetl a little and shook her

bead. , ,„ , things have happened, he = ,id in the same low voice. -Mythlike history, repeat them-cves." "But Vlv--es was a me.rried man, answered Mvra Sterry. -W.ll—riWi-s v.itend-s to be! said the English "violini-t.